Digital marketing is probably the hottest field within marketing and advertising at the moment. An internet presence is now a must-have for any company, regardless of their size and of which industry they operate in. Virtually no business can get by without some level of Social Media presence to boot. Here are some tips for how to start a career in digital marketing.
1. Make Sure You Have What It Takes
As with any other career, you are going to need certain skills and qualities in order to be successful in digital marketing. While the technical skills involved in digital marketing can be learned, there are a few areas in which some people will naturally excel—and if that’s you, you potentially have the potential to thrive. These include:
- Being flexible and adapting to change quickly. Successful digital marketing is heavily reliant on knowing how to use search engine and social media algorithms to your advantage and these change all the time. If you are someone who adapts well to change then a career in digital marketing may well be for you.
- Being proactive. Many digital marketers work as freelancers, but even if you are employed by a company you will need to be constantly on the lookout for opportunities to engage in promotional activities such as giveaways, collaborations and reciprocal links. Successful digital marketers don’t sit back and expect marketing opportunities to fall into their lap. Instead, they actively seek them out or create them for themselves.
- Being creative and able to think outside the box. With everyone else competing for users’ limited attention on the web, you will need to come up with original ideas to make your content stand out.
2. Learn the Tools of the Trade
Once you have established that you would like to work in Digital Marketing, there are a lot of technical aspects of the job you will need to familiarize yourself with, such as:
- Search Engine Optimization, or SEO
- Amazon advertising and Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
- Link building strategies
- Affiliate marketing
- Content creation
- Growth hacking
- Social media analytics and conversion rates.
The easiest way you can learn everything you need to know to be a successful digital marketer is to complete a Master in Digital Marketing. This kind of comprehensive course will give you a rounded education in all aspects of digital marketing, including the best software to use.
3. Establish a Strong Social Media Presence For Yourself
When it comes to getting hired as a Digital Marketer, one of the things your prospective employers will look at is whether you have built a strong social media brand for yourself. Although you might not like to think of yourself as a brand, the reality is that the explosion of social media has led to individuals creating and curating their own online image in a similar way to how companies advertise themselves. Having an active and strongly branded social media presence will show your potential employers what you are capable of when it comes to digital marketing.
