Who knows how many times you have heard of the digital marketing specialist. However, raise your hand if you can explain what it actually does and what it is all about. If a recent survey, taken up by major national newspapers and specialised blogs, claims that in 2022 the digital marketing specialist will be the most sought-after figure in the digital world, the question becomes interesting.
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In these two interviews we will find the answers to many questions about this professional figure, such as who the digital marketing specialist is and what he or she does, how to become a digital specialist, what is the most suitable course to reach this position, what tools he or she should use. I could also listen to the interviews in the Youtube videos below.
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Interview with Giovanni Pizza: Digital Marketing Specialist
We asked Giovanni Pizza, digital marketing specialist at Boston Scientific, to help us understand more and better who he really is and what he does.
Giovanni, tell us something about yourself
I hold the position of digital marketing and communication specialist at Boston Scientific, a Medical Devices company. In particular, I follow the interventional cardiology division for Europe.
What does the digital marketing specialist do?
The digital marketing specialist is a transversal figure, I would say a generalist profile. There are different ‘specialists’ at the digital level:
- The social media specialist (the person in charge of Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram)
- The email marketing specialist (takes care of sending emails and tracking data and marketing campaigns)
- The specialist at site level, at content marketing and content management system level.
Digital marketing specialist: what skills must you have?
The digital marketing specialist is a figure with skills in all these areas, including traditional communication. His task is to guide the company and its strategies throughout the digital marketing approach.
Which figures do you relate to the most?
Certainly, the digital marketing specialist has a constant relationship with the marketing side and the communication division of the company. In fact, many products that are used for digital are taken from product brochures, conference slides, i.e. from more traditional forms of communication.
Giovanni also explained to us that the digital marketing specialist, especially in large companies, interfaces with the IT department and all the corporate components that deal with the CMS. In digital, in fact, the ability to measure the marketing investment is an important innovation compared to traditional marketing.
To understand campaign revenue, it is important that digital channels are linked to business software that can measure sales opportunities. This is what CRMs like Salesforce are for.
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What path did you take to the role of digital marketing specialist?
I graduated in International Management from LUISS Guido Carli in Rome with a thesis on Growth Hacking, one of the latest digital growth areas in Silicon Valley.
It is difficult to find a predefined path for the digital marketing specialist. Some have a mathematical or scientific background. I used to say that mine is a hybrid figure precisely because one needs to have mathematical and computer skills and, in general, in communication and management.
What tools cannot the digital marketing specialist do without?
This depends very much on the channels one uses. In every company there are ‘proprietary’ channels such as the company website or blog and ‘non-proprietary’ channels, i.e. all those that rely on an external platform whose rules must be respected, such as a Facebook page for example.
How are proprietary channels used?
Certainly good management of proprietary channels by the digital marketing specialist is crucial, because here there is more guaranteed flexibility since the management rules are dictated by you and you can therefore rely on a more long-term strategy.
On the website you are sure that the content will always be accessible to the company and it will always be possible to make updates or change strategies. Indispensable is the software for using the site, i.e. the content management system (WordPress, Adobe Experience Manager, Salesforce).
Also essential are tools for organic optimisation, i.e. to make one’s content more easily accessible and findable in search engines such as Google and Yahoo. This is free advertising for the company, so it is essential to be able to intercept this type of traffic and interest.
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Does knowledge of the English language help the digital marketing specialist?
Yes, at least for two reasons:
- A lot of information and innovations are first available in English and then translated. I am thinking of social network policy updates for example, or Silicon Valley news that is discovered on the web in English and then translated into other languages
- At the communication level, one often finds oneself operating in international contexts. One often interfaces with communication agencies or business partners and therefore in order not to be penalised it is useful to know at least a second language
What added value does a digital marketing specialist provide to a company?
In my opinion there are at least three types of value that the digital marketing specialist gives to a company:
- In economic terms, the use of digital marketing provides access to a larger market than traditional marketing, so there are also more sales opportunities at a lower cost
- The second is in terms of cost efficiency: digital strategies allow an analysis of the results and thus greater efficiency of campaigns and thus also cost optimisation
- The third reason, which is often ignored, is the ability to gain statistically significant knowledge. With digital marketing databases of millions, you can experiment and A/B test on millions of samples. The variations found on a large sample have scientific value. You gain more information about what works on a communication level, but also about your customers. It is an added value that the company can also spend in other fields starting with traditional marketing.
How much can a digital marketing specialist earn?
The earning potential for the digital marketing specialist, like for so many others, is governed by the laws of supply and demand. Let me explain: there is a huge demand in the digital market and there is a scarce supply precisely because of the set of characteristics this figure must possess, and this drives up prices. The first salary for a junior figure could be around 25,000 euros a year.
Interview with Vincenzo Aprile: Digital Marketing Specialist
Interview with Vincenzo Aprile, 29 years old from Sicily, who has lived in Milan for several years now. He has always had a strong passion for communication and social media.
Vincenzo in fact holds the position of digital marketing specialist within Feries Srl, owner of CaseVacanza.it (go to the official site) and recently also of Agriturismo.it, Italy’s leading company for tourist rentals, as well as a partner of immobiliare.it.
Today, we will understand what a Digital Marketer of this type of portals does and what his or her main tasks are. We will also provide useful tips for Viral Marketing or Viral Marketing, i.e. all those strategies aimed at engaging users and increasing online and social shares through the creation of content.
What was your path and how did you start approaching the world of Marketing and Advertising, to reach the role of Digital Marketing Specialist today?
I began my path by studying Communication at Lumsa in Rome, continuing my education by studying Brand Management at Iulm in Milan.
Once I finished my studies, I started several internships, for example IKEA, where I was in charge of offline marketing related to IKEA Family the Loyalty card, so trying to create interest in the consumer and bring him online.
From there I worked in an agency, and dealt with different areas, from Brand, to entertainment, to Food, to Onlus Foundations, to politics, until I landed in the tourism sector where I currently work for Feries Srl, so I manage the Brand of CaseVacanza.it and Agriturismo.it.
What adjectives best describe your role as a Digital Marketing Specialist?
Let’s say that there is a lot of confusion in this sector, in the sense that all these figures from digital marketing specialist, digital marketing consultant or social media manager etc., are transversal figures whose work dynamics are very similar, and are therefore being defined.
My figure of digital marketing specialist goes back to the concept of before, in that I do not only deal with Social but also with web content, advertisement on Facebook and the main social platforms.
I also deal with the SEM part, so it’s all about Marketing applied to the Web and digital world. So you have to be versatile in this field, be creative above all curious, because you have to understand what the trends are, anticipate them and ride them in order to keep up with the others. Also because not being in a leading position in the market leads you to chase the big international brands.
Sometimes market trends can also be useful, as the small structure allows you to move more easily than the giants that follow many more steps before taking action. So the three adjectives are definitely being versatile, creative and curious, which are fundamental because they are applied in any field and not only in the digital one.
We mentioned Viral Marketing earlier, what is your idea or definition of Viral Marketing?
In my opinion, there is no well-defined idea of Viral Marketing, also because online and offline activities have merged at the same time.
I think the content is viral and not the strategies, in the sense that you have to have in mind what the brand strategy is and what the values are. When content is designed around the brand’s values and communication techniques, then it goes viral. When we talk about brands, we never talk in the short term but in the long term.
What we see now is part of a strategy that will take a few years to get results. It takes time to work and build a brand. I am for brand personification, so that company is perceived as if it were a physical person.
I believe that a content linked to a brand to become, must evolve over time, otherwise the community will tend to get used to that type of communication, diminishing the expectations and reactions of the users themselves, especially for brands that make viral content a strong point.
I think we can work on two levels, so either viral marketing as a brand feature or viral marketing from a content point of view, e.g. awareness campaigns or values the brand itself wants to focus on.
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As I said before, you have to understand the brand strategy, and I assume that you have done some analysis on the values you want to convey.
When one sets oneself this objective and understands how to show these values, any content can go viral, also because viral does not mean that it goes viral just for the community, but goes beyond those four digital walls.
For example, a Netflix fan will not be surprised by the communication activities on the brand’s content or values, but to be able to convey that content also outside the platform’s circle of users, who have already become loyal to the brand’s values.
I spend practically 24 hours a day on social media, and I think they are the basis for virality, because the most important element is sharing.
If you exclude the latter, I think you miss the whole strategy on social. All brands aspire not only to likes or comments, but also to shares, because thanks to them it is possible to reach an audience that may not know us.
It’s a very important element, for example even the trend of the last few years on Instagram or if we think until a few years ago there was the follow friday on Twitter, that is, those mentions that advised users to follow that particular character or brand because it was interesting was very popular and so on. This too can be considered a form of Viral Marketing to reach new pèrsone because you have created a relationship with your fanbase.
What do you think are the mistakes to avoid?
Wanting to create a viral campaign at all costs. There are people who certainly deal with campaigns or content that has been very successful, but to impose on oneself to create a viral marketing campaign and to have the sole objective of achieving better or bigger results than others, I think is wrong.
As I said before, for content to go viral it must be supported by a strategy. In my work as a digital marketing specialist I have never pretended to make viral content, one because perhaps a well-organised structure is needed, both at a creative level for content development and at a strategic level. And two because the pretense of setting such goals leads you to raise a standard that is not always possible to achieve.
So, the mistake to avoid in my opinion is to tell yourself that I will create content that will surely go viral. I care about the content or message, and work on conveying it effectively by applying precise strategies. I see this a lot on social, namely content that seems self-referential. You have to create techniques that push the user to share and interact with that content in a natural way, so I think it is a mistake to want to create a viral campaign at all costs.
Why is it essential to rely on data analysis?
As we know, marketing is analysis, strategy and operation. If the analysis is well structured and organised (i.e. my strategy, which includes targeting, positioning and segmentation) the results will undoubtedly be effective, depending of course on my objectives.
Once you get to the operational phase, you cyclically return to the analysis phase, which can be positive but also negative. Negative does not mean that it is counterproductive; on the contrary, it will serve you to improve it, so that you can see where mistakes or errors have been made. So analysis, however tedious it may be, is fundamental not only for the digital marketing specialist but in any field.
Which analytical tools are most effective or most used in your experience?
Certainly Google Analytics and Google Trends are widely used. In my case, I very often use the Insight section of Facebook, whose data is much more truthful in my opinion.
If I have to work on a click-to-link campaign, for example, to generate traffic, I cross-reference the Facebook data with Google Analytics, because you have to see the number of page views, and in this Analytics is much more precise and detailed than other tools.
At the beginning, I didn’t have a very good relationship with numbers. Over time, however, I realised that without the help and support of analytics, I would never have been able to create credible content.
What are the earning prospects for a Digital Marketing Specialist and what are their main tasks?
These figures working within Digital Marketing are new and not very well known.
When I am entrusted with a job by a brand, I believe that my role as digital marketing specialist requires a great deal of responsibility, because social media and the web represent the first source of communication for a brand, which may not be able to afford posters around town or a commercial on television.
So as I said before, the figure of the digital marketing specialist has a huge influence on the brand. The earning prospects, on the other hand, are very much linked to the experience gained over the years and above all also to the type of company. It starts from an income of 20-24,000 euros gross per year up to 50,000 euros. It also depends very much on the amount of skills required and how much the company is willing to invest in this figure.
So what are the career possibilities?
Absolutely. I started out as a simple copywriter, and gradually started to manage all the operational side of publishing and creating editorial plans. Later, I specialised with Facebook Ads, and thus the development of paid advertising campaigns on Facebook.
Then today I became a digital marketing specialist, thus relating to strategy, while continuing to apply all the aspects I mentioned earlier, the editorial and advertisement part. I have noticed in the last few years an increasing demand for the data analysis part, although the coordination of a team capable of covering all the daily activities, especially from a social perspective, is indispensable.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a Digital Marketing Specialist?
Apart from studying Brand Management, which definitely formed me, I learnt a lot in the field, that was the training school that allowed me to become what I am today.
That’s because I’m a curious person, I like to mix with other realities, I go to events and maybe spot a social media manager and interact with him the whole evening because you never stop learning. I also study social media a lot not only on a personal level, I try to learn the social profiles of companies or figures in the industry.
The strong point, as I also said earlier in the interview, is to be curious and above all versatile, to try to cover more and more areas, because more and more companies are asking for a series of tasks that may not correspond to your work background. And so you have to be ready for every eventuality, try to improve and get better above all. Indeed, I think it is precisely those kinds of experiences that make you grow both professionally and humanly.
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INTERVIEW BY VINCENZO APRILE EDITED BY MAURIZIO BUONOCORE
I have been involved in digital communication for several years. My main passions are music, or rather the music industry, marketing and showbusiness related entertainment. Because of this, writing and sharing content allows me to best express my interests.
I am currently working as a Content Creator at Digital Coach Milan, enrolled in the Digital Project Manager programme.
In fact, I am having the opportunity to learn many aspects of Digital Marketing, e.g. Google Adwords, Google Analytics, eCommerce strategies, Social Media Marketing and so on, as I strongly wish to work in this field, thanks to which I can build my professional future.
