What The Heck Does Working In Digital Marketing Even Mean???

By Mustafaa, Your Digital Marketing Specialist?

I was inspired to write this blog post, because of the above meme I created to explain the funny looks I get when I try to explain my career in digital marketing to friends, family and new acquaintances. When the opportunity presented itself for a return to school, to get educated in the digital marketing field came up, I jumped at it and excitedly tried to explain this new leap to others. I usually would get the perplexed question, "So, what are you going to school for again?" Or "What are you trying to work in as a career?" Despite my best explanations, I would still, more often than not, get a look similar to the meme above.

So, for those who might not be familiar, what does this field entail?

5 ways digital marketing makes visible, promotes and creates sales for businesses and individuals

Digital marketing is an umbrella term that describes the overall effort to make visible, promote and create sales for businesses and individuals using online methods. Under this broad term of digital marketing it breaks down into several different strategies to complete the stated objective. Some of the strategies are:

Content marketing

This strategy deals with using content that is created by you and is useful to others to develop a name for yourself as the go to person for the particular problem you solve. It is usually stated that "content is king" and this is true for various reasons. Content is easily shared and it is not so salesy. It's more about you providing value to others first and then they give back to you.

Social media marketing

This strategy utilizes the power of social media channels(Facebook, Instagram, etc.) to communicate with both present and future prospects, keep the company/brand visible and create community around what you represent. Because social media channels are free and potentially expose you to millions of looking eyes, this is a powerful tool in your digital marketing strategy.

SEO

This strategy recognizes the power of search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and others to create discoverability. You can do paid advertisements to be found, but when people do a google search for your type of product or service are you coming up number one or even on the first page? SEO or search engine optimization helps set up your website, landing page, blog, etc to reach greater visibility during a search.

Video marketing

This strategy is about using the power of video whether on YouTube or created videos shared on social media(ex. reels) to promote you, your brand, your message, your product or service. Video has grown tremendously and is projected to grow more in a few short years. Whereas you had to have a deep monetary budget to get video in front of people(ex. tv commercials) a few years ago, video sharing allows you to reach most people using free platforms.

Meme marketing

This strategy utilizes the power of meme shareability to create visibility for your company, brand or product. Memes are very popular. I personally have thousands of collected memes saved on the photo folder of my iPhone. Memes can be funny, educational, informative, promotional or a combination of several characteristics.? If you combine the right factors, sometimes you can create a viral meme getting shared thousands or millions of times over the internet.

This article presents some of the things that are done in the field of digital marketing, so next time someone asks, "what I do?” and get a confused look, I can refer them here. Also, hopefully this article helps people in general understand what digital marketing can do for them business wise.