LinkedIn Marketing highlights in a recent report how much demand has grown for marketers in digital roles. Their internal data analysis shows that digital marketing and social media jobs are in high demand. Fifty percent of the top ten jobs posted on LinkedIn are in the digital and media environment.
Companies all over the world are now very aware of the importance of digital marketing. This is demonstrated by Harvard Business School’s new Executive Education program “Marketing in the Digital Age”, which is presented in a virtual format. The business world knows that more customers are available online than ever before. And to connect with these customers, they need employees with digital marketing skills.
The demand for digital marketing skills isn’t just highlighted by jobs posted on LinkedIn. Fifty percent of the top ten LinkedIn Learning courses taken in the last twelve months are about digital marketing. And WSI’s own Customer Education Center is seeing a surge in traffic, with more and more people looking to get educated in digital marketing.
The pandemic has accelerated the transition to everything virtual
The value of digital marketing was not fully understood until the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to everything virtual. Who can forget the explosion of video conferencing platform Zoom, whose user base has gone from 10 million to 300 million in less than a year?
Grandparents have started using digital technologies to communicate with their grandchildren. Children attended school through Google Classroom or other convenient digital platforms. Employees went online to work from home and communicated with each other via Slack. And consumers who could no longer shop in physical stores turned to e-commerce to buy what they wanted.
The pandemic has forced companies to speed up the development of their digital platforms and e-commerce marketing because if you want to run a business, it has to be online.
This virtual shift has created a new demand for people with digital marketing experience and an understanding of the social media world. And savvy people have jumped at the opportunity to improve their skills in various aspects of digital marketing, ready to ride the wave of demand.
Search Manager, Social Media Coordinator and Media Coordinator
LinkedIn Marketing explored marketing jobs in the NAMER region, represented by Canada, the US, and Mexico. Based on annual growth, the fastest growing occupations are as follows:
- Media Coordinator
- Search Manager
- Social media coordinator
These same jobs are also currently in high demand. And according to a LinkedIn Marketing report, these are the roles that saw the highest growth in the last six months.
The report also highlights the demand for certain skills that correlate with these roles with the highest employment growth. These skills are clearly identified as being in demand in the previous half year. Of the five most in-demand skills over the past six months, three are among the fastest growing jobs:
- Media marketing
- Paid search strategy
- Social media
Digital Marketing Specialist, Digital Account Manager and Social Media Manager
Taking a deeper look at marketing jobs offered in Canada, the US, and Mexico, LinkedIn Marketing’s report highlighted the most in-demand jobs. But this time by the volume of vacancies, and not by annual growth.
In terms of volume, the top three most in-demand professions are:
- Digital Marketing Specialist
- digital account manager
- Social media manager
LinkedIn’s marketing report says that the “Digital Marketing Specialist” position is very broad, but they highlight that there seems to be a mismatch between the professional skills of digital marketing professional candidates and the professional skills that the market demands from the position.
Relative supply to demand index
As mentioned earlier, the report found a difference in the skills demanded by employers and the skills offered by potential employees. In their Relative Supply to Demand Index, the three main discrepancies are in:
- Digital Marketing
- Advertising
- Social media
LinkedIn’s marketing team says they came to this conclusion by looking at staff positions. Supply was the number of participants with a particular skill, while demand was measured by the number of employees with that skill from March 2020 to March 2021.
Skills required, but not equally available in a digital marketing work environment, are as follows:
- Digital strategy
- omnitura
- Link building
- Search advertising
- External SEO
Omniture SiteCatalyst, now known as Adobe Analytics, focuses on multi-channel analytics. It is part of the Adobe Experience Cloud. Its plugins allow marketers to analyze the results of their campaigns through video and mobile apps, in addition to the usual internet marketing channels.
Internal and agency resources
When the demand for these digital marketing skills exceeds the knowledge of your in-house team, business owners should also consider bringing in more specialized outside agency resources. The key is to define your organization’s marketing goals and match them to your team’s strengths and weaknesses. This is a vital exercise in determining whether your marketing initiatives should stay in-house or require the help of external experts.
Our blog talks about the pros and cons of working internally or through an agency. And if you’re wondering if it’s better to hire a professional social media firm or hire an in-house social media manager, or what factors to consider when comparing in-house and third-party marketing agencies, this post is for you.
WSI is a digital marketing agency that takes time to understand your organization and clients. Do you need to boost your online reputation on social networks like Instagram or Facebook? Want to learn more about LinkedIn marketing? Contact WSI World today.
