Digital jobs that didn’t exist 10 years ago photo credit: GettyGetty
When asked what degree I have to be in digital marketing, I get very confused looks when I tell them that not only do I not have a marketing degree, I actually have two degrees in journalism. In fact, at least half of my digital co-workers have journalism degrees or something similar and not digital marketing degrees. Why? Well, because when we were in school there wasn’t a digital marketing option. In fact, when we were in school, most of our jobs didn’t even exist yet. Luckily there are now many programs offered in digital marketing and some great career options in the field.
Here’s a look at 7 digital marketing jobs that didn’t exist 10 years ago and the average salaries for those positions.
Digital Marketing Specialist
With the rise of everything moving to digital, so did marketing. Instead of billboards, commercials and direct mail- we now have online ads, YouTube ads and email. While the objectives and goals of digital marketers are still in line with other marketing professionals, digital marketers had to pivot to be more tech-savvy and digitally focused concentrating on effective online marketing campaigns and digital messaging for consumers.
Avg. Salary: $51,984
Vlogger
While bloggers have been around since the early 90s, YouTube wasn’t released until 2005 starting the age of online cat videos. Many successful vloggers, also called “influencers” use their platform to make money through product sponsorship, reviews and advertising on their videos. Today’s biggest YouTube Vlogger is estimated to be worth around 15.5 million. Vloggers are digital marketers in a sense that they market products and their brand on social media. Who knew that marketing yourself could be a job?
Avg. Salary: Depends on following and views but an average YouTuber makes approx. $40,000
Social Media Manager
With 2.46 billion people on social media in the world, and continuing to rise, it is no wonder that social media managers are in high demand across the globe. This means that a lot of people are on social every day and this is where many people are getting their news and information from most of the time.
Social media managers responsibility is to strategize, manage and maintain all of a company’s social networks making sure they are brand consistent and that the feedback from customers gets addressed. Staying present and up to date on social is an important aspect of staying ahead in today’s digital-based economy.
Avg. Salary: $48,614
Chief Listening Officer
This role is relatively new to the digital community, but an important one. It is a step above social media manager taking more of an overall approach to social. They monitor both the external and internal communications to get a better understanding of what clients like or dislike about the brand and create strategies to remedy or maintain those opinions with the assistance of the social media manager.
They also present their findings to stakeholders of things like complaints, new product ideas, tips from consumers and general feedback from social listening. With people being more willing to share opinions and ideas across social media, this job plays a big role in forward thinking to stay ahead of the competition and keeping customers happy with your company.
Avg. Salary: $181,210
SEO Analyst
Search engine optimization (SEO) analysts help a company optimize website and content to have better visibility in online searches so that potential customers can find their company easier. With smartphones, everyone has access to hundreds of different companies competing for their loyalty and it’s easy to get lost in the results page if you don’t have the right tools to get you found. An SEO analyst can analyze the website, develop and execute strategies and improve search rankings. Since SEO is constantly changing, this is an evergreen task that takes keeping up with Google’s newest rules and trends and monitoring website analytics for success and needed adjustments.
Avg. Salary: $46,466
Data Scientist
The term “data science” in the business world has been around for quite a few decades, but the role today has evolved to fit the digital changes in the business. Data scientists now have access to voluminous amounts of structured, semi-structured and unstructured data and need to be able to collect, interpret and utilize large data sets into data strategies for organizations. Having access to all this information can be a blessing and a curse. It is great for keeping an edge over competitors, but only if you know how to utilize it correctly. Understanding your market is the key to a successful business. Therefore having an expert data scientist to help compile information into data visualizations and insights is so important.
Avg. Salary: $118,709
UX Designer
User experience (UX) designers concentrate on exactly what it sounds, the experience of the user. They explore different options and approaches through A/B testing to determine the best types of landing pages, call to actions, customer journeys, and so forth across the site and it’s products, like apps. This improves customer experience and overall satisfaction of consumers and gives great insights about online users to a company to help improve.
Avg. Salary: $107,880