Written by: Amy Edwards | Amy @BubbleJobs With Christmas now just a month away, it’s officially that time of year again: Prediction Time!Yep, over the next few weeks, you can expect your Twitter and LinkedIn feeds to be full of top prediction posts for the next 12 months on everything from SEO and Social Media to Marketing and Analytics (and everything in between!).Now, while I can take a pretty guess at some of the subjects above; today I thought I’d stick to the one thing I know more about than anything else – and that’s digital jobs.My day-to-day role means I see more adverts for digital job roles than even the most unsuccessful digital jobseeker – so I’ve used that knowledge, along with my knowledge of the digital industry, to come up with my top predictions for the digital jobs market in 2016 (you can find my predictions for 2015 here ).
1. Increased Focus On Content/Content Marketing:
Since that nasty little Penguin first shook the SEO industry in 2012, we’ve seen a big surge in companies shunning dodgy link building tactics in favour of building quality content (meaning the phrase “Content Is King” is officially now one of the industry’s most annoying phases!). As a result, over the last few years we’ve seen a lot of the big brands starting to invest more in
content specialists and over the last six months or so, we’ve seen these companies (and everyone else!) jump on the content marketing bandwagon.Why? Because it’s a great way to engage with potential customers, generate leads, build marketing databases and just generally build a brand. That said; with another Penguin update
scheduled before the end of the year (we’ll believe it when we see it!) and the fact that after that, Penguin will be rolled into Google’s monthly algorithm updates, I think 2016 is going to be the year that content marketing really takes off. With that in mind; if you’re already a content manager and you know how to build content and market it successfully, 2016 could be the year you’ve been waiting for!
2. More Merging Of Roles:
OK, so I know I first predicted this one
back in 2013 , but over the last 12 months we’ve definitely seen a big increase in brands and agencies looking to merge two completely separate roles into one in a bid to reduce hiring costs and produce a new hybrid breed of digital candidates – and I think that trend is only set to continue.Interestingly, while we first started to see a merge in similar roles eg. Content and Social a few years ago, in the last six months or so we’ve seen companies trying to merge roles which don’t necessarily go quite so well together – for instance, SEO and PR. With that in mind; watch out for some random new hybrid digital roles being advertised in 2016.
3. More CRM/Retention-Related Hiring:
In addition to 2015 being incredibly popular for Content roles (they came second behind
Web Development vacancies when we counted up all of the roles we’ve advertised on
Bubble Jobs in 2015 so far), in the last couple of months we’ve also seen a big surge in demand for talented
CRM and Customer Retention pros from major brands like Dixons Carphone.This increase in popularity suggests that brands are finally starting to realise that simply attracting customers and getting them through the checkout isn’t enough – in order to really provide a great service and drive customers back to their sites again and again, they need to continue to deliver tailored relevant messaging and really make the customer feel valued.With that in mind; throughout 2016 we’ll definitely see an increase in demand for talented CRM and eCRM Managers with proven track records of delivering great ROI and customer retention.
4. More Digital Strategist Roles:
Throughout 2015, we’ve seen a big surge in demand for talented
digital strategists from major names, including Monitor, Barclays and British Airways, as brands have started to look at the bigger picture when it comes to their digital presence and activities. From customer engagement to data and marketing, these digital strategy roles are multi-faceted and sometimes take the format of a consultant – providing a third party perspective on the business.In 2016, I think we can expect to see these jobs grow and mature – and take on a much more important role within agencies or wider digital businesses.
5. More Content/eCommerce Hybrid Roles:
Following on from my second prediction, in 2016 I think we’ll start to see eCommerce retailers re-evaluating their websites and starting to move away from a heavy sales focus and more into editorial content. With their unique brand of editorial content and sales,
Lush are already leading the pack with this strategy.Just to clarify; I’m not saying for a second that traditional
eCommerce roles will disappear (they never will!) – but I am saying retailers might start to look for eCommerce Managers and Merchandisers who can not only create and run an effective eCommerce store – but can also create effective editorial content to compliment products and drive interest/sales as a result.
