• SocialBull
• 2022-12-20 00:00:00

The digital world is fascinating. It enables you to reach out to consumers on a large scale. It puts you closer to your clients through their preferred channels. It enables you to customise your message and service. It allows you to convey your stories in new and exciting formats.

Many CEOs are turning their emphasis and resources away from traditional marketing and switching towards digital marketing. For all these reasons (and many more), this domain is increasingly attracting the attention of experts from various fields, including marketing, research, paid advertising, branding, customer service, sales, and recruiting.

Regardless of your concentration, if you are a young professional aiming to succeed in this field, you will need a range of skill sets to advance your career trajectory and, with it, your compensation. Let's have a look at some of digital skills:

1.    Community Management

Think again if you believe that community management is something that a random intern should handle. For a good reason, best-in-class businesses do not recruit interns to manage their communities. To effectively establish and nurture your community, you must have someone at the helm who understands your industry, business, and brand, as well as someone who loves your consumers and is prepared to play the difficult position of being a bridge between a brand and a customer. Great community managers must balance the organisation's demands with the community's needs.

This skill set necessitates genuine experience. Yes, you must be intimately familiar with social media platforms and the technologies that allow you to manage large numbers of enquiries. These are demanding skill sets that will get you halfway there. On the other hand, the soft skills that come with really playing this position are invaluable. Find a position as a community manager and commit to it for a year or two. Alternatively, you can establish a community in the job you now hold. If you choose the latter, be cautious not to interfere with or overlap with existing brand communities.

2.    Storytelling

Content reigns supreme. Everything you do online is centred on content. Creating unique content, though, isn't enough. To stand out in an already crowded market, you must become an excellent storyteller. You must develop ways to communicate relevant tales to your audience in the appropriate format, at the right time and on the right place.

Great storytellers are created rather than born. To become one, do the following steps: Read about it, learn from the best storytellers in your industry and beyond, pay attention to what stories resonate with you and take notes, look at how the most excellent brands tell their stories, and keep a notebook with you at all times to jot down powerful stories other people tell and ideas for the ones you want to craft and share.

3.    Paid Media

Organic and owned content is prevalent on social media. However, to be successful in the digital environment, you must have skill sets that cross POEM (paid, owned, earned media).

Some would claim that organic reach is no longer possible. I can't entirely agree, but that's another blog article. You should be highly knowledgeable about developing owned content, generating earned media, and amplifying that content to your brand goals. It is critical to understand the paid media side of the business.

To learn it, either collaborate with the paid media counterpart and delve further into how the entire POEM functions or take on the position for one or two years and execute paid media campaigns.

4.    Analytics and Insights

Whatever role you play, remember to measure the impact constantly. When it comes to any digital job, measurement and optimisation are essential. However, go beyond vanity metrics. One of the positions in great demand is that of the Data Scientist, who can transform massive data into genuine business insights.

In your current position, strive to develop analytical skillsets. Learn about the technologies that might assist you in automating some of the analytical activities. Consult with experts in the industry. Go for a step further and take on a job that focuses entirely on business intelligence. Whatever you do after that, you will be in great demand because of your ability to transform data into insights.

5.    Social Media Platforms

The harsh reality that most people do not want to hear is that if you are not using social media personally, you have no idea what they can do for your business. I've seen that several times. Firsthand expertise is essential for determining how those platforms will fulfil your immediate customer engagement goals and developing successful marketing strategies across the customer journey. Any expertise, strategic or tactical, will play a significant influence in determining your professional path.

Simply get in and experiment with different platforms to learn more about them. Then, do much reading on the functions and features (there is enough info on the web). Subscriptions to speciality publications (such as 'Social Media Examiner') that keep you updated on the newest feature releases and platform updates are good. Discuss with your peers how they use the platforms to their advantage.

6.    Technology

Understanding technology is an essential component of every digital career. You are wasting money if you outsource it to an agency or a contractor. You only fully comprehend what the tools can achieve for you if you use them.

Please make an effort to understand numerous technologies (listening, interaction, content distribution, analytics, and so on) and investigate their influence on your overall performance and company. Engage with the suppliers to learn more; often, they will provide training materials and in-depth demos to assist you in your research. If required, collaborate with IT personnel. Additionally, try to comprehend how other business units are utilising the tools. You will be expected to grow technology internationally across countries and teams in a more senior capacity, and this expertise will be helpful.

7.    Trends

Understanding trends is essential if you want to advance in your job. My business is successful because I anticipate what will be business vital or "hot" in the future and position myself in line with that trend. If you do this, you will always be the go-to "expert" for management who has questions about "that new thing everyone is talking about."

I recommend reading for one or two hours every day. Set aside time to educate yourself on what's occurring, what other experts are saying, and what your peers across sectors are doing by subscribing to a list of magazines in your business and digital that are of most significant interest to you. The main point is not to limit yourself to your industry. Make sure you look at best-in-class examples worldwide and learn from the best. Take inspiration from wherever it comes. Furthermore, feel free to borrow ideas, techniques, frameworks, and blueprints. Experiment with them on a small scale, discarding the ones that don't work and refining them.

8.    Collaboration and Project Management

Digital touches every company unit and functional team. It also includes numerous levels, implying that huge teams are involved in strategy execution across functional teams. You'll need two unique skill sets (that complement one other beautifully) for this job: the ability to engage with individuals across your team and the business and excellent project management abilities to ensure the campaigns execute smoothly.

Final Thoughts

There is no such particular as a secret sauce. There is no silver bullet. There are no exploits. You achieve success via hard effort, creating your internal and external network, and seeking an intelligent approach to accumulate as many professional experiences as possible. Never stay in a job for more than two years unless the role is evolving and you are growing. Otherwise, list the skillsets you need and look for employment to help you obtain them.