Because of thecommunal nature of social media and digital technology in general, many have believed that marketing on these online platforms are simple to access as well.

It is not uncommon that someone you know is participating in some form of digital marketing, with position named as digital marketer, content creator so on and so forth.

While learning materials of digital marketing are plenty, it does not mean everyone, after learning, can become a master in an instance. As of any kind of professional job, digital marketing takes time to practice.

Experimenting and critical thinking

As a digital marketer who abandoned medical studies for my passion in digital media, I would argue the difficulty in mastering digital marketing is as hard as earning a medical degree. The common aspect that both doctors and digital marketers share is the use of critical thinking and endeavor in experimental methods.

One of the most readily available digital marketing platforms must be social media. Not only are they embedded in everyday life, many of us have been used to using social media in some form. And these platforms have not made marketing any more difficult with user-friendly interfaces.

Many would think performing digital marketing on social media will share much commonalities as their daily use of social media. It kindly refers to regular uploading content to these user-generated mediums. Some will add an extra flair with unique designs, videos or motion graphics.

However, more experienced digital marketers value testing and experimenting. Through the creation of different set of materials, they analyze the difference between the two sets to better understand the audience group in order to attempt in grasping more attention with their organic posts.

One key statement that I keep in mind from my medical studies to my digital marketing work is “do no harm”. An experimental thought in digital marketing is highly appreciated. But it is limited to a certain extent. “Do no harm” is a philosophy that I keep in mind whenever I am planning for a new campaign. Whatever I try, I do not try potentially harmful techniques like grey-hat SEO or insulting social media content.

In the possible, unharmful context, though, I try as much alterations I can think of. Some might argue that the statistical insights from social media already offer an incredibly huge chunk of information to digest and can help to target the best suiting audience group. But I only partly agree as there are sub-demographics within a certain group. And the experimentation helps to find those unique groups.

Not to mention, digital marketing is a continuously changing space. While there can be apharmaceutical book on the use of drugs, there is not a rulebook to follow in digital marketing. This made experience and knowledge in digital marketing hugely valuable.

The difficulty in digital marketing

I would describe digital marketing is an uneven battle ground. Graduating from a medical degree meant you will be on fair ground with others who also have a medical degree. Technically speaking, two doctors who have graduated from medical school without any specialty accreditation basically meant they are the same.

But that accreditation is not present in digital marketing, which makes experience everything in what digital marketers do. Even if you finished all the courses online about social media marketing, search engine optimization and search engine advertisement, it does not mean you can battle those who have years of experience in the field.

And your years of experience in digital marketing might not be the same as the others with the knowledge that you gain from your analysis of the results. A lack of analytics skills can also kill you in digital marketing.

Compared to a few years ago where digital marketing is still relevant to traditional marketing methods, the landscape has changed massively with algorithm updates of Google like the recent BERT and statistic changes of social media such as the like-less Instagram.

While more will attempt in entering the digital marketing industry, the difference in experience will appear sooner or later.

If you are looking for an experienced digital marketer in Melbourne, WeBOOST digital marketing is a great one-stop digital marketing agency with social media and search engine marketin

Joyce Laroche