Digital Marketing Career Options in 2022
“Competitive advantage is a company’s ability to perform in one or more ways that competitors cannot or will not match.” -Philip Kotler
Marketing is believed to be one of the first jobs in the history of the entire human society. Over the past decade, with a boost in the e-commerce industry, online marketing has evolved exponentially to be a much more efficient and cost-effective marketing method.
Everyone is spending more and more time online using smart devices. Social media has taken the world by storm.
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter among others were created to connect people. Today, these platforms have emerged as major online marketing platforms where people spend a lot of time while they make their shopping decisions. Sensing it, businesses are getting their online presence optimized regularly to get bigger chunks of profits.
This calls for dedicated digital marketing professionals with technical expertise. These digital marketing professionals work with different capacities for a different set of job requirements.
However, many of these profiles have overlapping responsibilities. These can be largely categorized as:
- Digital Marketing Manager
- SEO Specialist
- Search Engine Marketer
- Web Analyst
- Social Media Marketing Manager
- Content Marketing Manager
- Content Writer
Let's look at each of these job roles to get a better understanding.
Digital Marketing Manager
This is a broad profile that requires one to have an expert level understanding of every other function like SEO, SEM, PPC, Content Marketing, and email promotions in the digital marketing job. A digital marketing manager usually reports to the head of marketing or VP of the company.
The salary of a digital marketing manager can be anywhere between 2.3 and 10 lakh per annum. while the average remains around 5.5 lakh pa. (Payscale)
SEO Specialist
This role is instrumental in getting organic traffic to the website by incorporating keyword research, optimized user experience by eliminating non-performing content and keywords, and putting more relevant ones. The SEO specialists use Analytics tools such as Google Analytics and Keyword Planner.
The salary of an SEO specialist ranges between 1.7 lakh to 10 lakh per annum. (Payscale)
Search Engine Marketer
The role of a search engine marketer, or as some call it PPC expert(pay per click) is to fetch the target number of clicks and leads in the given marketing budget. The various tasks an SEM specialist performs include analysis, keyword research, bid management, ad copywriting, and split testing of the ad campaigns. SEM experts handle Paid Ad Campaigns using tools like Google Ads — Search & Display, Bing & other Ad Networks.
The salary of a search engine marketer ranges between 2.5–7.3 lakh per annum. (ambition Box)
Web Analyst
These are folks with good number-crunching skills and an eye for data interpretation abilities. You, as a web analyst, have to be adept at using tools like Google Analytics, and Webtrends. The skill of a web analyst helps businesses know their audiences better by keeping a tab on different online media that customers use to reach them. This helps organizations better target their customers; keeping their focus on the efforts that are helping them gain good dividends and letting go of the ones that doesn’t work well.
The salary of web analysts on average is around 7 lakh per annum. (Glassdoor)
Social Media Marketing Manager
Social media marketing takes up a huge chunk of this space since people interact and engage in conversations on these platforms which forms the core of social media. In reality, social media drives the growth engine for businesses followed by their websites for an online presence.
Therefore, organizations prefer to build a strong social media presence to test the waters and then go on with a website or app development.
Businesses want traffic to their pages and social media managers do just that by keeping the engagement over various social media platforms up.
If you are well versed with the nitty-gritty of social media and can keep the engagements up then you can easily get hired by companies. If you engage audiences, let’s say, on Instagram more effectively than on Facebook, then you can use this expertise to your advantage as well.
Social media marketers use tools like Hootsuite, HubSpot, Buffer, and more to perform their duty. SMMs job roles include curating engaging content to reach the target audience, executing campaigns on social media platforms, engaging in dialogues, and answering customer queries as and when required. SMMs also implement strategies to capture customer reviews and ratings online.
If you love to kickstart conversations online, can keep them positive and enthusiastic, and have a humorous disposition, then you are on your path to excel in a job role of a social media marketer.
Experience always helps but having the traits mentioned above will determine your career growth trajectory.
A social media marketer can be paid anywhere from .8 lakh to 20 lakh per annum and the average pay is around 5 lakh per annum. (Ambition Box)
Content Marketing Manager
Content marketing managers manage blog posts, sales page copywriting, podcasts, email communications, ebook publications, video marketing, and other promotional and PR activities. The varied set of skills required to be a content marketing manager requires one to have strong leadership skills to lead people.
The salary of a content marketing manager ranges from 3.1 lakh to 10 lakh per annum. (payscale)
Content Writer
Content writers work closely with the content marketing team to better serve the needs of businesses. As mentioned earlier, there are various overlapping roles in the digital marketing landscape. The content writer's profile is very similar to that of a copywriter. To draw a distinction, a copywriter focuses more on generating persuasive copy materials that have a call to action feature whereas a content writer focuses on reader engagement on the websites or blog posts.
However, the goal of both remains the same; generating audience interest and engagement. These content professionals help to create marketing copies for social media, websites, email, etc.
If you have a knack for writing various forms of content then this job profile will suit you well.
As content writers, you have to provide well-researched, industry-standard content that informs and engages audiences on various online and offline platforms.
The salary of content writers ranges between 1.5 lakh to 6 lakh per year while the average is around 3.4 lakh per annum. (Glassdoor)
How to pursue a career in digital marketing?
If you possess any of the skills that fit different job profiles in the digital marketing space, then you can try landing a job or internship with digital marketing agencies or simply start freelancing gigs to gain some experience.
It will always help if you can start building your own online presence through social media and a website to showcase your skills and portfolios.
There are various free and paid courses available both online and offline that can help you start a career in the digital marketing field.
However, it is not mandatory to do a course if you have a robust online presence which will constitute your experience and hence eliminate the requirement of a job experience.
Conclusion:
“The Internet will make the winners bury the stragglers.” — Philip Kotler.
The digital marketing trend is still in a nascent and unsaturated stage waiting to be explored and utilized for optimized business performance. Considering the frequency and growth of innovative technologies like AI to 5G introduced every year and counting, a career in digital marketing only appears to be more promising.
If you have a go-getter attitude and you are always eager to learn a new skill without losing the optimistic mindset, then there is nothing stopping you from reaching a higher sky in the space of a digital marketing career.
