Have you ever wondered to yourself, what does a digital marketing specialist do? A digital marketing specialist is a professional who helps businesses create and execute digital marketing campaigns. They typically work for a digital marketing consultancy or a company under a digital marketing manager. The role of a digital marketing specialist can vary depending on the company they work for. Still, some of the most common tasks include creating online ads, managing social media accounts, developing email campaigns, and conducting market research.
While the day-to-day tasks of a digital marketing specialist can vary, there are some commonalities. For example, most specialists will spend time creating and managing online advertising campaigns. This may involve developing ad copy, designing creative, and monitoring campaign performance. Additionally, digital marketing specialists often manage social media accounts for their clients. This involves creating and posting content, engaging with followers, and monitoring analytics to ensure the account performs well. Digital marketing specialists also report performance on the brand’s SEO, or search engine optimization. These tasks comprise a large portion of a digital marketing specialist’s job description.
Creating Online Ads
One of the most common digital marketing specialists’ tasks is creating online marketing advertisements. To create the most effective online ads, they must research their competitors extensively to get an idea of the industry landscape for that period. This may involve developing creative concepts, writing copy, designing graphics, and testing different ad placements to see what performs best.
Google Ads has an excellent tracking function that can guide a digital marketing strategy. Often digital marketing specialists will also create A/B tests for online ads. This process includes creating two different ads that may have minor differences. Then these are posted, and engagement metrics are tracked. This gives an idea of what is working well and what needs improvement.
Digital marketing specialists will monitor SEM, search engine marketing, trends and data. SEM is an integral part of creating online ads. Specialists research keywords and key phrases to drive SEM and content marketing. Keywords are words that are frequently used when potential customers search for similar products or companies. They’ll also track their online ads’ PPC, or pay-per-click. The PPC is the cost for the company each time someone clicks the link for their ad.
Online ads are one way to bring about brand awareness. The more eyes a digital marketing specialist can get on their brand, the better! Using ads to target key demographics and audiences will drive more traffic to your company and increase your brand awareness.
Managing Social Media Accounts
Another common task that digital marketing specialists do is managing social media accounts. This may involve creating content ideas, scheduling posts, responding to comments and messages, and monitoring analytics to see what’s performing well. Social media is the new marketing space, and digital marketing specialists know how to use it well. They will often be the owners of all digital channels the company may have.
There are many social media platforms that a digital marketing specialist may use. The most popular social media platforms are Facebook and Instagram. They may use Instagram’s business tool to track audience engagement. Instagram has an excellent platform for digital marketing specialists to gauge interactions and target demographics. While Facebook doesn’t have the same capabilities, it offers in-depth audience engagement tools.
Developing Email Campaigns
Email marketing campaigns are another common task for digital marketing specialists. This involves developing email content, designing templates, and segmenting lists. Email campaigns are a great way to stay in touch with customers and promote new products or services.
Email campaigns are another focus that digital marketing specialists will use the A/B test model. Digital marketing specialists know how to create effective email campaigns that will engage the reader and encourage them to take action. Sending out two versions of copy for the same topic will then allow specialists to track metrics like open rates, read time, and even what platforms their customer base is using.
Conducting Market Research
Digital marketing specialists often conduct market research. This involves collecting data on customer behavior, competitor analysis, and industry trends. Market research is essential for developing strategies that will be successful. Without it, businesses would be flying blind.
Marketing professionals use various tools to collect data, such as surveys, focus groups, and interviews. Once the data is collected, they analyze it and develop insights that can be used to improve marketing efforts and track marketing trends. For instance, if you were a digital marketing specialist at a digital marketing consultancy that focused on the travel industry, you would be doing competitor analysis on other travel industry companies. You would compare their brand and audience to yours and measure their engagement against yours.
Market research is fundamental if ecommerce is part of the digital marketing specialist’s role. Ecommerce is the encompassing term for any sale made online. For ecommerce companies to be successful, their digital marketing specialist must conduct thorough market research.
Content Management
Digital marketing managers often have the task of content management in addition to all their other responsibilities. Content management is the job of creating, editing, and storing all content for the company or client. This includes keeping records of past work, aligning previous content with current and future content, and keeping content relevant. Content management can also include social media management - using marketing tools like Google Ads, or LinkedIn Sales Professional will assist a digital marketing manager in their job.
Digital marketing managers also often manage their company’s website and landing pages. They must keep a clear voice and tone for all brand awareness, which also applies to the website. If the digital marketing specialist works on the company website, they’ll often work with the web development team to better understand the technical side.
Another piece of content management encompasses any podcast the company may have. Today the trend is shifting to podcasts and how this audio medium can reach more potential customers. To make the most of your podcast, be sure to have engaging content and ensure that it increases brand awareness.
There are also marketing automation tools that can help with content management. Hubspot has a powerful marketing automation tool that really sets the bar. They also like ManyChat and Moosend as other marketing automation tools that can be useful for digital marketing managers.
Digital Marketing Internship
Digital marketing specialists typically have a bachelor’s degree in marketing, advertising, communications, or business. However, some employers may prefer candidates with experience in digital marketing. Many specialists gain experience through internships. Digital marketing internships provide an opportunity to learn about the industry and develop the marketing skills needed to be successful in the role.
A digital marketing intern may have many responsibilities. Some digital marketing consultancy companies will allow their interns to have control of social media and digital channels. If they’re a more prominent brand, an intern would likely be given smaller projects like writing copy for emails, managing social media response times, or developing competitor research analysis.
Communication skills are essential when becoming a digital marketing specialist. You must know how to collaborate with others, especially learning to collaborate with different departments and your internal marketing team. A digital marketing internship is also an excellent way for students to learn better communication skills.
Internships also provide a working knowledge of all the high-level concepts you’ve learned in school. You studied SEO, you aced SEM quizzes, and your KPIs are through the roof. Now you get to put them into action in practical situations. It can be fun to finally use SEO tools you studied or see real-time SEM metrics. You’ll get a good understanding of what it’s like to be a digital marketing specialist.
Digital Marketing Degree
A digital marketing degree will give you the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the digital marketing specialist role. The degree will cover topics such as market research, SEO, SEM, content marketing, web design, social media marketing, and email marketing.
A digital marketing degree is not required to be a digital marketing specialist, but it will give you an advantage over other candidates. Many employers prefer candidates with a bachelor’s degree in a related field; or someone with years of experience in digital marketing. An entry-level position may even be appropriate for a recent graduate while they gain their years of experience.
A digital marketing specialist’s salary dramatically depends on their experience level and competency. When interviewing for a digital marketing specialist role, be sure to highlight your management skills, analytical skills, project management skills, and of course, your marketing skills.
If you’re interested in pursuing a career in digital marketing, then a degree from an accredited university should be on your radar. Look for marketing, business, or communications degrees if your prospective school doesn’t offer a digital marketing degree. You want to ensure you’ll learn proper SEO (search engine optimization) techniques, current marketing strategies, and email marketing.
Digital Marketing Certification
If you’re looking for a digital marketing career, getting certified in digital marketing is another way to make yourself more attractive to potential employers. Being certified in digital marketing will show potential employers that you have the skills and knowledge to be successful in the role. Google AdWords and Google Analytics are two popular certification programs that digital marketing specialists can take.
In addition to Google Analytics, a digital marketing specialist may want to learn another area of knowledge: CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets. CSS is used to format the layout of the website pages, improving readability and style. Learning a little about CSS and HTML will go a long way for those looking to become a digital marketing specialist.
Overall, digital marketing specialists play an essential role in helping businesses reach their target audiences online. Executing well-planned campaigns can help businesses achieve their goals and grow their online presence.
Looking for more information on content marketing, email marketing, or marketing strategies? Check out our blogs for more posts like this one!