Digital 2020 July Global Statshot report published on the 21st July 2020 by Data Reportal, in partnership with We Are Social and Hootsuite, shows the following interesting digital media trends –
- More than half of the world now uses social media
- Many digital habits formed during lockdown have endured, despite the easing of restrictions
- Global TikTok use has surged, but future growth may be more challenging
- Instagram has reached a big new audience milestone
- Search behaviours are evolving, with important implications for brands
The report also says that social media users have grown by more than 10 percent over the past year, taking the global total to 3.96 billion by the start of July 2020. This means more than half of world’s population now uses social media. Growth trends indicate that an average of more than 1 million people started using social media for the first time every single day over the past 12 months, equating to almost 12 new users every second. Interestingly, growth pace seems to have increased in recently and industry experts feel that COVID-19 lockdown may have increased the social media adoption.
Today, businesses start promoting on digital media right from their launch in order to quickly build a presence, through posting high-quality content, connecting with prospective clientele and advertising. Digital media marketing has undergone many changes and is now a broad spectrum including bots, telling stories, going LIVE, finding influencers or posting more relevant content at the most relevant time.
If you are looking for a career in digital media marketing, this article is for you. We at Stoodnt got in touch with — Vandana Kapur, founder The Channel, a digital media marketing, advertising and branding firm catering to clientele globally — to know all about digital media marketing. With a strong foothold in the digital marketing domain and imperative knowledge in the real estate industry, Kapur is now all set to make a meaningful foray into women empowerment to create financial freedom. In 2020, she launched a platform Investor Ladies, which educates women to create financial freedom for themselves.
A selected excerpt of the interview –
What is Digital Media Marketing?
Digital marketing is a broad term, an element of marketing that utilizes all marketing channels using internet-based online digital technologies such as laptops, mobile phones, and other platforms to promote products and services. With the advancement of technology, many companies use digital marketing to endorse goods, services, and brands. Consumers also rely on digital media to research products. Modern-day digital marketing is a vast system of channels, where online advertising is much more complex. So, to utilize digital marketing to its true potential, marketers conduct deep research to create exclusive and effective strategies that impact the market. Digital marketing campaigns are executed through various digital channels, and this gives marketers more controls, tools, and data to analyze the effectiveness of a campaign.
What is the right time for a student who wants a career in the field to start learning Digital Media Marketing?
If you are looking to start a Digital Media Marketing career, don’t wait to start learning the various concepts of digital marketing. The right time for students to start learning and gathering deep knowledge of digital media marketing is as soon as they know they want a career in this field. Digital marketing is a vast field; it doesn’t just consist of online advertising methods for a company’s products and services but includes a vast range of concepts and tools that a student needs to learn. As technology is always evolving, it becomes important to keep up with the latest technology as well. So, if digital marketing is your career choice, you must start gathering knowledge to keep yourself up-to-date.
What are the courses to learn Digital Media Marketing?
As I mentioned earlier, Digital marketing is a vast concept; hence, you will find various courses in this field. First, you should gather basic knowledge of all the fields in digital marketing and get a strong grasp of various concepts. Do a comprehensive course that covers digital marketing fundamentals – then decide which area you want to expertise in. You can then choose your forte in any of the following, each of which is a massive field in itself:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Content Marketing
- Affiliate Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Development & Coding
- Paid advertising
- Designing & Editing
What are the institutions to study Digital Media Marketing?
Digital marketing can be learned offline, as well as online. With technology advancements, many online education platforms have emerged recently with the fundamentals of digital marketing. Here are some of the institutions where you can learn digital marketing:
IIADM: Indian Institute of Advanced Digital Marketing – It is the best digital marketing course provider and conducts advanced digital marketing, and has introduced a paid internship program.
Digital Vidya: It is one of the most popular digital marketing course providers that include SEO/SEM, Social media, etc.
Simplilearn: It is a good online platform to start learning digital marketing.
NIIT: It provides a variety of courses that are decent but expensive, and they provide a certificate from the Digital Marketing Institute, Ireland.
Simply Digital – This institute is an initiative by an IIT-IIM alumni group that provides digital marketing and big data courses.
If you already have done such courses and want to regularly brush up your knowledge with latest updates, you can take short courses online on Udemy as well.
Students from which background are most suited to make a career in Digital Media Marketing?
The good news is that to pursue a career in digital marketing, there is no specific education background that you need. You could be from commerce, arts or science background and still be a digital marketer.
Being from a creative background just isn’t enough; you should have a creative mindset and willingness to practice and innovate. Students from a business background can also pursue a career in digital marketing.
What skills are required to be a successful Digital Media Marketer?
Preparing for a marketing job requires a specific skill set that you must acquire to be a successful digital media marketer. However, you are preparing for how digital marketing will be in the future as technology is constantly evolving. While digital marketing fundamentals will always be the same, the tools to create, analyze, and implement marketing strategies and campaigns will continue to change. Hence, you will require the following skills:
Ability to analyse raw data and draw insights: In digital marketing, one can only succeed if they continue to grasp endless amounts of data. It shapes and drives customer experience across various platforms.
Project management skills: Managing multiple digital campaigns can get complex. A digital marketer needs to have project management skills so that he/she can manage various tasks simultaneously.
Knowledge of automation: Marketers must know the latest technology trends and tools available to automate personalized targeting and campaign optimizations.
Advanced social media knowledge: Today, social media is an effective way to boost website traffic and sales. It is a platform used to promote products and services targeting a large audience. Marketers need to stay ahead and have knowledge of the latest and upcoming social media platforms and tools.
Best places to work as a Digital Media Marketer in India?
Digital marketing is a vast field with several other types of media marketing. Today, most companies use social media to interact and communicate with customers and promote their brands, products, and services. A digital marketing agency does all this work. The best places you can work as a digital marketer is a digital marketing agency, as a freelancer for various companies, online freelance platforms like freelancer.com or fiver.com, or you can open your agency – it depends on you. However, when you specialize in a specific digital marketing tool or technique such as SEO, content marketing, video marketing, graphic designing, etc., You can join any company with an in-house digital marketing team as well.
What are the things required to start a Digital Media Marketing business/startup?
Starting a Digital Media Marketing business is similar to starting any start-up business. At first, you need a basic understanding of digital marketing aspects; you must build the skills to run a digital marketing agency, then equipment to support the work such as computers, secured servers, etc. When you are the business owner, it is essential to have business management skills to sustain your business in the market. The next important thing you need is a business plan or model according to which you can hire an in-house team or virtual team—various tools to create campaigns, strategies, and content. And last but not least, a passion for continuously learning & upgrading with changing trends & technology to provide the best experience to your clients.
What is the present situation of Digital Media Marketing industry in India?
The pandemic has changed the way we knew the world. With everything going online, from schools to work, the scope of digital marketing has changed rapidly this year. More and more users have started using the internet, and even companies have shifted from traditional marketing to digital marketing. Today, companies are giving more importance to digital marketing by restructuring their market budget to shift their focus to digital. Post COVID-19, businesses are relying on digital marketing more than ever. Due to lockdown, we have seen a rapid growth of the Indian e-commerce market. Considering the current situation, many companies are looking for people who can handle digital marketing jobs. There has been a rise in cross country trends that are accelerating by the COVID-crisis, such as:
- Virtual experience in various fields like webinars, studies, work meetings, entertainment, and more.
- Virtual companies or digital assistants. The post-COVID world will see people seeking virtual companions such as chatbots.
- Assisted development. It includes learning life skills like cooking and many other things that are being taught or shared online.