Companies and organizations world-wide are now turning their attention to social media and the Internet as a new frontier for marketing. Social Media Marketing offers a cost-effective and is easier method compared to traditional channels of marketing like TV ads, Newspaper ads, Billboards etc. Social Media now provides enormous business potential and the number of people now connected or communicating through social media is close to a billion. We are in the 21st century and with technology having flattened the world as a pan-cake, no serious business can afford to be left behind in running a successful online presence. For this reason at Pixel Technologies we are monitoring the trends and tracking job placements in Kenya in the following areas to know what companies are looking for:
- Online Community management
- Internet / Online Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Search Engine Optimization
- Digital Communications
Our Experience and Research has led us to the following Observations:
- Customer wants value: The soul reason for taking a marketing campaign online is the customer. Businesses should avoid rushing into online campaigns if there’s no added value for the customer.
- This is a new frontier: Social media jobs never existed in the last 5 years (at least here in Kenya) but brands are now recognizing the need to recruit persons(s) who can drive or manage an online marketing campaign.
- Strategy is Key: Creating a winning strategy is a must and many companies / organizations are struggling to formulate a coherent online marketing strategy. Developing a content strategy / calendar is the first step.
- Key Components: Social Media, Blogs and a good website are key components of running a successful online campaign.
- Tools keeps evolving: The required tools will keep evolving but learning and quick adoption of new tools by the concerned users is very crucial.
- Growth is the main purpose: In general terms, the purpose of the job is either to increase sales, drive profits, branding, increase readership, increased hits or customer service related.
- Metrics / Measurement: Measuring effectiveness, ROI, opportunity cost / loss, is always demanded by top management. Metrics are important but we shouldn’t be obsessed with it: engagement and building conversations that leads to social businesses matters most.
- Supplementary role: Social media marketing is playing a supplementary role as other traditional marketing / engagement methods remain to be used in a large extend.
- Research: To clearly understand the needs of the targeted audience / market, carrying out research from time to time can help achieve a desirable outcome.
- Varying job titles: While job titles vary from one company / organization to the other the responsibilities, competencies required appear similar if not the same as shown below.
We recognize the fact this list is not conclusive and we are keen to expand it since businesses have varying goals and objectives.
| Competency required | Technical Skills |
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What to track with Social Media Marketing: Fans, Likes, Followers, Shares, Hits, Ranking, Views, Clicks, Keywords, Membership, Traffic, Klout, Feeds, Comments, Favourites , Mentions, Tweets, Retweets, Profits, Sales, Feedback, Customer retention, Customer engagement
If you are from Kenya, please alert us in case you come across any job mentioned above. Email me at waithash(at)gmail.com or tweet me on @waithash or @PixelTech . This will help us broaden our database. What else do you think is required in this field?
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