How to get into the Digital Marketing industry

With 30% of South Africa’s population being connected to the Internet, the job market has seen an increase in digital jobs popping up over the last couple of years. Let’s take traditional marketing for example, this has branched out into jobs like Social Media Manager, Community Manager, Content and Copy writer, Digital media sales, Digital Processing Engineer, Digital marketing to only name a few. So how does one get into this new era?

As per any industry you have your lower end jobs where one does need a qualification to succeed and you also have your higher end jobs that do require some qualification, but the nice part about these digital careers is that in many instances you can teach yourself and get into a company and learn as you grow.

If you are thinking of studying a field in the digital sphere you can enrol at institutes like Vega, AAA and Red & Yellow. You also have the opportunity to take an online course through institutions like UNISA and Intec.

If you are considering studying and you’re wondering where would be the best place to go if you are on a limited budget, you need to consider that universities are facing questions about their future.

There are three disruptive waves that are threatening to upend established ways of teaching and learning, one of which is the technological revolution. An explosion in online learning (much of it free) means that the knowledge once imparted to a lucky few has been released to anyone with a smartphone or laptop. So research before you sign up and remember that theory can only take you so far and that experience will get you the rest of the way.

We recently had the opportunity to Interview Mike Sharman (who is the co-founder of Retroviral Digital Communications) at the Hello Ambassador Creative Conference at the State Theatre in Pretoria.

“It is preferable to have some sort of formal training, like a BA in marketing and communications or study copywriting and design” says Sharman, “but if you do not have any formal qualifications you would need to be passionate about communications, do a lot of research on what agencies are out there, what jobs are available and where you would fit the best in terms of company and personal culture. See who is offering internships or start at the bottom and work your way up”, he offers.

We have been saying it a while now and Mike just confirmed that you need to put yourself out there and network: “it is all about the hustle” he says. There is a lot of sameness and employers receive 100’s of mundane CV’s daily, so here’s what you could do to catch their attention:
• Create your personal brand and engage with brand’s you are interested in.
• Potential recruits need to grab the employer’s attention– since you are in the digital sphere, why not create a micro site or a campaign and / or have an online resume?

Some parting words from Mike: “For an employer to be interested in you, you have to do something different and think outside the box.”

Huge thanks to Mike Sharman for taking time to chat with us. You can follow him via @MikeSharman on Twitter. Watch the the full video of the interview (which is part of our #YouWantMyJob series on YouTube) below:

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Leave a comment and let us know what your thoughts are. Feedback is appreciated and welcome here. If you found this to be informative and useful information remember that Sharing is Caring. Feel free to check out our previous installment in this series featuring Richard and Alex from ISO on hints for breaking into the music industry.

If you have not yet registered your CV, Register here: WEB or MOBILE or go ahead and apply for Marketing jobs today! Remember to keep your CV updated and watch this space for regular updates for job seekers on the Job Mail Blog.