I never planned to work in digital marketing. In fact, when I finished my Master’s degree in English, I thought I would work in a publishing house or perhaps teach at a college. But life has a funny way of guiding us in directions we never expected. My journey into digital marketing was accidental, but looking back, it makes a lot of sense. Here’s how I went from studying literature to learning about SEO, social media, and email marketing.
Discovering My Passion for Writing Online
After I graduated, I started looking for jobs in the fields I knew publishing, editing, and teaching. I did a few freelance editing projects, but there were no full-time offers that felt like the right fit. So, while I was figuring out my next step, I decided to start a blog. I wanted a place to share my thoughts on books, authors, and the themes I studied in university.
At first, it was just a hobby, a way to keep my writing skills sharp. But as I wrote more, I noticed something interesting I was excited to see how many people visited my blog each day. I wanted more readers and was curious about how some blogs attracted hundreds or even thousands of visitors while others were hardly seen.
This curiosity led me to start researching “how to get more blog traffic.” That’s when I stumbled upon a world I had never heard of before: digital marketing.
My First Encounter with SEO and Social Media Marketing
As I read more about increasing blog traffic, I learned about SEO, or search engine optimization. At first, it sounded complex and a bit intimidating. I didn’t know much about keywords, meta descriptions, or backlinks, but I was willing to learn. I started small by trying to optimize my blog posts. I picked topics that people were searching for and included keywords in my titles and content.
I also learned that social media could help bring people to my blog. So, I created accounts on Instagram and Twitter, where I would post about my blog and share short reviews of the books I read. To my surprise, my following started to grow. With every new follower or blog subscriber, I felt encouraged to continue.
Realizing the Power of Content and Audience Connection
One thing that surprised me was how important content is in digital marketing. I always thought digital marketing was just about selling or advertising, but I quickly realized that content plays a major role in engaging and educating an audience. People didn’t just want to buy something they wanted information, entertainment, and a connection with the person behind the content.
Exploring More Digital Marketing Tools
As I continued blogging, I realized there was much more to digital marketing. I read articles, watched YouTube videos, and even took free online courses to learn about topics like:
Email Marketing: I learned how to build an email list and send newsletters. It was a way to stay in touch with my readers and share updates or new blog posts. Email marketing taught me how to write in a friendly, personal tone, which reminded me of letter-writing.
Social Media Ads: Once I started getting more serious about my blog, I tried a small budget ad on social media. This helped me see how paid ads work and understand the basics of targeting people by interest, location, or age. I didn’t have a big budget, but it was fascinating to see even a small ad drive new visitors to my site.
Analytics: I also learned about tools like Google Analytics to track my blog’s performance. I could see which posts were popular and how readers were finding me. Analyzing data was new for me, but it felt empowering to know what my audience liked so I could create more of that content.
Building My Chops Through Online Learning
After a many months of experimenting, I decided to take digital marketing more seriously. I enrolled in a freshman’s online course that covered everything from SEO to social media marketing, content creation, and data analytics. It was both exhausting and provocative to dive into all these new motifs. I loved that digital marketing combined creativity with strategy.
The course also helped me understand how each part of digital marketing works together. For illustration, if I created a blog post, I could partake it on social media, shoot an dispatch about it to my subscribers, and use SEO ways to help it rank on Google. All these pieces worked together to reach further people.
Looking Forward to a Career in Digital Marketing
Today, I feel lucky that I set up digital marketing. It was ever in my plan, but it’s given me a new career path that combines my love for writing with the challenge of reaching and connecting with people online. I still use numerous chops I developed while studying English, like understanding followership requirements and expressing ideas easily, but I’ve learned so much further along the way.
I’m now working part- time as a digital marketer while still growing my blog, and I’m agitated to see where this trip will take me. To anyone who feels like they don’t have a background in business or technology but is interested in digital marketing, I would say go for it! There are endless opportunities available to help you learn, and the field is big enough for everyone.
In a way, I’m still telling stories, just in a different format. Digital marketing has given me a way to combine my creativity with strategy and to reach people in ways I ever imagined.