What I Can Do For You As A Digital Marketer

You might be well aware from my blog posts and hashtags that I have been taking digital marketing at Western Washington University this summer. I must say, this class has taught me a lot more than I could have even imagined. In the beginning, I didn't really understand the concept of what a digital marketer is or the power they have to influence movements of consumers through a market. I was intrigued, though, because I have never really been one who is tech-savvy so I thought "Why not dive head first?" This class has taught me a multitude of different subjects and how to utilize them if I were to work for an agency or even an in-house firm. Here is a brief recap of the topics I have touched on through my blog posts already:

1.??A/B Testing: Essentially, this is an experiment where two versions of a webpage are shown to different site visitors at the same time to determine which page is more effective.

2.??Inbound & Content Marketing: Creating lasting relationships with website visitors by distributing relevant content to a specific audience that will have a positive impact on the company's brand. This naturally builds trust with the consumer.

3.??Social Media Marketing: Over anything, social media marketing provides a direct line of communication between the consumer and the business. It also provides businesses a more cost efficient way to spread the word of a new product or service by posting on their social media pages or commenting on other firms'.

4.??Paid Social Media Marketing: Differing from social media marketing, paid social is when a company pays to have sponsored ads that are specifically designed to target a firm's audience.

5.??SEO and Link Building: The practice of increasing quantity & quality of website traffic through organic search engine results. Link building, however, is the process of acquiring links from other websites to your own. This builds credibility to your site which will eventually boost your page rank on a search engine.

6.??Voice Search: Optimization of voice search is important for a marketer to understand. Being the #1 result when you ask Siri a question is the position every company is after, so it is important to know how to best optimize your chances.

7.??Paid Search: When search engines (Google, Bing) allow advertisements to show up on their search engine results page. Basically, companies pay to have their name at the top of the SERP, before the fold of the page by using keywords and a cost-efficient pay-per-click model.

8.??Coding: It is important to know how to code as a digital marketer, so you are educated on every facet of what goes into the marketing process. You also can manipulate different aspects of your site however you want.

9.??Landing Pages & UI/UX: Landing pages are the pages you, lack of a better word, land on when you click a link from a separate platform. UI/UX is essentially making sure the user has a good and painless experience.

10.?Email Marketing: No, email is not old news. In fact, emailing is a way to connect with your consumers directly and an opportunity to target more personal ads rather than a pop-up ad that may or may not relate to what the consumer wants to hear about.

Certifications

Since the beginning of summer quarter, we were asked to complete these certifications to broaden our knowledge on digital marketing platforms and tools many agencies use. To the left is my Hootsuite Academy certification.

Here, you will see my Hubspot certification that I earned earlier in the quarter.

And last but not least, my Google Analytics Individual Qualification certificate is to the left, demonstrating that I have received credit for this qualification but obviously still have much to learn on all of these platforms.

Wrap-up

Thanks to this class, I have broadened my horizons on what a marketing student can do for a career. Never did I think I could have the opportunity to be in the tech industry...I thought that was all for super smart people. But during this class, I have realized that whatever you put into a course is what you are going to get out of it. This goes hand in hand with a job or task that an employer has given to you - you must make the most out of any situation. Sure, you will struggle sometimes (I know I do). It's not a matter of the difficulty of the task but how one handles it that separates them from the rest. Going forward, I will be entering my senior year at Western Washington University and will be graduating next spring with the hopes of furthering my education via an MBA program. I have developed so many more marketing skills than I could have even thought of, and I have so much more to learn...just THINK of the possibilities!! I do know that whatever I do, I go at it with an open mind and am willing to learn as much as I can to best approach the task.

Thank you so much for sticking with me this quarter, I appreciate your support and taking the time to read my blogs!!