The future of marketing is online. Plain and simple. TV commercials are losing their effectiveness as the “cord-cutting” trend catches fire. Millions of once heavy TV fans are trading in their cable packages for streaming services like Hulu, Netflix and Slin. Companies used to be able to reach their target audience on the right channel and time of day, but now much of that audience is using streaming services, whose “ad-free” options are fairly inexpensive.
Yet, the marketing industry continues to boom, perhaps more than ever. Marketing campaigns have switched to methods that take advantage of the Internet-centric world we live in. Companies are hiring social media managers skilled at building audiences for clients through viral social media campaigns.
Social Media
Social Media Managers are experts on the full gamut of social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Each platform operates differently, using different algorithms that decide who sees your content and how. Different platforms have different audiences. Therefore content creation for each platform varies depending on what the user wants to see. Social Media Managers must know their target audience in each platform so they know what to create, how to create it, and when to post it. This information is based on when the target audience is on these platforms and what types of content they are most likely to interact with.
User Experience and User Interface
Companies are investing heavily in the design and development of their website. They want customers to be able to easily find what they need and have a positive user experience. Web Developers, Web Designers, and Full Stack Developers are leading the charge through coding to transform brick-and-mortar shops into online shopping hubs.
Web Designers build the front end; what the user sees and interacts with. This is also called the “client side,” as it is what the client actually sees. Web Designers program a positive user experience (UX) using languages like Java, HTML and PHP. Once the website has been designed, it is brought to life by Web Developers.
Web Developers use programming languages like Ruby, Python and JavaScript to write the code that transforms brick-and-mortar stores into online shopping hubs. A user needs to be able to find and buy what they need quickly, easily, and in a way that creates a positive experience. Web Developers make this happen by creating a strong user interface (UI) that ensures online stores function as intended and the user can find and buy the products they are after.
Full Stack Developers are the digital marketers who do it all when it comes to building websites. Skilled in both web design and web development, Full Stack Developers can program the front end, user experience, and bring their own design to life programming the back end, user interface. Due to their versatile skillset, Full Stack Developers are always in high demand.
Web development is one of the fastest-growing industries, with a projected job growth rate of 31 percent by the year 2028. According to Glassdoor, the average salary for a Full Stack Developer in the US is $105,000 per year.
If you don’t have the coding skills needed for web development and design, you can learn the necessary programming languages by attending a coding bootcamp.
Coding Bootcamps
Coding bootcamps are essentially online trade schools designed to teach career switchers how to code. Most bootcamp students finish their program in just a couple of months, and almost all land programming jobs immediately after graduation.
Many coding schools also offer income-sharing agreements (ISAs). These schemes work the opposite way than standard student loans. An ISA is an investment made by the coding school in the student. The ISA allows the student to take the Bootcamp for free. In exchange, the student repays tuition based on their salary once they start working.
Since the return on the investment made by coding schools like App Academy is based on how much graduates earn, it is in their best interest to produce high-caliber programming professionals that can easily find high-paying jobs. Many coding schools partner with companies based in the same area so that they can easily place their graduates in well-paying programming jobs.