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4 Digital Marketing Skills Student Entrepreneurs Should Have

  • Kevin Nelson

    • Editor’s Note: While we cater most of our content towards more experienced writers, many of us know people who are starting out. Certainly, the last time we aimed an article at student entrepreneurs, it was well received. We hope this will be helpful for you or someone you know and love….

    Digital Marketing Skills For Student Entrepreneurs

    It is hard (or close to impossible) to find a young person who has no idea how to use the social media. They believe that if you are not registered online, you do not exist. If you do not share images from an event you attended, consider that you never really attended it. And if you have not checked in at an airport of New Hampshire, you never actually visited the place. It is that kind of a mass culture we live in today.

    Social networks are now used to build up an image. They define what will be in trend next, what you should eat to be on the wave, and where you should head for your next vacation. Millennials live in the digital world and take the most out of it.

    However, even though social media is widely used these days, there are still things that young people did not acquire while in college.

    Why? The reason is in what colleges teach today.

    If you chose marketing to be your major in college, then be ready to master some skills on your own, as your universities do not have certain things in the program. Therefore, they cannot teach you these things well.

    Thus, if you want to find a good job and to be in high demand on the market, consider dedicating some time to learning these things for yourself.

    So, what is it that you need to master for yourself? Check out these four skills.

    4 Marketing Skills Students Must Learn Outside of College

    1. Copywriting and Content Marketing

    The term “Content is king” has long since become passé amongst seasoned digital marketers. People who are new to the field, however, would do well to take it to heart. It tidily explains why businesses hire professionals to write content for them and why millions of dollars are spent on employees to develop content strategies and optimize content marketing efforts.

    People go online to find answers. And if you are about to launch your own business, it is your top priority to learn how to provide answers to the existing questions and build up interest to your product using creative and compelling content.

    Of course, as a college student, you get trained how to write original essays and deliver persuasive speeches in public. And it is great if you wrote those essays yourself rather than seeking the help of professional essay writing services.

    However, content marketing is much more than just creating persuasive texts. You are to compose all types of content for your business including:

    And these are only a few examples of what a student entrepreneur has to learn.

    Given that a regular university program is behind the curve, most of these skills are completely your responsibility to learn. So, take some courses or find free online resources. No matter what you choose, make sure to master the skill!

    2. Analytics

    If you think about running your own business, then remember that you need to know your numbers to become a successful entrepreneur.

    Numbers help you analyze your marketing efforts and optimize them whenever needed. And to get those numbers, you will have to master analytics.

    This part is a bit less creative than copywriting, and it might get quite technical. But without it, your business won’t grow and develop.

    So, you can start with mastering Google Analytics with all of its reports. Google offers great tips as you drill into details of the system, but you should probably look for more detailed information online.

    This is a skill you as a Marketing student will need for sure. And your university is not likely to offer you an opportunity to learn it. So, it’s on you!

    3. Social Media Marketing

    You might have a bright Instagram profile and a couple of thousand friends on Facebook, but that does not mean that you know what Social Media Marketing is. And it is essential to gain this knowledge, as social media can be used to promote your business.

    Besides, that is where people are, and you need to be there among them as a business owner.

    According to Wishpond, around 58 million Americans visit social media every day. And some of them do that several times a day. Of those social media users:

    And it is the last category of people that you need to target. But before you reach out to them, you need to learn how to do it.

    4. Brand management

    To make your product known and loved, you need to learn the basics of building up solid brand awareness.

    For it, you need to create a clear business vision and a mission statement to concentrate on when creating content and launching the marketing funnels.

    For starters, you need to learn how to guest post to make your name known in certain circles. Your task is to craft content that will make you associated with a high level of expertise in a topic.

    Also, you can offer some great free deals to attract more people and establish your presence on the market. You can provide freebies both online and offline, depending on who you are trying to target at a given time.

    Get an account for your business on the social media and start a content calendar to stick to.

    Moreover, while you are doing all of these things, remember that your brand must have a personality. You cannot afford to be just another of the many faceless businesses out there. Your task is to show your character, add a little bit of comedy (if appropriate) and create a positive image people will like.

    And finally, remember to optimize all of these efforts once you analyze their effect and see what flaws you are to fix. Try to understand what works best for your business and focus on that, and stop investing into techniques that might have worked for some companies but not for you. That is what you need to understand Analytics for.

    Takeaways and a Question

    The digital age has a lot to offer, so it is hard to keep up with all the latest trends even for young people. No matter how well you think you understand the marketing of today, do not rely on your college grades. Rather, do your best to fine-tune your skills on the go.

    Above, we have mentioned only a few skills you need to acquire to become a successful marketer and a business owner that knows how to promote their product. There are many more skills you will need to pick up later, as universities cannot teach you everything at once. So, get ready to learn and learn and then learn some more.

    And student entrepreneurs a question: if you already have your business up and running, what skills did you have to acquire? What have your college tutors left without attention?

    Please don’t hesitate to share your wisdom!

     

    Additional reading: 10 Copywriting Mistakes Every Marketer Should Avoid

    7 Ways To Build Trust with Your Content Marketing

    4 Effective Tricks that Will Boost Your Content Marketing

    12 Great Tools To Boost Your Content Marketing

    6 Key Metrics for Measuring B2B Social Media ROI

    Tools, Apps and Plugins: The Making Of A Website

    5 Essential Social Media Marketing Tools

    3 Powerful Ways To Boost Your Social Media Marketing

     

    Featured image: Copyright: ‘https://www.123rf.com/profile_Kurhan‘ / 123RF Stock Photo

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    Kevin Nelson

    Kevin is a professional educator and a private tutor with over 8 years of experience. He is the founder of Essay Writer Site. He is also a content writer for various blogs about higher education, entertainment, social media & blogging. During his off time, Kevin enjoys traveling and cooking. Feel free to connect with him on Twitter, Linkedin & Google+.