What Skills Should Digital Marketers Have?
A good Digital Marketer will need to know the major marketing skills like search engine optimization (SEO), keyword research, ranking strategy, Google Analytics, copywriting, and link building. They should also be prepared to create content marketing materials including blog posts, YouTube videos, guides, ebooks, emails, social media posts, and podcasts.
A Digital Marketer might choose to focus on social media marketing, paid advertisements, or ecommerce. Or they might decide that analytics, branding, or affiliate partnerships are more aligned with their interests. Whichever specialization they choose, focusing on only one or two areas of the digital marketing world will provide a more successful career. This is because they’ll be able to become an expert in a few areas instead of a generalist across many areas. An expert is far more valuable to employers because they feel they can trust their skills and they’re probably looking for something specific when they’re hiring a digital marketing specialist.
While technical skills are not necessarily required, some digital marketing positions might prefer you to have some familiarity or expertise in basic coding languages such as HTML and CSS; basic UX and UI design principles or design thinking and planning; photo editing; basic data analytics; WordPress or another content management system; spreadsheet and slide deck creation; video creation and editing; current relevant social media platforms; or email marketing tools like Mailchimp. These tools and skills can certainly be learned on the job, but it doesn’t hurt to familiarize yourself with them beforehand either.
Learn the Skills You Need to Become a Digital Marketer
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Digital Marketing
Digital marketing utilizes the internet and web based digital platforms to promote products or services. This includes the use of digital advertisements, social media, brand identities, and more.
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SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is the practice of increasing both the quality and quantity of website traffic using tactics like keywords and backlinks to create organic, high-ranking search engine results.
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Google Analytics
Google Analytics measures your advertising return on investment while tracking your video, Flash, social networking, and applications. Google Analytics works by tracking website activity through a block of JavaScript code that the web developer, designer, or website owner, embeds within pages on a website.
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Google Ads
Google Ads is the new name for Google AdWords. It is an online advertising service that allows advertisers to pay for the display of brief advertisements, video content, listings, and calls to action within the Google Display Network (GDN) to web users. You'll see Google ads on the GDN which includes Google Search, YouTube, and over 2 million other sites.
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Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is the practice of using social media platforms to connect with your target audience or end-user. Social media marketing aims to build brand awareness and loyalty, increase sales, convert leads, and drive website traffic. Social media management can be done through content creation, keyword and target audience research, and the use of social media management platforms like Buffer and Hootsuite.
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Email Marketing
Email marketing is the practice of sending a commercial message to a group of a target audience using email. These emails might be advertisements, business requests, offers, services, sales solicitations, newsletters, donation requests, petition signature requests, and other calls to action.
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Ecommerce
Ecommerce is simply buying or selling products through online services or over the internet. Ecommerce utilizes tech like secure online payments, online shops, online marketplaces, and more to provide users with a convenient online shopping experience.
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WordPress
Wordpress is a content management system written in PHP that is usually paired with a MySQL database. It is free and open-source technology. Wordpress is used to build websites and offers a template system, plug in architecture, and content management.