The Best Thing I Can Do For You As A Digital Marketer
In my time here at Western Washington University, I have had the pleasure of learning a lot. Particularly as a Digital Marketer, I was able to gain exposure to many important topics that will change the marketing future. Not only have all of these things that I'm about to share with you, shaped me as a marketer, but also the work that I have been doing in the Ethnic Student Center as the Assistant Marketing Coordinator.
First let me share what I have learned.
The tool of Inbound Marketing is great for attracting people to businesses' sites and building relationships. As opposed to the traditional outbound marketing, where marketers were pushing to intrude on a customer's journey through a website, inbound uses content, blogs, SEO, and social media to catch their eye. A really good tool that has enabled me to better understand Inbound Marketing is Hubspot. Thanks to their in-depth methodologies, inbound marketing can be better understood. Their Inbound Certification is a great way to learn the fundamentals.
2. Social Media
Social Media is proving to be its own successful form of marketing. With this new outlet becoming more prevalent in the world, businesses now require someone to manage and optimize all social media use. The use of social media can be measured through the relationships, feedback, and integration. Getting to know and build relationships with customers is important to a business flourishing. The feedback can be provided directly from customers through direct messages and comments, which brings businesses closer to customers. Integrating all the tactics of social media together can greatly improve the standing and brand awareness a business has in the world. If you're interested in learning about how Paid Social Media can be just as useful, read this article to learn about all the advertising formats which Facebook provides.
Landing Pages are one of the most important aspects of a businesses' digital marketing. If the landing page ends up being something that a customer wasn't looking for, this can immediately ruin their experience and erase them as a prospect to a business. This is were User Interface and Experience are needed. User Interface has been around for a long time and is in charge of making sure the process and presentation of the product is consistent. The experience side of this takes the presentation and makes the technical aspect of it seamless to use.
Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing are necessary to reach potential customers. SEO is the ability to grow the visibility of the site with just organic or non-paid search engine results. While SEM is about being at the right place at the right time. Google AdWords and Bing Ads can be beneficial in making this happen. Both of these tools are useful in the growth of businesses, but make sure they align with the goals of the company.
5. Coding and Email Automation
Coding was surprisingly the most important component of digital marketing. This is increasing in the world today because people are discovering how to program on their own. In the field of marketing, this is helpful to have knowledge in to rely to other developers. Starting with something as complex as the code to create something connecting others, helps see how things like email were established. Email automation, in specific, is the ease of communicating with active and potential customers to gain conversions and keep them up to date on the business. Some really good sources that I have personal experience with include Mailchimp. This has allowed me to create monthly newsletters for the ESC and track the clicks and opens in the process. This allows businesses to track how they better optimize their emailing efforts.
Everyone is on their mobile devices now, and it is the best way to interact with customers. Being able to optimize the layouts of mobile platforms increases engagement and allows consumers to continuously be active. Businesses can be more creative in their approaches and should really pay attention to these strategies in order to stay with their consumer's interests.
7. Blockchain
Blockchain was a bit of an interesting concept to talk about because it is a bit complex. In our world today, it's almost easy to get by without identifying blockchain because its not an apparent or physical feature. In fact, the best way for me to understand blockchain is with the analogy of it being "the operating system." As Bitcoin was the only thing I knew about at the time, I realized that this was just an application that was operating with the complex systems of Blockchain.
The realities of virtual, augmented, and mixed are shaping the future. There are examples of virtual reality with Samsung Gear and HBO's Game of Thrones experience. These all require their own gear, but the stimulation that VR provides to various parts of the brain is an excellent way to reach out to customers. Augmented reality is already part of a lot of our lives. If you're a Snapchat user, you experience AR everytime you add a filter to your face. This is a great way for businesses to interact with their customers on a more personal level, because they are giving them the opportunity to experience computer-generated images on their own environments. Mixed reality is the combination of both VR and AR in an effort to manipulate designs that could be used in any environment. All of these can add a lot to a businesses' impact on their customers, no matter what their products or services are.
In an effort to find actual purpose and meaning in digital marketing, it was essential to learn about the ways that social media has changed the world we live in today. Many movements that have been happening for generations were brought to life in a way that we could not have expected them to grow.
In this, way, its very important for consumers and businesses to be very purposeful and intentional in the activism that they place themselves in, or identify with, because it isn't about just being supportive, its about taking responsibility and understanding the role that they hold in it.
10. The Best Thing I Can Do For You
After laying out all the things that I have learned in this class, I am discovering the many things I can do with this knowledge. As I said in the beginning, my role in the Ethnic Student Center has been pivotal in my marketing experience this year. I have had the capability to help underrepresented and marginalized groups come together. The Ethnic Student Center has already been a space that was established in 1991 by student activists to create a home away from home for all identities and ethnicities.
Through the power of social media, email automation, and mobile marketing, I have been able to harness skills that better serve their communities, and pass on the information to them. As students, they have the power to create change and carry that in their future. To be able to provide the platform and resources for them is what I have been privileged enough to do. All their work and efforts should be shared with Western Washington University and the community.
Having this amazing job and bringing to fruition the highlights of all of this through events and newsletters, is what I can offer others. I want to help create the platforms and spread the knowledge of all that I learned as a digital marketer to allow communities of color to thrive and succeed on top of their own efforts. They deserve to have the resources to continue their work and share it.
You too can support the efforts of the Ethnic Student Center by looking at the pages below.
Associate Professor Of Marketing at Western Washington University
6 年Thanks for the taking the class, Serina! I have a friend, Meghan (Wulff) Reibstein, who is pretty senior at Amazon on university stuff. Not sure if your work with Amazon Prime is related but Meghan could be a good person for you to connect with.