"Why I chose to be a digital marketing professional..."

Niranjana Muraleedharan (Class of 2014) wrote this piece for The Commits Chronicle in June 2104:

Yes, my Facebook page is always open, as you can see in the photograph below. But I browse Facebook not for fun; I do it to earn a livelihood. Never in my life did I know about the existence of careers in digital media until I came to Commits. Today I am working as the Jr. Executive, Campaign Management-Digital at AdVerb Inc. in Bangalore.

Like any other fresher, I was also blank about where my skills lay and what career I could pursue. In my first semester I liked journalism because I thought I could write; in the second semester my thoughts turned to advertising because I thought I could ideate. And then I found my true love, Digital Media Marketing. All thanks to Commits, which conducts special classes on the subject for MMC specialisation students.

NIRANJANA MURALEEDHARAN AT HER DESK AT ADVERB.

I must have run to Sai Sir’s and RP Sir’s cabins umpteen times to ask them what job would suit me best when, one day, Sai Sir asked me to try out this new field. He told me about the boom in, and scope of, digital marketing. At first, I was doubtful because the field is new, but my second internship, arranged by Commits, cleared all my doubts.

Digital Media Marketing has a bit of content writing, ideating, and brand management. As there were classes in all three subjects at Commits, it is easy to understand my work better now. Life is fast-paced when you are working in digital media. RP Sir’s dictum — “Pay attention to detail” — has proved invaluable: If I make one mistake, thousands will see it.  Hence, I always keep his words in mind.

One more thing: The Commits radiance spreads everywhere. To my surprise, I have a Commitscion (Razia Kuvale, Class of 2009) as my manager and I am so glad. No one can ask for a better boss.

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And in January 2016, after moving to a new company, Niranjana contributed another piece to The Commits Chronicle:

THERE'S SO MUCH SCOPE FOR
DIGITAL MEDIA PROFESSIONALS TODAY

“Oh! How I just hate that ad which pops up before the YouTube video starts playing. All I want to do is press the skip button.”

Say that no more if you want to be a digital media enthusiast.

In this fast-paced world, brands have started investing more on digital advertising. For them, it is a fair deal because every metric is tracked. There are determinants to understand the performance of each ad. Since the communication is two-way and the results are immediate, believe me, it makes the job more fun. You know if your strategy has worked or if the thinking cap you wore when coming up with your strategy was the wrong one.

NIRANJANA AT ISOBAR.

This reminds me of an interesting episode. We were working for a client, MeraJob.in — a job-matching portal for blue-collar workers. The challenge to communicate with these blue-collar job-seekers was immense because their English communication skills were weak. We tried talking to them in simple English. We wrote content they would be absolutely interested in.

But we received no response on the page.

What was wrong then? Was it because they disliked the content or was the content not relevant to them? It struck us then that the language we had chosen was a problem. We took a different route and started sharing content in Hindi. And boom! In came all the responses. This was proof that any strategy works only if you have understood your target audience well.

If you want to become a Digital Marketing Professional, you have many areas to choose to work in. This includes social media, search-engine marketing and optimisation, web analytics, e-mail marketing, media planning, creative designing, and client servicing. The growth is immense in the field.  I started my career as a Social Media Executive at AdVerb; recently I moved to Media Planning at Isobar. This means, it’s good if you explore various fields in the medium and gradually become an expert.

You can get into digital media if you have the right educational qualifications, which means it helps to have a master’s degree. But what’s more important is learning on the job. Keeping an eye on what’s happening around digital is a must. You should be updated about what other brands are doing online, the changes in advertising techniques, the advertising tools, as well as the new features.

And you don’t have to worry about the fun part! Digital media folks are the most chilled-out people you will meet in your life. You will not know how those nine hours or more (!) at work have whizzed past.

FUN TIMES AT WORK: NIRANJANA WITH HER COLLEAGUES AT THE OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY.

• Niranjana Muraleedharan's manager at AdVerb was a Commitscion, Razia Kuvale. Now, at Isobar, her boss is another Commitscion, Baniaikynmaw Lydia Shanpru. Read Baniaikynmaw's post here: "What it means to be a social media marketing professional".

• Mint speaks to three professionals who reiterate that digital marketing is more than just designing Web pages and advertising online: There’s a lot of potential to grow in digital marketing, but you also need the ability to adapt as technology evolves

What it means to be a social media marketing professional

BANIAIKYNMAW SHANPRU

Commits alumna BANIAIKYNMAW LYDIA SHANPRU (Class of 2007) works with Mindshare, a subsidiary of Group M, in Bangalore. Here she tells us what social media, increasingly being used as a marketing tool, is all about:

“Social media” is a phrase that is bandied about quite frequently these days. But what exactly is social media? And why has it become an important marketing tool?

Social media is all about the five C’s: Communication, Community, Connection, Creation, Convergence.

What are the elements that are considered as social media?

Networks: For social and professional networking.

Blogs: Individuals write about their views and opinions on various personal, social, and marketing issues they face; posts are updated frequently.

Forums: Users post queries and responses about brands and products

Almost all brands concentrate on acquiring fans in the case of Facebook or followers on Twitter. Contests and contents are the main drivers for building a community.

In addition, brands also acquire fans and followers through paid media which comprises social advertising on Facebook and promoted tweets/brands on Twitter.

How are these platforms utilised?

A. The brand’s fans/followers can be kept informed about developments concerning the brand. This is done through status updates on the Facebook Fan Page, Twitter Channel, etc.

B. The brand engages with fans/followers when their queries/comments are replied to on a regular basis. If they post queries/comments about the brand, it is best to respond immediately to prevent negative comments about the brand and to avoid creating a bad impression about the brand.

C. Brand advocates, who speak positively about the brand to their peers, can be created.

Point to note: When speaking with its fans/followers, the brand should converse with them in a personal tone and avoid using difficult marketing terms as far as possible.

BANIAIKYNMAW IN HER CUBICLE AT MINDSHARE.

The rules of social media are Listen, Learn, and Leverage.

Listen: As a social media marketer one should be thorough with ORM (Online Relationship Management), that is, tracking and keeping up-to-date on the brand sentiments whether they are positive, neutral, or negative conversations.

Learn: Identify and analyse conversation trends for appropriate content response.

Leverage: Engage with the users by persuading them to participate in the brand conversation and in contests. You can also give them exclusive access to content to make them your brand advocates.

And finally, something to remember:

1. Just as we pay for our ads in print and on television, social media strategy doesn’t come free of cost.

2. Knowing how to post a status update on Facebook or how to tweet does not qualify one to be a social media specialist.

3. Most importantly, brands have to listen to their consumers and become their friends and not marketing advisors.

• UPDATE (July 25, 2013): Carrie Kerpen, the CEO of a social media agency, explains why she believes strongly that there are key areas within social media upon which you may build a career. Read the article she contributed to Forbes here: "Is Social Media a Career?"