Build a career in social media, marketing and analytics

Businesses, small and big, are now hiring digital-savvy social media professionals who can attract customers and boost brand awareness

In the digital world, change makes the world go round.  As technology keeps changing and evolving—and consumer expectations right along with it— the digital ecosystem requires us to master technology with professional aplomb and reap its benefits. After all, technological revolution takes no prisoners.

The conventional method of selling products has undergone a sea change in the last one decade thanks to the advent of social media marketing. When it comes to marketing products through social media and other digital marketing tools, business outlets, small and big, are now hiring digital-savvy professionals who can attract customers and boost brand awareness.

How important is social media marketing?

Social networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and even some of the younger platforms like TikTok have enabled marketers to connect with potential customers in a big way. All you need is a strong social media strategy, ability to think out of the box and the passion to create engaging content.

According to a recent survey conducted by HubSpot, 92 percent of all marketers found that their social media initiatives enhanced the visibility of their online business. On the other hand, around 80% of them claimed that their company’s frenetic social media activities improved traffic to their websites.

Those doing a course in social media marketing can get hired for positions such as social media managers, web developers, interactive content specialists and digital designers. One can also earn a handsome salary as social media managers. 

What is the role of a social media manager?

The role of a social media manager is to develop and implement social media strategy of a company in order to increase its online presence and improve its marketing and sales efforts.

A social media manager, besides coordinating with copywriters and designers to ensure well-researched and error-free content, is also expected to coordinate with clients in order to meet their respective deadlines.

He also should keep himself abreast of the latest social media practices and technology and develop, implement, and manage the social media strategy of the company he is working for.

Is digital marketing going to be a much sought-after profession?

Make no mistake. By 2025, almost every company in the world will have a presence on the internet, which will throw up job opportunities for the aspirational youth. Digital marketing is going to be a much sought-after profession in the coming days. It teaches students concepts like sales conversions, marketing campaign analysis, and innovative ways to promote businesses.

With tectonic shifts in technology, it is imperative that one keeps pace with the changing digital marketing trends. India, which currently boasts of around 658 million internet users, is cementing its position as the next major powerhouse of digitization. It is believed that online businesses are now twice as big as those in the traditional economy.

Digital marketing offers an array of jobs like internet search engine online marketer, electronic marketing expert, SEO specialist, social networks marketer, copywriter, content author, to name a few. The job of a content marketer is to optimize a company’s content and drive traffic to various web pages.

People with interest in coding can work in web design, while people who are good at writing can work in content marketing.

With the growth in internet users and companies selling their content material through social media, the acting roles and alternatives are only going to advance.

What is the importance of digital marketing analytics?

Without analytics, digital marketing can run out of steam in no time. If you’re using email marketing, you need analytics to figure out whether the subject line performed better and what click-through rate you achieved with that new offer.

And if you’re into online marketing, again, you need analytics to find out whether your website is drawing enough traffic or a lot is left to be desired.

Google Analytics (GA) tells us how to improve our strategy, and how to reach out to a larger audience. Analytics helps you optimize your sales funnel, identify problems, and create solutions.

Through GA, it will be easier to find out whether the use of keywords and content used in the search engine optimization (SEO) is driving traffic to your website.  

Through analytics, one can see which pages get the highest numbers of visitors and how long they stay. This not only gives you a fair idea of what people are interested in but also whether you are delivering the content they require—or not.

For example, a page having a high bounce rate should make you explore as to what it is that’s making them click. In order to reduce bounce rate, make necessary changes like writing shorter paragraphs, providing easy navigation, making site search easy and paying attention to page load time.

What does an employer expect from a digital marketing analyst?

Employers need market-savvy professionals who will make the best use of limited marketing budgets as well as drive results in an increasingly competitive digital landscape. And the only way to have an edge over your competitors is to have a better understanding of analytics so you can make data-driven marketing decisions.

UPES offers BBA in Events, PR and Corporate Communication – Social Media, Marketing and Analytics