The transition to online allowed not only to stay afloat, but also to increase income. Digital specialists were in demand before the quarantine, and now the need for competent Internet marketers has increased sharply. In particular, the demand for targetologists has grown.
According to a study by hh.ru, the job market for targeting specialists has grown 45 times in three years. And according to RealHR , over the past year, the salary of Senior-level targeting specialists has only grown with each quarter – from 170 thousand rubles (in Q1) to 260 thousand rubles (in Q4).
Who is a targetologist?
A targetologist is a specialist who sets up, manages and analyses advertising campaigns on social networks in order to attract the most interested audience to perform a target action (register, subscribe, buy, leave a request, download, etc.).
Target is translated from English as “goal”, therefore targeted advertising implies precise adjustment of advertisements to an audience with certain characteristics (gender, age, region, interests, marital status, etc.), which are highly likely to respond to the advertising offer.
The responsibilities of a targetologist include:
Creation, setup and daily monitoring of advertising campaigns in targeted advertising systems.
Advertising campaign analytics, strategy adjustments, cost optimization, with the aim of achieving the set Targets;
Reporting on the results of the RK
The targeter must focus the campaign with maximum precision on representatives of a specific target audience who are potentially interested in the offered email data product, and therefore, with a high degree of probability, will perform the target action.
Social networks are a zone of high concentration of potential clients for any company and a source of continuous flow of new clients. Therefore, businesses actively invest in these contact channels, which makes the profession of a targetologist very popular.
What a targetologist needs to know and be able to do:
Use external tools to search for target audiences (for example, TargetHunter, Cerebro, Segmento, Pepper.ninja).
Create a profile and segment the target audience.
Conduct an audit of communities on social networks.
Write short sales texts
Work in graphic and video editors, create creatives.
Calculate and plan the advertising budget, conduct traffic analysis, and adjust the campaign in accordance with KPI indicators.
Prepare reports and forecast the effectiveness videocast: how to choose the ideal theme for your channel of an advertising campaign.
How much does a targetologist earn in 2021
As in any Internet profession, a targetologist’s salary depends on experience, level of competence, number of projects, region and employment (full-time office work or remote).
According to the WorkSpace calculator , on average in Russia people are willing to pay 73 thousand rubles per month for setting up advertising on social networks (range from 20 thousand to 170 thousand rubles).
Average salary of a targetologist in Russia
Large companies in Moscow pay a social cmo email list media advertising specialist an average of 90 thousand rubles, some are ready to offer 130-150 thousand rubles.
The size of the salary directly depends on the complexity of the tasks performed. Salary from 130 thousand (Senior level) assumes extensive work experience and the ability to manage a team, as well as serious knowledge in analytics and automation of work.
Middle level specialists are engaged in media planning (looking for additional ways of promotion, for example, placing guest posts), conduct negotiations. Specialists of this level often delegate tasks to other targetologists, designers and copywriters, and can manage more than 3 projects simultaneously with budgets from 200-300 thousand rubles per project. Thus, the salary can be up to 100-120 thousand rubles per month.
Entry-level specialists (Junior), who have all the basic skills in targeting and can manage several projects with a budget of up to 100 thousand rubles, can count on an average salary of 50-60 thousand rubles (in Moscow). In the regions – around 30-45 thousand rubles.
Examples of salary ranges for “targetologist” vacancies:
According to the superjob.ru portal, April 2021.
In the regions, the average salaries of targetologists are significantly lower.
It is worth noting that an increasing number of vacancies involve remote work.
Sometimes employers equate targetologists and SMM specialists.
According to the superjob.ru portal, April 2021.
This approach is wrong. The SMM field is much broader, and work in it involves building a strategic approach to brand/product positioning in social networks.
Targeters are narrow-profile specialists who deal exclusively with tasks related to running advertising campaigns. That is, they just need to effectively direct targeted traffic to communities or advertisers’ websites.
The growth in vacancies that require a combination of these jobs only shows that the more a specialist can do, the higher his salary will be.
How to become a targetologist
You can learn a new profession on your own ; there are many materials on the Internet on each individual point, for example, how advertising accounts are organized in different social networks or how to select a target audience.
Cons : it’s long, not systematic and difficult without an experienced mentor. You’ll have to learn everything through trial and error and a wasted budget for your first advertising campaigns. In addition, without a portfolio, it will be difficult to get a good job with decent pay or a client (if the targetologist works freelance).
Pros: It’s free.
Another option is courses – they will allow you to get a profession faster, in addition, the level of training in this case will be incomparably higher than with independent study.
For example, on the course “Targeted Advertising” from the online university IMBA, you can learn the profession in 12 months. The authors and teachers of the course are leading experts in the industry with extensive practical experience.
An important value that the course will provide is a separate project where you can practice working with advertising on social networks, as well as create your first cases for your portfolio. IMBA students will have 3 such projects, because the assignments on the course are completed on real projects with real tasks.
Upon graduation, the graduate will receive:
Diploma of completion of the course signed by the General Director of Ingate.
3 real cases for your portfolio.
Opportunity to complete a paid internship (for the best IMBA graduates).
Employment assistance for the best students.
And, of course, all the necessary skills to work as a targetologist:
Set up, launch, test and optimize advertising campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki with a minimum cost per application.
Effectively pass moderation even in the most complex topics.
Use Popsters, Target Hunter, Pepper Ninja and many more tools
Develop creatives for advertising campaigns.
Analyze traffic and conversion in analytics systems Yandex.Metrica, Google Analytics, Roistat, etc.
Use non-standard solutions that have proven results in practice when working with real expert projects.