How To Hire A Digital Marketer

In this social media-driven world, where 74% of consumers rely on social platforms to influence their purchase decisions. Companies are waking up to the importance of social media and plan to lay the foundation of their overall marketing strategy. About 64% of organizations with social customer services invest in online communities, as currently, 80% of these companies mishandle customer engagement opportunities. Also, 97% of all customers are searching for local businesses online and merely 71% of them receive a quick brand response and are likely to recommend it to others.

There are 243 million people having access to the internet and this number is increasing every second (Facebook has 1.06 billion active users, which is 15% of Earth’s population!), those companies whose lack of strategy act as a barrier impeding their use of social media, have now started to make an attempt towards improving their social media presence. To improve their social presence, many companies these days are hiring digital marketers/ digital marketing consultant.

Digital marketers are individuals who are capable to initiate effective marketing campaigns online. Digital marketing can include Online Advertising, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Email Campaigning, Online Brand positioning and other internet-related engagements.

• Responsible for developing marketing strategies and techniques to promote the company’s product in the field of social media.
• Indulged in web analytics, e-mail marketing (e-mail blasts) and search engine optimization (SEO).
• Construction of social-media (e-mail) campaigns and promotions to promote companies product and spread its message.
• Researching new consumers and innovative methods to reach potential consumers through various social media sites.
• Translation of business goals to effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaigns, analyzing the performance of the SEO campaign and make needed improvements.
• Increasing/ improving the company’s website ranking and overall presence on the internet (Increasing daily time on site and daily page view per visitor and reducing bounce rate).
• Overseeing internet marketing campaigns from program management to execution and directing the other members of the company/ company such as sales executives, content managers and web designers.
• Other areas of work include: Pay per Click (PPC) campaigns which are sponsored online advertising paid for by the company; Mobile marketing which may include the development of company’s mobile app, SMS marketing, etc.; Affiliate marketing that is allowing other business to sell their product on their website.
• Researching new online media opportunities and platforms that could benefit the company either through social media, blogs, online conferences etc.
• Integrating and developing content marketing strategies.

Now, we know what a Digital Marketer does but does your company really needs one? 

• By 2016, sales with social enterprise solutions will increase to $4.5 billion dollars. That is an annual growth rate of 42%.
• By 2016, 50% of large enterprises will have internal Facebook-like social networks, and 30% of them will be considered as essential as e-mails and telephones.
• In a nutshell, today 80% of users prefer to connect with brands on Facebook out of which 69% are suggested by friends. Google and Twitter are not far, as the button “+1” is being used 5 million per day and 30% of twitter is all business.
• B2B marketers invest in social media to 83% increase brand exposure; a 69% increase in traffic; 65% to gain insight market insight.
• 70% of B2C businesses have acquired consumers through Facebook.
• 67 % of Twitter users are far more likely to buy from the brand they follow on Twitter, out of which 37% will definitely buy from the brands they follow on Twitter.
• (Bonus point) Facebook has 1.06 billion users, Twitter has 200 million active users, while Tumblr has 125 and WordPress.com blogs get 15 billion page views per month. One look at this data is enough to grasp the reach of social media in the modern world which means increased customer engagement.

Other reasons, may include improved communication such as promotions & discounts (90% say they follow brands on Twitter to get discounts), latest product information, customer service and ability to offer feedback easily. And the most obvious one – increase in sales.

With a good idea of the job description and the importance of a Digital Marketer past us, we can now move to the question of how to hire them. Many large companies /brand companies have missed out on market share even on having digital marketing teams. Thus, it is a tricky task to hire a marketing expert as no company would want to end up not achieving their desired output. Here a few tricks you can keep up your sleeves when hiring one for your company.

Social-Media Presence

The first question you need to ask the potential candidate is if he himself has good outreach on various social media platforms? A candidate who is active social media platforms is likely to perform better than a candidate who is not active on such platforms. As he will have a basic understanding of how things work on such platforms and understand the social engagement trends and technique which out firms are using to increase their engagement.

Writing Skills

Hiring someone who writes is better than hiring a candidate who doesn’t. Digital marketers need to face tons of content and may have to write too on a daily basis. You need to hire someone who can whip up relevant and thoughtful content in a crunch of a deadline (not always).  So good writing skills are a must-have in a Digital Marketer.

Passionate for Marketing

Passion is crucial when it comes to hiring a Digital Marketer. If he/she is not passionate or has the same level of energy to take risks and the ability to embrace change, there is a strong probability that he may perform well or may lose interest soon. So make sure the candidate you hire is passionate about the tasks the job demands.

Assess Marketing Skills

It is important to make sure, the one you hire is able to fit into the competency framework of your company. Marketers form an impression on the public about the company and if you hire someone who doesn’t fit in the competency framework, he won’t be able to represent what your company stands for and represents. So a good marketer with good personalities will create better public conduct.

Hire the Right Fit

You cannot hire the right guy if you don’t know what you are hiring him/her for. So it is important to understand the job yourself before you hire the person to do the job. The best way to get great insight is to get in touch with someone who is in the same post. Also,  Understand what your company’s requirements are on the Digital Marketing front as a job will help you analyze the core abilities and the skill set required to carry on the task, which will in turn help you narrow down your search.

Knowledge of Marketing Tools

A digital marketer needs to have skills such as the use of Google Analytics, knowledge of keywords, Google Adwords,  copywriting, social-media trends and platform. The best way to test them would be through the use of assessments. Assessments can provide a clear picture of the level of basic skills acquired by the candidate and benchmarking can help you decide if he is fit for your company or not.

It ‘s really tough to find capable digital talent. So to survive in this ever-changing market, your company will require a smart digital marketer.  Hopefully, this post helps you understand out what you need to look for, where to look, and how to vet digital marketing hires, leaving you more time for the process itself.

If you have any tips to add yourself or questions for me, please leave a comment.