There has been a big shift in marketing in recent years, away from the “hard sell”, which is often associated with traditional advertising, to the provision of valuable content as a lead generation tool. This change has caused demand for content strategists to skyrocket. The role of a content strategist within the marketing team is to develop a strategy that aligns with both the business objectives of the company (or the customer) and the needs of the customer. They do this by planning relevant, high-quality content that provides some kind of intrinsic value to the reader.
This type of content, usually a mix of long and short text content, images, videos, and infographics, promotes the brand as an authority in the field, builds trust among potential customers, and provides opportunities for the content team to increase website traffic using techniques such as link building and SEO. The role of the SEO specialist is crucial for any company with an active online presence. Search engine optimization or SEO mainly helps to send the right people to the content they are looking for by carefully placing specific keywords in relevant, high-quality content on a website or blog, increasing the visibility of that content on search engines such as Google or Bing. The SEO specialist is responsible for researching and identifying those keywords before making sure that the content is adapted to include them naturally.
The digital marketing manager is responsible for the successful operation of digital channels and campaigns that create new leads, promote the brand and contribute to the overall growth of the company. The size of the company will determine how practical the Digital Marketing manager is when it comes to executing tasks, but in almost all cases he will collaborate closely with community and social media managers, as well as the head of marketing to ensure that messages are aligned and tasks are distribute among the right people. Employers want to know that you're going to spend their marketing money wisely, and that means spending time on channels that you know work and improving (or getting rid of) the underperforming ones. Someone with the title of “Digital Marketing” or “Digital Marketing Specialist” is usually a digital marketing generalist.
Most of the time, you'll find this entry-level position in a smaller startup, or at least in a company that's just starting to build a marketing team. A digital marketer could become a “digital marketing manager” after years of experience in the marketing field. A typical job description could say that SEO specialists need to know how to conduct keyword research and turn what they discover into an SEO strategy. They generally need to feel comfortable working with metrics and using tracking tools, such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console, which they will work with on a daily basis.
Social media managers, sometimes also called social media coordinators or social media specialists, do much more than check Facebook. In this role, you'll establish a strategy to increase and engage social media followers, usually across multiple social media platforms. Like digital marketers, marketing managers could work on a wide variety of marketing tasks, according to the company. Sometimes a job titled “Marketing Director” is the same as a “digital marketer role”.
A “marketing manager” can start as a “marketing associate” at a startup or marketing agency and can become a “marketing director” later in their career after gaining significant marketing experience. That said, marketing managers are less likely to work on content and social media, and more likely to work on marketing campaigns later in the funnel. So which field of digital marketing is best for you? It depends on your skillset and interests. If you're interested in creating content that resonates with your audience and optimizing it for search engines, then SEO might be your best bet.
If you're more interested in creating engaging social media campaigns or managing advertising campaigns then you might want to consider becoming a digital marketer or marketing manager. Talk to a program advisor to discuss career change and find out how you could become a digital marketer ready to work from scratch in 4 to 7 months.
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