8 People You Need On Your Marketing Team in 2018
A Marketing Director’s Guide to Building a Successful Digital Team
Thankfully there’s no longer a debate as to whether companies need a strong digital team to be successful in today’s marketing landscape. Although there may be a few variables depending on your exact business, here’s what I think is essential to your digital marketing team.
A Pop Culture Savvy Copywriter
The written word is essential to any digital campaign. Why? Imagine all those captions for your Instagram posts, the descriptions on your YouTube videos and all those articles your company needs to write.
Why do I believe it’s important to be pop-culture savvy? Easy —millions of social media users look to Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to learn about what’s going on in the world. By staying up to date on trending topics in entertainment and politics, you’ll give yourself an extra edge in being discovered by the masses.
Your copywriter will also assist in developing your email campaigns, compelling landing pages and developing your brand’s voice so be sure to take your time in communicating your vision and goals to your writer.
A Versatile Photographer
Let’s face it, Instagram is getting noisy and anyone with an iPhone and a few apps have the ability to keep up with some of the best photographers out there. Having someone with a creative eye on your team is essential to stay ahead of your competition and make sure that you stand out among your competition.
Be sure that your photographer can produce great lifestyle content as well as product photography so your content doesn’t get stale. Bonus points if they can incorporate the two together. Also, keep an eye out for the type of photography that’s getting the most audience engagement and make sure your photographer is producing shots that can emulate their aesthetic.
A Social Media Videographer and Editor
Video content is arguably the most crucial form of content in digital marketing. When vetting your videographer, make sure they understand exactly what works on various platforms.
For example, understanding that videos on Facebook should be edited with heavy text overlay to accommodate for no-sound environments, or the fact that filming with the intent of editing in a 9:16 aspect ratio for Stories is crucial. Again, a clear understanding of what’s working and popular on various social media platforms is just as important as being able to produce the content itself.
A Nimble Graphic Designer
Social media is almost obviously a visual-first platform and while most of the content that is being shared doesn’t have a ton of design elements incorporated it’s still important to have a designer on deck. A graphic designer with basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop or Canva can go a long way.
Your designer will help your company produce thumbnails for YouTube, infographics, or inspirational memes that still perform very well on social media.
A Community Manager that Speaks Your Language
Community management is the art of taking all those comments, direct messages and mentions and building a loyal following out of them. For some companies, it’s a full time job managing all the inbound engagement while still reaching out to potential customers and clients.
Your community manager should understand your brands voice and be able to speak it fluently. Additionally, a community manager should be well equipped to handle customer service related inquiries while having some autonomy on the best way to accomodate your customers through digital mediums.
A Smart Spender (or Paid Media Specialist)
You may have a grasp on the basics of Facebook and Instagram Ads, but have you taken the time to learn about Snapchat’s self-serve ad platform? What about revisiting Google AdWords or testing the effectiveness of LinkedIn advertising?
Although Facebook may be the most powerful ad platform as of the date of this article, successful marketing and advertising campaigns depend on a healthy mix of various paid media. Remember, it’s not only important to understand how to deploy ads, but also how to measure their effectiveness so having a firm grasp on analytic reporting is essential.
Don’t forget about the re-marketing capabilities of Facebook, Google and other ad platforms. Your Paid Media Specialist should understand how to utilize these features of digital advertising to your companies advantage.
A Storytelling Digital Media Coordinator
I almost went the whole article without using a buzz-term, but here we are. Your digital media coordinator will help put all your pieces together and see your digital campaign from a 30,000 foot view to make sure everything ties together well.
Your brand’s voice should be clear throughout your marketing campaigns. Although your content may look different from platform to platform, each piece of content should still tell the same story and work together to achieve the same goal. Your Digital Media Coordinator will be responsible for making sure your story is told well and producing results for you.
You.
If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you have a lot of interest your company’s marketing initiatives. Remember that you play a big role in your campaigns. Communication and collaboration among your team is the most important aspect of any success on digital landscapes. Just because you have all the pieces in place doesn’t mean that it will all come together without some TLC. We actually suggest using a project management tool like Monday.com to help manage your team.
Remember to set benchmarks and goals for your team. It’s just as important to understand your definition of success for each campaign as it is to come up with the next ‘great idea’.
