Social Media, Diverse Audience Are Changing Chicago's Marketing Industry
Social media is becoming quite the influence of sales and marketing jobs. If there's any indication of how companies are using social media marketing to sell their products, the hash tags prominently displayed on 2015 Superbowl commercials are an obvious example.
Even the faces and consumers for advertising are become more diverse. With 17 percent of the U.S. population representing a Hispanic origin, it makes sense that CareerBuilder would predict one of the top jobs for bilingual job applicants is as a Marketing/Advertising/Promotions manager. A multicultural audience is credited with 43 percent of consumer purchases in the top 10 markets, according to the Association of National Advertisers.
Bilingual marketing execs can make anywhere from $29K to $104K annually. But before job applicants head into the sales world, many take marketing courses for guidance. Jaime Antonio "Black" DeMedici, a two-year instructor at Columbia College, uses 13 years at Q101 to help students in their careers.
Do you feel jobs such as Social Media Coordinator and Social Media Marketing will be effective for the future?
"I'm a big believer that knowing how to communicate on current and emerging platforms is really important, especially if you're a student. I'm not going to tell you that you have to have 50,000 Instagram followers, but if you know how to utilize Instagram or Twitter to promote your work, that could translate really positively in a career field."
Bilingual jobs are popping up more frequently in marketing positions. Do you think that is largely because Hispanics are now the largest minority population in America or is America embracing multiculturalism as a whole?
"Social media helps give a voice to so many people of all different backgrounds, which I think is great. Brands and marketers are going to be looking for people who can speak to the Real America."
What do you want your students to learn the most from your marketing classes?
"I teach four classes. Two of them are mandatory: Introduction to Management and Entertainment Marketing. [In those courses] I'm a big proponent of the power of social media. If you want to make a short film, shoot that on your camera phone and edit it in iMovie. If you want to become a photographer, make an Instagram account and make a Tumblr your portfolio. It's pretty inspiring to these students that these tools are available, and they can be used to build a professional portfolio."
Shamontiel L. Vaughn is a professional journalist who has work featured in AXS, Yahoo!, Chicago Defender and Chicago Tribune. She's been an Examiner since 2009 and currently writes about 10 categories on Examiner.com.