Top jobs in Digital and Social Media at agencies and Brands

 4m to read / 

The number of job titles and descriptions at agencies that deliver digital marketing solutions is an ever increasing list. What are the roles involved and where do they fit in in the digital product cycle? Every day in this connected age of marketing, we see new points of engagement come to the foreground, and naturally new positions are created, or current roles are customized to address the new areas of focus.

Here’s a starting-point list of the most common job titles and roles at advertising, media, social media and specialized digital services agencies…

Brand

Channel Neutral Planners, Brand Managers, Strategic Planners (non digital specific), Integration Director/Manager, Integrated Content Manager/Coordinator, Brand Strategist, Brand Identity Developer, Sonic Brand Specialist

Digital Strategy

Digital Strategists – define the role of the brand in digital specific channels Audience & Insight: Insight specialist, data analysts, Analytics Managers, Content Strategy Managers/Directors, Engagement Strategy Managers, Campaign & Eco-system Planners, Social Voice Strategy Managers, Behavior Analysts, Trends Analyst,
Performance Marketing Director/Manager/Specialist, Usability Engineer/Strategist, CRO Specialist (Conversion Rate Optimization),
CRO Director, CRO Analyst, CRO Data Specialist, Data Planner, Affiliate Marketing Manager/Specialist,

Digital Creative

Creative Technologist, Digital Creative Director, Digital Art Director, Digital Production Artist, Graphic Designer, Digital Identity Development, Art Director, Video Director, Videographer, Video Editor, Video Producer, Digital Content Director, Content Creation Manager, Copywriter, Content Editor, SEO-relevant writer, SEO specialist, UI/UX Designers, UI/UX analyst, Digital Programmatic Creative Specialist/Manager/Director, Pre flight manager, Traffic Manager, Project Manager

Social Media

Social Media Director, Social Media Manager, Social Media Account Handler/AssociateSocial Media Strategists (Director/Manager), Social Media Planners, Social Calendar Developer, Community Manager, Social Media Data Analyst, Social Media Monitoring Manager/Director, Social Media Distribution Manager, Social Content Publisher, Social Specific Content Manager, Social Content Art Director, Paid Social Manager, Paid Social Planner

Customer Experience

Web & Mobile Experience Architect, Website Designer, Website Developer, Mobile Apps Strategist, Mobile App Designer, Customer Engagement Analyst, UI/UX specialist,  CMS specialist, Programmers, Specialist Programmers, Mobile Code specialists, Applications Designers, Loyalty Specialist Designers, CRM designers, Website Pre-flight Analyst, QA&QC Manager, Experience Strategy Director, Digital Activation Manager/Director, e-Commerce Director, e-Commerce Strategy Director, e-Commerce interface Designer, e-Commerce Creative Director/Art Director, e-Commerce Content Analyst, e-Commerce Code specialist, e-Commerce Product Analyst, e-Commerce Content Coordinator, eMail Marketing Specialist/Manager/Creative Director, eMail Marketing Analyst

Innovation

Innovation Leads, Digital Product & Service Development Manager/Director, Innovation Lab Director, Innovation strategy Director, IOT Specialist, IOT interface designer, Wearables Strategist, Wearables interface designer

Media

Digital Media Director, Digital Media Strategy Director/Manager, Digital Media Engagement Director, Digital Media Data Analyst, Digital Media Associates, Media Planners, Digital Media Buying Manager/Director, Digital Media Buyer, Digital Media Dashboard Manager, Programmatic Director/Manager, Digital Media Content Analyst, Digital Media Pre Flight Manager/Associate, Digital Media Distribution Manager, Media Creative Director, Media Art Director, Media Engagement Manager/DirectorMedia Content Manager, Media Content WriterRTB Director/Manager, RTB Specialist (Real Time Bidding)Paid Social Planner, Paid Social Buyer

Search & Performance Marketing

SEO Analyst, SEO Specialist, SEO Consultant, SEO writer, SEO Coordinator, SEO tag specialist, SEO specialized Web Designer/DeveloperSEM planner, SEM strategy director, SEM Buying specialist/Manager/Director, PPC Director, PPC Analyst, Keywords Analyst, Trends Analyst,  Growth Specialist, SEO Editor, Bidding Director, Demand Generation specialist,
Performance Manager, Performance Specialist,

Account Management/ Client Interface / Agency Management

CEO – Digital, Digital Managing Director, Digital Group Director, Digital Account Manager, Client Services Director/Manager/Associate, Digital Services General ManagerSocial Media Director/Manager/Associate, CRM Manager, Experience Director,

I haven’t even mentioned niche job titles like “Instagram Content Strategist” or “Digital Culture Analyst” – those jobs are either super niche and fall into the “invented here” bracket, or are just ways of luring brands through the front door.

If you’re a brand looking for an agency and have really specific needs, you need to figure out if they are equipped to handle what you want, or are they just going to get someone within their staff to just try and “talk the walk”. The roles above cover a wide spectrum – some are highly specialized roles needing unique skill sets – the others simply evolve from current roles and job descriptions. Either way, that’s how agencies and brands today are defining and rising to the needs of digital marketing.

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Is there a 3-sentence marketing template?

 If there’s a god in modern marketing, he is Seth Godin. And if there’s a god of influential podcasters – he is Tim Ferriss.

On one of Tim’s podcasts (No 343  Seth Godin on How to Say “No,” Market Like a Professional, and Win at Life), Tim talks to Seth. It’s a magical session, full of nuggets that are mind-bending if not mind altering. But there’s that bit at the end which I must share, when Tim discusses a section from Seth Godin’s new book This is Marketing, in which Seth writes about a three sentence template for a marketing promise. It is so simple that it is almost stupid. But, it is really a deal maker. It will make your brand.

Tim Ferriss: What is the three-sentence marketing promise template? Or I guess it’s a simple marketing promise. I can certainly read this, if you would like. If it makes it a little easier. But there’s a template that you have. The three-sentence marketing promise that you run with. And if you can pull it from memory, we can do that, or I can bring it up and we can explore each of these in turn. Do you have a preference?

Seth Godin: Tell me if I got it right. It’s for people who believe this and for people who want that, this might be what you’re looking for. Is it close to that?

Tim Ferriss: It is close, yeah. My product is for people who believe blank. I will focus on people who want blank. I promise engaging with what I make will help you get blank. But I think both what you laid out and that are very similar in intent. What is this? Why is it important?

Seth Godin: Well, what tends to happen is companies make a thing. Then they hand that thing to the marketing department, and the marketing department reverse engineers what they’re going to say about it to get people to buy it. And then they come up with a mealy-mouthed mission statement that says nothing, so that they can act universally so whenever the next new product comes in, they won’t have to change their mission statement. None of this is effective. The alternative is to say, “We’re not saying ‘We made this. Please come buy it.’ We’re saying, “We see you. We see who you are and what you believe.’ And we assert, right here, right now, we assert that if you’re the kind of person that believes this and is looking for this, we promise that if you engage with your time and money with us, you will get that.”

And if you can articulate that arc, then you’ve got a shot at engaging with the smallest viable audience. So when I think about, we’ve been talking about marketing for over an hour and we haven’t mentioned Apple once. When I think about what did Apple promise when you pay extra for a smartphone that is demonstrably not better than the alternative that another company makes? How do they get you to wait in line? Well, what they’re saying is, “For people who in some small way define their status among their peers by the device that they use, who will get pleasure out of being able to demonstrate to their peers that they have the resources to get the latest one, we have the latest one. Get in line if you want one.”

That is Tim Cook’s entire business model. That’s not what Steve Jobs’ business model was, but that’s Tim Cook’s. Which is they are selling a luxury good, which raises the status of insiders, and is of no interest whatsoever to people who don’t get the joke.

Tim Ferriss: Are there any other companies that come to mind that do a particularly good job of this? By company, that could be one person, it could be 10,000.

Seth Godin: Sure. I will stake my reputation by telling you that every successful company does this. They don’t do it on purpose necessarily, but the thing that made them successful is that they did this. That there is almost nothing that launched to the masses. I remember the first time I used Uber. I did not use Uber because I had no other way in New York City to get 20 blocks across town. I used Uber because I’m the kind of person that got pleasure out of taking a magical electronic device out of my pocket, pressing a button, and having my friends just agog at the fact that a minute later a vehicle showed up right where we were standing. That feeling is what I bought when I bought Uber. So at the beginning, Uber had almost no customers. But the customers they had were people who liked that feeling. Then it works its way through a curve, which we can talk about later, if you want.

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What’s your Value Proposition? 7 important points for your your ‘About Me’ or ‘About Us’ statement

 This applies to you – as a person. And, you, as a brand.

Answer the following questions truthfully, unwaveringly, and honestly. And keep at it. This isn’t a one time manifesto that just gets filed. And constantly refresh this on your LinkedIn page, your profile, your About Us page and everywhere else.

Who are you?
What is your product?
How is ‘It’ special?
How is it different from others’ similar offerings?
How can I demonstrate its ‘trustworthiness’?
How can I demonstrate that I am ‘with-it’, contemporary, ‘on-trend’?
How do I demonstrate ‘cool’?

The more you work on it, the better it will get. This is your Value Proposition.

Inspired by Tom Peters.

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How to Get Things Done

 This I learnt from David Allen.

David Allen developed the powerful GTD (Getting Things Done) program. GETTING THINGS DONE® is a personal productivity methodology that redefines how you approach your life and work. The fundamental is to follow five clear steps that apply order to chaos.

STEP 1
CAPTURE
Collect what has your attention
Write, record, or gather any and everything that has your attention into a collection tool.

STEP 2
CLARIFY
Process what it means
Is it actionable? If so, decide the next action and project (if more than one action is required). If not, decide if it is trash, reference, or something to put on hold.

STEP 3
ORGANIZE
Put it where it belongs
Park reminders of your categorized content in appropriate places.

STEP 4
REFLECT
Review frequently
Update and review all pertinent system contents to regain control and focus.

STEP 5
ENGAGE
Simply do
Use your trusted system to make action decisions with confidence and clarity.

You can find out more here.

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Focus and Reading

 I found these thoughts interesting…

• Focus is the art of knowing what to ignore.

• Reading is like a software update for your brain. 

Whenever you learn a new concept or idea, the “software” improves. You download new features and fix old bugs.

In this way, reading a good book can give you a new way to view your life experiences. Your past is fixed, but your interpretation of it can change depending on the software you use to analyze it.

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7 Winning Content Ideas for your social media posts

 3m to read / 

It’s not easy to come up fresh ideas for your social media posts every day. Here are seven easy to follow tips on types of winning content you can create easily.

1. Questions and Answers

Questions and Answers make up great stories. One easy way to create interesting posts is to pose interesting questions. Remember, your audience loves sharing experiences and opinions on social media – so provide a platform for their expression. Having a relevant and interesting image to go along with your question will get immediate attention, and more people will engage. You can ask your audience which of your products, for example, they really like.

But don’t always post questions just about your brand. They should involve the audience’s genuine interest and passion. You can also get a lot of interest by asking them to predict something. For some questions, you can provide two options as answers, rather than leaving them open ended.
Another way is to provide answers – again with relevant and useful visuals. These resolve the audience’s problems, or answer queries. Many brands use this content bucket to respond to Frequently Asked Questions about their products. ‘Answer’ posts can be useful ‘how-do’ demos, instructional videos, simple solutions explained visually and more.

2. Fill in the Blanks and Poll Posts

Asking your audience to fill in the blanks actually engages them and gives them a sense of direction on how to express themselves. “My favorite player in Superbowl LI was ___________”. Or get a sense of which social platform they are most engaged on “The social media platform I use most every day is __________”. You get the drift.

3. Create a theme for days of the week

If you create bucket themes for days of the week, you can come up with content for those days easily. As well, people will know what to expect – it gives them a feel of consistency about your posts. Movie Mondays, Tuesday Tip of the Day, Wednesday Windows, Thursday Thanks, Friday Fun, Saturday Showtime etc. Often you can actually find day themes that are common hashtags, and you can get more mileage by using those hashtags.

4. Special Holidays, Unusual and Funny Name Days

There are names for almost every day of the year – and a lot of them have hashtags attached to them. You can create pretty cool content by building your posts around these day themes. You can ask them questions around the days theme – and perhaps have a quirky call to action. Be sure to use appropriately relevant visuals to make these posts interesting. Check out this site to get a list of days in the year you can build your posts on. Remember, it can be days, or weeks, or even occasions that you create.

5. Jump on the Local Events Bandwagon

There’s usually a lot of interest on events around town – a concert, a special occasion, a gala or a big sporting event. You can use the buzz around these events to generate interesting content. Use hashtags when possible. Actually, these can be global events as well where a hashtag will get you a whole lot more interest than a normal post. You can plug the local event, provide tips, may be even a couple of free tickets…

6. Feature your customers

This works like magic. People want to be heard and seen on social media. You can feature customer testimonials, demos, unboxings or even a simple ‘how-to’ tip that they provided. Use their photos or videos – this adds visual value and authenticates the post as well.

7. Share resources

You really need to come across as their friend, as someone who provides useful content. Don’t hesitate to provide information, tips and resources from third parties that will be of relevance to your audience.
These are simple tips to follow. And they make for interesting content buckets that go beyond the usual types you do on a regular basis. Create useful, interesting content and you’ll engage your audience better.
Please share this post with your friends, and please comment on this if you want to add something…

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Winning Content Ideas for Social Media

3m to read / 

It's not easy to come up fresh ideas for your social media posts every day. Here are seven easy to follow tips on types of winning content you can create easily.

1. Questions and Answers

Questions and Answers make up great stories. One easy way to create interesting posts is to pose interesting questions. Remember, your audience loves sharing experiences and opinions on social media – so provide a platform for their expression. Having a relevant and interesting image to go along with your question will get immediate attention, and more people will engage. You can ask your audience which of your products, for example, they really like.

But don't always post questions just about your brand. They should involve the audience's genuine interest and passion. You can also get a lot of interest by asking them to predict something. For some questions, you can provide two options as answers, rather than leaving them open ended.

Another way is to provide answers – again with relevant and useful visuals. These resolve the audience's problems, or answer queries. Many brands use this content bucket to respond to Frequently Asked Questions about their products. 'Answer' posts can be useful 'how-do' demos, instructional videos, simple solutions explained visually and more.

2. Fill in the Blanks and Poll Posts

Asking your audience to fill in the blanks actually engages them and gives them a sense of direction on how to express themselves. "My favorite player in Superbowl LI was ___________". Or get a sense of which social platform they are most engaged on "The social media platform I use most every day is __________". You get the drift.

3. Create a theme for days of the week

If you create bucket themes for days of the week, you can come up with content for those days easily. As well, people will know what to expect – it gives them a feel of consistency about your posts. Movie Mondays, Tuesday Tip of the Day, Wednesday Windows, Thursday Thanks, Friday Fun, Saturday Showtime etc. Often you can actually find day themes that are common hashtags, and you can get more mileage by using those hashtags.

4. Special Holidays, Unusual and Funny Name Days

There are names for almost every day of the year – and a lot of them have hashtags attached to them. You can create pretty cool content by building your posts around these day themes. You can ask them questions around the days theme – and perhaps have a quirky call to action. Be sure to use appropriately relevant visuals to make these posts interesting. Check out this site to get a list of days in the year you can build your posts on. Remember, it can be days, or weeks, or even occasions that you create.

5. Jump on the Local Events Bandwagon

There's usually a lot of interest on events around town – a concert, a special occasion, a gala or a big sporting event. You can use the buzz around these events to generate interesting content. Use hashtags when possible. Actually, these can be global events as well where a hashtag will get you a whole lot more interest than a normal post. You can plug the local event, provide tips, may be even a couple of free tickets...

6. Feature your customers

This works like magic. People want to be heard and seen on social media. You can feature customer testimonials, demos, unboxings or even a simple 'how-to' tip that they provided. Use their photos or videos – this adds visual value and authenticates the post as well.

7. Share resources

You really need to come across as their friend, as someone who provides useful content. Don't hesitate to provide information, tips and resources from third parties that will be of relevance to your audience.

These are simple tips to follow. And they make for interesting content buckets that go beyond the usual types you do on a regular basis. Create useful, interesting content and you'll engage your audience better. And that's That's Digital Marketing Strategies 101.

Please share this post with your friends, and please comment on this if you want to add something...

Now read more on social media and content:

• 6 Critical Steps to a Winning Social Media Strategy

• Winning Content Strategy: Always share something valuable and useful

• Content Marketing Strategy: What kind of content should you create?

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