What I Can Do for You as Your Digital Marketer!
Oh how time flies. This season has proven to be an unforgettable adventure growing as a digital marketer. Because of this class, I’ve been equipped with the proper tools to successfully thrive in today’s marketing industry. Through a framework of essential topics provided by the one and only Professor Mark Staton, my peers and I were tasked with creatively writing two articles every week by way of extensive research. Writing has never been my forte, yet I was determined to sharpen, refine, and hone my skills through fervent practice. Now here I am, an enthusiastic, ambitious, whimsical young man who loves to learn and strives to creatively tell a better story.
In June of this year, I will be graduating from Western Washington University with a degree in Marketing. That feels incredibly surreal to write. By no means does graduation mark a stop in the road for learning. As a matter of fact, if there’s one thing I’ve taken away from my digital marketing class, it’s that we have access to massive amounts of resources at our fingertips—all a click away. And although I have every intention of pursuing a career as a digital marketer, my hunch tells me the hustle for actively learning won’t stop. Some of the blogs I’ve begun following as of this quarter include: The Moz Blog, Hubspot, Marketing Land, Kissmetrics, and Hootsuite.
Analytizing my LinkedIn Blog Experience
Having no prior experience with LinkedIn, this class inspired me to reach out and network with my peers, my professors, and people already in the industry. By writing these blog posts, I’ve been able to dig deeper in my writing, utilize different languages (talking business-ey can be intimidating at first), and apply my learning through various online platforms.
LinkedIn has an amazing analytics tool which identifies how many people engaged your article. Over the duration of the class I deviated from my typical digital marketing blog posts. Being the sustainable enthusiast that I am, I’d done some research on adopting the lifestyle of a minimalist and was provoked to write an article titled “How a Minimalist Creates Change”. This article was the shortest of any article I’d written and received nearly 40 views on it. I think this goes to show how important it is to write informatively, yet personally (and concise). Most of the people who viewed my post came from Bellingham, yet there were a few of my friends who read my blogs down in Seattle as well.
What I Can Do For You!
Upon completion of my degree, I will have obtained certifications in Google Analytics and Adwords, Hubspot’s Inbound, and Hootsuite’s Platform. I’m going to break down some my favorite key takeaways from this course that I found essential for today’s ideal digital marketer. Keep in mind, the industry is always shifting and the importance of these concepts are subject to change.
- Google Analytics: The underlying significance of marketing today is the ability to track and measure your audience. As online consumption continues to increase, it’s never been more essential to utilize an analytical platform as part of your marketing strategy. Analytical platforms are a valuable marketing tool for identifying business trends, tracking the demographics of customers, and measuring traffic to a website. With products like Google Analytics, data is organized so that businesses can take data and develop actionable insights to further its customers’ experience.
- A/B Testing: Through A/B testing, I learned the complexities of tackling the major necessities of a successful website head-on. Yet, there are online testing tools available that overcome the uncertainties of optimizing a website. Website optimization is all about using controlled experimentation to improve a website’s ability to drive business goals. Because chances are, if the customer doesn't find what they want within their first page visit, they're likely to move on. Website owners use A/B testing to compare two versions of a webpage against each other to ultimately observe which one performs better. This is probably the most practical way to measure impacts to your business goals and ensure that every change made is generating positive results. The days of hiring a creative genius to make hopeful decisions in a company are long gone.
- Social Media Marketing: Social media comprises much of our online interaction today. With these free social applications available to everyone, I had very little preconception with its ties to marketing. Social media marketing is about using paid advertisements to drive traffic to a website in hopes they’ll become customers and even promoters of a product or service. The potential for a business to establish a strong presence on many social media platforms is astonishing. I admire companies like Starbucks whom utilize social media as a main source for advertising instead of blowing more money on traditional TV ads. The real dilemma that most marketers face is accurately measuring the ROI for paid social, yet companies like Simply Measured and Hootsuite have developed a solution that provides analytical tools for each social campaign.
- PPC and SEO: Through Paid Search and Search Engine Optimization (organic), I learned the importance of a business’s online visibility. Although there are many routes available to drive a business to the top of a search engine results page, it varies by how much a business is willing to spend and how much effort they want to put into it. I learned that Google (who makes up approximately 80% of all online searches) updates their search algorithm approximately 600 times a year. I also learned the importance of creating content for users and not the search engines, where to place keywords, and how often a marketer should optimize and refresh their content.
- Coding: This was a scary one at first. I had no background in coding, yet this class exposed me to basic HTML, CSS, and even a little JAVASCRIPT. Having a fundamental framework for coding can bring a lot of value to a company—even as marketers.
10 weeks is simply not enough time to extensively grasp each topic we’ve covered. That’s why over the next few years, I will be spending a significant amount of time learning and applying my knowledge from this field. Like I always say, "The best is yet to come!"
Thank you for following along! This is only the beginning.
Warmly,
-Jonah Neuss
Here's the links to all my current digital marketing articles: