Whether newspapers, books, printed photographs and other physical documents will become extinct in future is a debatable question. But we cannot deny the fact that digital media is here to stay and flourish.
What’s Digital Media?
The above statement brings us to the question: What exactly is digital media? In simplest terms, digital media is any information that is available on electronic devices. It can include text, pictures, audio and video or a mix of all these.
Canada-based organization, Center for Digital Media offers an excellent and in-depth understanding about what is digital media and its various forms.
Nowadays, everyone uses digital media in some form. Whether you are watching YouTube video or listening to music online, playing video or computer game or engaged in PUBG, reading news from a website or using Facebook, you are connected to digital media.
Nobody is away from digital media, in this age, unless they are living in an area untouched by human civilization.
And the very fact that you are reading this article is proof that you too are connected to digital media.
Just look around and you’ll see examples of digital media everywhere. And it is common sense that someone created this stuff. In fact, digital media is huge industry in itself. The good news is, you too can make a career in digital media.
Why Make a Career in Digital Media
There are several reasons why you should make a career in digital media. Worldwide, digital media industry is estimated at US$150 billion in 2019.
Over 50 percent of all advertising spend worldwide during 2019 will be on digital media platforms only.
Over 4.38 users worldwide are connected to the Internet and use digital media in some or other form almost daily. And this figure is increasing daily.
Average salaries of digital media professionals range between US$32,000 to US$103,000 per annum. This makes it a very well paying career option.
Surely, these reasons are tempting enough. If yes, read this step by step guide to make a career in digital media.
Guide to Digital Media Career
There’s no shortage of roles where you can make a career in digital media. There are at least 30 different career options in digital media. The good news is, they are common worldwide. Means, you can work anywhere in the world with proper certification. Here are some simple steps you can take to make a career in digital media.
Identify Your Passion
An amazing thing about digital media is the ample scope to follow your passions. For example, if video or online games are your passion, it is possible to make a career in that field as game developer. You need not stick to some uninteresting field just to make a career in digital media. Love cartoons? Make a career in animations.
Find Best Institutes
After identifying any of the 30 odd careers you can make in digital media, the next step is going about and finding the right institute. Understandably, there’s going to be plenty of small time institutes offering short-term courses. And there’ll be courses from top universities that are long-term and highly professional. The type of course will depend upon how much you are willing to spend and time you can give for higher education.
Digital Marketing Courses
Nowadays, a mere digital media course can prove grossly insufficient to land that dream job. Therefore, add that extra punch to your digital media career by doing an excellent digital marketing course too. Remember, nowadays video and online games, apps and large corporations also look at increasing customer base and revenues through digital marketing. In fact, digital marketing is an integral part of digital media. Doing a course helps boost career prospects.
Get Internships
Internships are the best way to test and fine tune your digital media skills. Nowadays, almost every major news organization, companies manufacturing Fast Moving Consumer Goods, banking and finance corporations and others utilize digital media. You can definitely find amazing internship opportunities with such organizations.
Take Freelance and Crowdsourced Jobs
Another superb way to acquire more digital media skills to boost your career is by freelancing and crowdsourcing tasks. Freelancing allows you to work as independent contractor and become part of the growing gig economy worldwide. Crowdsourced jobs enable you to work as team with members from different locations around the world. Freelancing and crowdsourced tasks are very useful in furthering your digital media career.
In Conclusion
With more and more people around the world expected to go online with smartphones, the demand for digital media professionals is set to increase. The same also holds true for ecommerce, mobile commerce, digital and mobile financial transactions and every other industry. Therefore, you can also consider doing an excellent course in digital marketing alongside one in digital media to make a superb career.