Graduate Certificate in Digital Marketing (E-Learning): A Guide
There are just over five billion internet users worldwide, with 4.7 billion of them being social media users, as of April 2022.1 This has paved the way for the rise of digital marketing as companies vie for their audiences’ attention online.
Digital marketing has significantly impacted industries, including financial institutions and telecommunications companies, with a 30% to 100% increase in digital revenue and a 50% increase in year-on-year organic visits in search traffic, respectively.2 With the benefits digital marketing brings to the table, more and more companies are ramping up efforts to hire digital marketers.
Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) offers the Graduate Certificate in Digital Marketing (E-Learning) to equip you with the know-how to become an expert in this industry. This fully online programme helps you gain a competitive advantage by giving you the latest digital marketing skills suited to an ever-changing marketing landscape.
Careers in Digital Marketing
There are various disciplines that fall under the umbrella of digital marketing. And, a 2021 report by LinkedIn revealed that digital marketing specialist is one of the jobs on the rise in Southeast Asia.3
With a Graduate Certificate in Digital Marketing (E-Learning) from SIM, you will have the opportunity to apply for these positions and more:
Social Media Manager
Average salary: SGD 58,067 per year4
Skills required: Copywriting, digital marketing, Google Analytics, social media analytics
As a social media manager, you are responsible for supervising an organisation’s communication with its target audiences via social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
To do this, you must be able to analyse data, identify trends in customer interactions, and design digital campaigns to build an online presence and community. Social media managers also oversee teams of content writers, designers, and account executives, and must stay informed of the latest online trends. Major companies on the hunt for a social media manager in Singapore include Shopee, Accenture, Mediacorp, Airbnb, and Grab.5
SEO Specialist
Average salary: SGD 51,484 per year6
Skills required: Data gathering and organisation, Google Analytics, basic programming
Search engine optimisation (SEO) specialists are digital marketing experts who use analytical skills to research and analyse a company’s website ranking on search engines such as Google, Microsoft Bing, and Yahoo.
In order to improve a website’s ranking, SEO specialists conduct keyword research and sprinkle shortlisted keywords across the website to help search engines “find” those sites. According to Hubspot, 77% of web traffic analysts found that targeting keywords with a high monthly search volume is the most effective SEO strategy to gain traffic and gather leads.7
Social Media Strategist
Average salary: SGD 51,275 per year8
Skills required: Social media analytics, digital marketing, SEO, research
Social media plays a vital role in connecting with a brand’s customer base. A report by Integral Ad Science found that 89% of Singapore consumers have engaged with ads on social media in the past year.9
A social media strategist directs content and comes up with plans to achieve an organisation’s marketing objectives. They are also in charge of managing, creating, and publishing engaging, quality content across an organisation’s social media platforms, and maintaining a certain level of activity on these accounts.
* All salaries are accurate as of September 20, 2022.
Core Modules: Future-Proof Your Skills
In our Graduate Certificate in Digital Marketing (E-Learning), students will have to complete three core modules and one elective module. For each module, there will be one hour of scheduled online teaching by an experienced SIM academic, and four hours of online individual and group activities.
1. Customer Behaviour and Analytics
A big part of digital marketing is understanding your target audience and the content they want to see online, especially from brands. This module will teach you to interpret, predict, and communicate customer behavioural data that can be used in marketing analytics to create and implement better marketing strategies.
Customers help brands develop ads that are relevant to the content they prefer to see on their social media feed. In fact, 54% of consumers in Singapore are likely to purchase products or services advertised on their social media feed if the ad is related to the content they are viewing.10
2. Data Privacy, Data Ethics, and Governance
Digital marketing efforts often require customers to submit their personal information, such as names, telephone numbers, and email addresses. Since this data is collected for promotional purposes, digital marketers must treat the information as sensitive and exercise ethical procedures to safeguard the data. This module introduces you to the policies and legalities of storing and managing corporate and consumer data.
By learning to apply appropriate provisions for data protection in the workplace, you will be equipped to prevent data breaches and ensure customer loyalty. Failure to understand these concepts could result in a potential data breach, similar to the Starbucks controversy where the personal data of over 300,000 Singaporean consumers was sold online for SGD 3,500 in September 2022.11
3. Marketing in a Digital World
Gone are the days when brands relied solely on traditional media, such as newspapers, magazines, radio, and television, to advertise their products and services. Marketing in the Digital Age revolves around creating innovative digital content that quickly captures the attention of customers. In this module, you will develop the ability to integrate and apply complex theoretical concepts in the field of digital marketing that cater to the modern business world.
Learn to replicate the success of brands that grew their business via social media. Take as an example Duolingo, an educational app that helps users learn new languages. The company employed the “Flicker, Flash, Flare” content strategy – where they posted videos of their mascot participating in online trends, episodic content, and branded hashtag challenges – on TikTok and successfully raised brand awareness, resulting in 1.7 million followers on the platform.12 This shows that understanding the latest digital marketing trends and strategies is key to future-proofing and growing your business.
Elective Modules: Choose Your Path
1. Data Visualisation
In this module, you will develop the skills you need to understand and present complicated data insights to non-data professionals. Learn to communicate qualitative and quantitative data through data visualisation tools and techniques, and understand how to encourage data-driven decision-making.
2. Emerging Technologies
Digital marketing efforts are influenced by digital trends that impact businesses. This module will teach you how to identify new disruptive technologies and leverage them in a business setting.
3. People, Organisations, and Teamwork
With this module, you will enhance your understanding of organisational dynamics and communication to deliver effective collaboration and leadership across a variety of audiences and stakeholders, creating a healthy and productive work environment.
4. Principles of Programming (R and Python)
Two types of platforms you can expect to work on as a digital marketer are websites and apps, which run on code. In this module, you will learn how to code in two programming languages – R and Python – and apply fundamental techniques and programming tools to create viable products for virtual platforms.
Create Memorable, Consumer-First Content
Digital marketing is the future of business. Future-proof your career by enrolling in our Graduate Certificate in Digital Marketing (E-Learning), where you will be trained as a creative problem solver who can develop strategic marketing plans for various brands in multiple industries.
Get in touch with our Student Advisors to get the ball rolling today!
References
1 https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/
2 https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/asia-pacific/five-areas-of-growth-for-digital-marketing-in-asean
3 https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/resources/talent-acquisition/jobs-on-the-rise-sea
4 https://sg.indeed.com/career/social-media-manager/salaries
5 https://www.glassdoor.com/Explore/top-social-media-manager-companies-singapore_IO.4,24_IL.35,44_IN217.htm
6 https://sg.indeed.com/career/seo-specialist/salaries
7 https://blog.hubspot.com/website/web-traffic-analytics-report
8 https://sg.indeed.com/career/social-media-strategist/salaries
9 https://go.integralads.com/rs/469-VBI-606/images/IAS_Research_Social_in-feed_SG.pdf?mkt_tok=NDY5LVZCSS02MDYAAAGHkJjNtpAHsjGdTtc2jIeH_G1_ipvIMpwz9-Qb0R4VD4CIh6UkXm4MKI1iB8leACtsaBj6x4cy024xwZwkS4iK_oUWi-Nscbu5JbXW-Qb2-vkLVo0
10 https://go.integralads.com/rs/469-VBI-606/images/IAS_Research_Social_in-feed_SG.pdf?mkt_tok=NDY5LVZCSS02MDYAAAGHkJjNtpAHsjGdTtc2jIeH_G1_ipvIMpwz9-Qb0R4VD4CIh6UkXm4MKI1iB8leACtsaBj6x4cy024xwZwkS4iK_oUWi-Nscbu5JbXW-Qb2-vkLVo0
11 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/330000-starbucks-customers-data-leaked-sold-online-for-3500
12 https://sproutsocial.com/insights/duolingo-tiktok-success/
