More than 60% of the global population uses the internet today and over 80% of the US population has at least one social media account.
As the number of internet users and online consumers is increasing gradually, more and more businesses are turning to digital channels to reach new or prospective customers and drive more sales.
Digital media managers help companies build a strong online presence and reach out to a bigger audience. They create and publish digital content that resonates with their target audience and help them gain their trust.
Digital media management is an in-demand job, and its demand is expected to increase more in the future. People planning to take up this profession need to have certain skills that indicate they are the right fit for it.
In this article, we have mentioned all the must-have skills digital media managers need to succeed.
Digital content manager
A digital media manager, also called the manager of digital media, is someone who takes care of a company’s digital media efforts. From creating different websites to managing online communities, a digital media manager performs multiple tasks to implement digital media plans and increase the brand’s reach.
Digital media managers oversee all digital media-related activities; hence, they need to possess time management, organizational, and management skills. They build brand awareness on different platforms and generate leads. Some digital channels that they may have to manage are the company’s website, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Quora, etc.
A digital media manager can be self-employed, or he may work with an organization. Both options provide room for growth and have their own advantages.
What does a digital media manager do?
A digital media manager may perform the following activities in organizations.
Maintain a brand’s online presence
There are over 2.14 billion digital buyers. If you want to introduce your products or services to them, you must first create your online presence and then reach your audience.
Digital media managers identify the target audience of a brand and find digital platforms that they use more frequently. They create websites and social media profiles of the company to help it reach its audience and eventually gain their trust.
Craft digital media strategies
Designing and executing digital media strategies is very important for the success of any online business. They allow you to save time, ensure your business-related goals are achieved, and you stay ahead of your competitors.
Digital media managers utilize their strategy-building skills to understand their audience and build strategies according to their interests and needs. They share goals and steps of the strategy with their team members and allow them to offer improvement suggestions.
Create innovative content
Billions of emails, social media posts, videos, and images are shared daily on the internet. Your digital content can get lost in the sea of content if you don’t make it unique, interesting, and engaging.
Hence, it is the duty of a digital media manager to come up with new content ideas so that his target audience can enjoy something fresh, pleasing, and valuable every day. He hires content creators and designers to ensure high-quality content is consistently produced and shared on numerous digital channels.
Optimize content
Content optimization is the process in which you alter images, text, links, and even codes in such a way that it becomes easier for search engine algorithms to find and rank your content. A digital media manager is familiar with all types of optimization. He uses best practices to ensure his content ranks on the first page of search engines.
Launch marketing campaigns
Marketing campaigns are used to promote or sell a product. Digital media managers are responsible for designing these campaigns. They determine the objectives and budget of the campaign, create an ad, identify their target audience, implement the campaign, and then analyze its metrics to calculate success.
Keep an eye on competitors
In this competitive era, you need to keep an eye on your competitors so you can stay ahead of them. Digital media managers analyze competitors’ content, marketing strategies, and optimization techniques to see what they need to improve in their strategies.
Manage social media profiles
Although it is the responsibility of a social media specialist, some companies may ask their digital media managers to perform this task as well. Therefore, they analyze the performance of each social media profile every day and find out what could be improved to increase reach and boost sales.
Collaborate with other teams
A digital media manager works together with other teams including social media, marketing team, and communication teams. He makes sure that everyone is on the same page and that teams share information with each other so they can achieve their goals more efficiently.
Create a lasting relationship with customers
A digital media manager communicates with customers through direct messages and comments. He communicates using a professional tone and shows empathy. He understands their concerns and offers the best possible solution. All these things help him gain their trust and establish a good business relationship.
Key skills a digital media manager must have
A digital media manager should have a wide variety of skills to be successful in this field. Some of the key skills that he must have are:
Digital media strategy
The ability to build digital media strategies is the top-most skill recruiters look for in potential digital media strategists. A digital media manager should be able to design a plan to attain specific business-related goals using multiple digital media platforms.
To form this strategy, he should first understand his target audience, conduct a competitor analysis, and determine his budget.
Data analysis
He should know how to collect data from websites, social media channels, mobile applications, etc. to understand how customers are behaving. He should utilize the data to draw conclusions and optimize digital content and marketing strategies accordingly.
Communication
A digital media manager oversees the activities of a digital media team consisting of content creators, developers, product designers, marketers, etc. Hence, he needs to be able to understand others and be understood by them.
The ability to effectively share information with a wide variety of people and listen to them attentively will help him establish lasting relationships with customers, team members, directors, stakeholders, etc.
SMM
Over 93% of marketers in the world use social media channels for marketing purposes as they are a great source of connecting with a wider audience.
As a digital media manager, you need to understand the power of social media marketing (SMM) and know how to run engaging campaigns to increase brand awareness. You should know how to create different forms of content for different social media channels and when to share it on these channels to get maximum views, likes, and shares.
Email marketing
Email marketing is a form of digital marketing that allows you to announce promotions, product launches, sales, etc., via emails with people who are already interested in your brand.
A digital media manager may have to perform this activity as well. Therefore, you must know how to craft an email marketing strategy and compose a promotional email to generate sales.
Paid social advertising
Paid social advertising is a form of advertisement in which brands pay social media channels to display their content in front of a specific audience. Designing social media campaigns requires expertise.
As a digital media manager, you need to first set campaign goals and then identify your target audience, their content performances, the time a majority of them come online, their demographics, etc., to create a winning campaign.
SEA
Search engine advertising (SEA), also called pay-per-click (PPC) marketing, is a form of digital marketing in which companies pay search engines like Google to display their ads on search engine results pages. These ads appear when people type a specific keyword related to the brand’s products.
A digital media manager should be able to set ad goals, write the ad, create a landing page for the target audience, and assess ad results.
SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a cost-efficient way of increasing your web traffic and sales. A digital media manager needs to be aware of the top social media practices. He should know which tools and techniques to use to rank higher on Google and other important search engines.
Relationship building
People responsible for managing teams and collaborating with others must have good relationship-building skills. These skills will help them make a good first impression on others and develop lasting relationships with them.
Community management
A digital media manager may have to build and manage online communities of customers, so he can inform them about new products, promotions, etc. A good digital media manager should know how to build community management strategies, interact with community members, and share content regularly to keep them engaged.
Customer experience
The customer experience (CX) tells about the response customers receive when they have an interaction with a company. Digital media managers should make sure that all their customers have the best customer experience at every point of their buying journey.
E-commerce
Online businesses require customer-focused skills of digital media managers so they can run their e-commerce websites and help them increase the number of customers and retention rate. Some must-have e-commerce skills that you need to have are data analytics, UX design, and marketing.
Adaptability
The world of digital media is changing rapidly. All digital media professionals need to adapt their strategies according to the changing behavior of users. Otherwise, they may lose users’ interest and loyalty.
A digital media manager needs to be adaptable and always ready to learn new things. He should keep exploring digital media platforms to find emerging trends and make them a part of his strategies.
Analytical thinking
When you have to make several decisions daily and solve issues every now and then, you should have analytical skills so you can analyze information and develop rational solutions. These skills will allow you to turn failures and setbacks into new opportunities.
How to become a successful digital media manager?
Digital media management is a rewarding career. To become a successful digital media professional, you need to have the following things.
- Education: You should have a university degree that indicates you have dedicated years of your life to this field and have enough knowledge to handle multiple digital media activities.
- Experience: You should have 3 to 5 years of digital media experience to show your recruiters you have helped many other companies build their digital media presence and achieve marketing goals.
- Relevant skills: You need to have numerous skills, including social media marketing, PPC, SEO, SEA, communication, time management, etc., so you can meet the company’s requirements.
What is the expected salary of a digital media manager in the US?
The expected salary of a digital media manager may range from $48,000 to $125,000. Glassdoor data reveals that a digital media manager earns around $77,354 annually in the US. Your pay may be more or less than this amount based on your qualifications, location, and work experience.
What is the difference between a digital media manager and a social media manager?
Both are mid-level roles in an organization. They have some differences and a few similarities.
The key difference is that one handles social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, etc.) while the other handles digital media platforms (Quora, Reddit, websites, service-oriented platforms, etc.).
Social media and digital media managers are responsible for generating and publishing content on social and digital platforms, respectively. They create content and marketing strategies to increase their reach and boost sales.
Summary
Digital media management is a great career choice, but like any other career, it might not be suitable for all. If you like using digital channels, exploring search engines, analyzing data, and creating digital content, this career might be a good choice for you.
A digital media manager needs to have a wide range of hard and soft skills including SEO, marketing, social media expertise, paid social advertising, communication, and analytical thinking. You can learn these skills via the internet or by doing relevant courses.