I started my professional journey in 2012. I was appearing for more than 4-5 interviews a week, that’s what fresher do for a job.
I completed my engineering with computer science without using laptop :D, yeah that’s true! And I was wondering – “why I am not getting a decent job in any IT company?” I know all the theories of data structure and mugged all the coding questions & answers. (But, I don’t know how to install Turbo C, practically) But see, this was not taught to me in the college. poor engineering college!
Yeah, So even trying for 5-6 months I wasn’t able to crack a SINGLE interview L. Yeah I know that’s pathetic!
Then I realized I wasn’t really sad about not being selected. Because somehow I get this feeling, that even if I get a job, I won’t be able to perform, that’s not my area of interest!
And then The BIG Question people asked – “If you don’t want to become a software engineer why you did engineering?”
Because everyone was doing it!
LOL!!! Of course because at that time I didn’t know if I like it. So, I gave it a shot, at least it was better than other streams, so why not! There I go, Engineer!
If I am not good at coding AND I am not getting any JOB, I hope I could look for something else…
Here my expedition to explore my interest begin…
I observed my own behavior for quite some time. And figured out I am excited about numbers, reading a lot of reports available online for various companies, checking out some failed viral campaigns and curious about how these sites know that I have seen this shoe a few minutes ago, how it works?!
And that ONE DAY came into my life…
I received a call from a company, they asked If I would like to apply for digital marketing in their company. First reaction was – What’s that? Then I thought, what’s the harm in going for a marketing interview as I’m pretty much jobless right now.
So I attended that interview without any such preparations really. They asked some basic questions, I answered with my common sense and observations. And the same day I got a call from the same company to join them. I joined.
That’s how my digital marketing career got started.
Every day I made 1% improvement, learned new techniques, new tools from the people around me. If they suggested 2 tools, I explore 4 other tools by myself because of my growing interest in digital marketing. I used to ask a LOT of questions. Some people answered, some gave irritated looks and remaining asked me a further question.
That time I joined ALL the social media platforms I came across, from Facebook to Tumblr.
I always wanted to influence a large group of people somehow. And social media could be the potential channel to do that. So, I started building my network, enhanced my social media presence.
That time I know social media will change the game in the long run based on the data used to analyze and the ones who have a good social media presence will have the power in the digital world.
In 2014, I started with 0, daily I posted something, I observed people’s reaction with my content, on my ideas. I continuously took feedback from my connections and implemented them in my strategies.
Here is the path breaker…
I used to read a lot of blog articles and post them on my social media. Initially, it worked fine! Later on, I have seen a decline in audience engagement.
Then I run a few experiments to see how people react to that. I posted my own learnings, very basic tips, some exclusive tools I used, some data or trends with people. The experiment was a huge success.
People started following, asking questions, contact for more marketing ideas and thoughts.
After a few years I started getting an amazing response from my followers, they not only supported my ideas but also appreciated my efforts and help.
I was not really a writer-type person but I got the inspiration to write.
Here my digital marketing blogging journey started…
I started writing articles based on my learnings and readings. My first few articles got rejected very very badly because of poor topics, poor writing style, which broke my confidence.
Then I started reading, to write I had to read, the journals, stories, case studies, reports, whitepapers and what not. Without any exceptional information, no one going to read my content.
And somehow I managed to write again but with a different approach. I asked people what to write, what they want to read, and there I got the solution.
I started my own digital marketing blog called SEM Updates in 2017 with a lot of passion. In the beginning, I merely see any visit on the blog, but posting consistently helped me build a good content base. Today I have huge reader base from all over the globe.
My articles got featured in top -10 digital marketing magazines. People came to know about my knowledge and expertise and asked my help.
Today more than 50+ startups from 7 industries received my consultation, 10 software products I promoted, provided 10 corporate training sessions and trained 350+ professionals.
What does it take to be a successful digital marketer?
You can be a digital marketer without taking so much efforts, it’s very easy.
BUT, it takes a LOT of efforts to be a successful digital marketer.
If you are very creative, curious, innovative, experimental, a good observer and an avid reader… ONLY then you should join the league.