NEW DELHI: A great career in digital media, like any other sector, requires appropriate education, skills, values, experience, interest and networking. Before you decide to make a career in digital media let’s take a look at some stats.
Globally there are 4.2 billion active digital media users. This big user base has made digital media one of the most gigantic industries in the world. The success of businesses worldwide now largely depends on digital media marketing. And, hence a career in digital media has far better and diverse prospects compared to broadcast and print media.
The social media users versus total population of different regions of the world clearly indicate that social media use is drastically increasing across the globe. While 79 per cent of the population in Northern and Western Europe is using social media actively. The active social media users are more than 69 per cent of the population in South-Eastern Asia.
In 2021 there were 5.22 billion people who had access to mobile phones, 4.66 billion used internet and 4.2 billion people were active social media users. Active social media users account for 53.6 per cent of the global population.
Digital media skills are much in demand such as Digital Advertising, Social Media Marketing, Web and App development, Graphic and game designing. The in-house digital media experts are also required in good numbers in the non-profit organizations for designing crowdfunding and advocacy campaigns, healthcare, finance, retail and education sector. After pursuing a digital media course, the students can pursue a career as digital journalists, digital photographers, web content writers, content developers, social media strategists, video designers and editors, and illustrators (Figure 3). Down the street, the employers are looking for trained digital media writers, designers, developers and marketers.
To become a Digital Journalist, you will have to learn the fundamentals of journalism as well as digital media tools. Since digital journalists mostly report and write for websites of news organizations and digital newswires you will need to get additional training in writing content that reaches to target audience. Writing content for better optimization is the key to success.
Since fact-checking is an essential aspect for journalists you will also require formal training in using the tools to fact-check texts, images and video. As a digital journalist, you may get an opportunity to write a report for specific subjects like business, education, glamour, politics, international affairs, and sports. You can pursue BA in Digital and Mass Media program from media schools of India and abroad. Some of the media schools offer BA in Journalism and Mass Communication program with Digital Media specialization as well.
Video Editors and Graphic Designers are in demand not only for the news and entertainment industry but also in the digital marketing. As a video editor and graphic designer, your primary responsibility will be to add value to the content by adding effects, captions, and illustrations to the audio-visual content. The video editing software in use are Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro. For graphics Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop is what you need to learn. A good knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud is advised for students who wish to pursue a career as video editors or graphic artists. There are institutes that offer programs like B.Sc. in Animation and Visual Effects to train students as professional artists.
Web Designers and Developers are also much in demand since most of businesses need a web presence. The page design of the websites involves special skills. The web designers and developers need to get trained in UX and UI, HTLM and programming languages, Server Management, Content Management System, Search Engine Optimization and also in Digital Marketing. While opting for a relevant program do a research of the curriculum of different media institutes to ensure that all these courses are part of the program. There are serval institutes in India which provide short term courses offline and online for these specialised skills. But I would suggest that opting for an undergraduate full-time program covers all aspects of web design and development.
Digital Media Marketing requires a mix of skills ranging from Content creation to Customer Relationship Management. The experts of digital media marketing generally learn the skills of effective content writing, lead generation, data analysis, visualization, display advertising, marketing automation, search engine optimization and content management system. The experts who develop digital media research skills are more in demand in the industry. Programs like BA in Digital and Mass Media, MA in Digital Media, Certificate and Diploma in Digital Media train students in pursuing a career in Digital Media Marketing.
Social Media Strategists require specific leadership and communication management skills to execute the social media plan of businesses. Social Media planners are required everywhere whether it be a political party or a corporate. A sound knowledge of community engagement patterns and behavioural psychology are the key for a sound career in the field of social media management. Content planning and scheduling is an important aspects of effective social media strategy.
Besides the hard set of skills, there are certain traits like curiosity, adaptability and creativity required to succeed in the fast-changing digital media ecosystem. Digital Media is the present and the future of communication. The digital landscape is full of opportunities. You just need to get trained in new technologies and designs. Thinking out of the box and applying innovative ways in digital media design would be an added advantage for you.
The digital India program of the Government of India is aimed at transforming India into a digitally empowered society. This vision of the government will get accomplished only when India has sufficient human resources trained in harnessing the potential of the digital media ecosystem.
The author of this article is Dr Amaresh Jha. He is an Associate Professor of the School of Communication, GD Goenka University. He has more than 20 years of working experience in the field of broadcast and digital media. (ANI)
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