India is witnessing a huge increase in the digitalisation way. There are over 462 million internet users and 200 million are active social media users. In 2016, 24.33 per cent of the country’s population accessed via mobile phone and the trend is predicted to grow at 37.36 per cent by 2021. With the internet penetration in such a way, there are immense job opportunities in this field. The digital media is blend of technology and content, including technical skills, artistic skills, analytical and production coordination skills. This includes the career skills which are in demand like digital video, animation, web and graphic designing, social media, video and interactive medium.
Social media is a form of direct communication between businesses, governments and media sources and their audience. Examples of these tools include Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs or regularly-updated websites, YouTube, and Google Plus. India has world’s largest number of Facebook Users with over 195 million users, overtaking US by over million. There are 155 million Monthly Active Users, of which 147 Millions MAUs access Facebook via mobile phones and 73 million users are active daily on mobiles. 70 per cent users are connected to digital multimedia, thus shaping a career to excel in this field. Some specialists start with an associate’s degree or certificate and a Bachelor’s degree is more common as well as knowledge of design software is usually required.
They are responsible for creating and managing digital-related projects for their organisation, in charge of organising digital resources for media campaigns and presenting their progress and initiatives to executives in other departments. They generate digital media that increases brand loyalty and collaborate with other professionals. They manage functionality of interactive flash files, making sure they work as intended. They maintain web-related media and update existing resources as needed. Some of their major responsibilities include creating online ads, seasonal content, newsletters and calendars. They also have a strong knowledge of advanced graphic design techniques and able to produce media files that help advertise their company and increase sales. They must stay on top of current design trends as well.
Social media managers are the voice of companies on all the social networking sites. They create and maintain new marketing campaigns, brand promotions or product lines for their company on different sites, monitor progress using web analytic tools and answer directly to social media inquiries, all while using the company’s voice and guidelines. They work with creative people in the company like marketing, public relations, legal, etc, to coordinate their campaigns with other initiatives within a company work to fit in to the overall marketing and promotional goals of the organisation.
To step into the digital media you’ll need at least a Bachelor’s degree programmes which will provide technical training and allow students to research the applications. Some programmes focus on television or film, while others keep with a broader study of all digital media applications.
The writer is Director, Institute of Marketing Communications India.