Editorial Articles

Last year we brought you a market update from the world of digital recruitment – and 2010 was a great year for digital professionals. The first quarter of that year in particular saw a huge upturn in vacancies as e-marketing became more mainstream, although some employers were still slightly reticent to invest heavily in digital teams. Conversely, the first half of 2011 has seen an increased understanding of the importance of the digital space as a whole – and the nuances of different roles within it.

In recent years there has been a huge transition in the music industry, with movement away from traditional physical sales. The increase in digital music streaming sites, such as Spotify and iTunes, has caused a shift in consumer behaviour with most now buying their albums/ singles online. Music retailers and labels are having to address new ways to promote artists through digital channels – and music publications are seeing a drop in the number of people buying their print products and instead moving towards online and mobile sites.

These changes all emphasise the importance for music companies to provide innovative ,exclusive and cutting edge content on their digital channels and also to build close relationships with the streaming sites.

The music industry has seen some high profile mergers/takeovers/sales taking place. We have observed that over the last 3 months, there has been an increased demand for temporary digital music staff, which is usually an indicator of an industry undergoing a period of transition. We believe that in the long term, once these organisations have re-aligned their offering towards digital/mobile channels, this feeling of 'uncertainty' will improve greatly.

Another trend is the integration of music with other industries. There have been a number of requirements recently for digital music marketing specialists to join fashion brands and work with the labels to undertake online brand promotion. It appears that fashion brands are realising that there is an increasing need for affiliate marketing in order to improve their brand awareness and remain competitive in a hugely growing ecommerce industry.

From a hiring perspective
Last year we started to see an increase in social media vacancies but there were several questions as to whether it could generate any real return on investment and how this could be measured. However, with more consumers buying and looking at brands than ever before, a large number of businesses are now seeing the value of social media marketing.

The most important thing organisations are starting to realise is that, because of the social media revolution, they no longer have control over their brand and how it is communicated. Customers can recommend them on social media, or use it as a platform to complain about their service. This means that, whether positive or negative, this feedback is amplified to a much larger audience than ever before. This makes it more important than ever to have somebody with a solid social media understanding on the team to oversee (and of course to become part of) the conversation.

There are fewer 'show pony' hires than this time last year. Rather than just taking on a social media professional because everyone else is, employers are really starting to understand the need to have a strategy specific to their business, which then dictates the skills they'll actually need. For this reason, job specifications will need to become more detailed than they have been previously.

Within the digital marketing space as a whole, clients are now being far more specific about the companies that they want to get their 'ideal' candidates from. From a recruitment perspective, this has increased the need for headhunting and for employers to use recruiters who can make full use of their specialist talent networks and who do not just rely on databases. The demand for the ‘ideal’ candidate has also led to clients being more flexible in what they're willing to pay in order to get the right person.

From a candidate perspective
We're finding that employers have a variety of different needs when it comes to the digital marketing space as a whole. Some employers feel that they may only require a mid-level candidate to manage their social media activity, others are hiring senior level professionals with mass commercial experience. In our experience we are seeing an increase in the latter as organisations realise that this is a potential revenue builder for them.

On the agency side, the ownership of digital and social media is becoming blurred. The wider the skill sets become in social media and digital, the more agencies are moulding their teams to service their clients better. We've seen PR agencies hire digital marketing consultants and vice versa over the last few months. Ad agencies too want to cover any gaps in their experience in order to aid client retention.

Because of this, agencies in particular have upped their requirements for integrated digital skill sets to make sure they cover all potential gaps in their offerings. . While social media marketers often require SEO and PPC experience, the need for ecommerce and e-marketing skills tends to fall into the wider digital marketing field.

Other hot skills in demand in the digital space this year are: experience in mobile HTML5 and CRM. The demand for analytics experience may well increase in the next year as Google+ is due to launch business profiles that are integrated with Google analytics.

On the client side, it's becoming increasingly important for candidates to understand the true meaning of job titles. Whereas historically, a “Head of Digital” could have realistically translated to an account executive level because of the ‘show pony’ syndrome, today’s employers will want a head of Digital to mean just that – a senior hire who is not only social media savvy but also has the commercial experience and gravitas to contribute strategically to the business

Kelly Hopkins
Digital Consultant at Handle Recruitment