A targetologist is a specialist who is engaged in setting up and launching advertising on the Internet. It is now one of the most sought-after professions online. It appeared relatively recently, a lot is changing in it, so targetologists must constantly evolve.
In the article, we will take a closer look at what the targetologist does, what his earnings are, how he differs from the SMM specialist, what tasks are his responsibilities and where you can learn this profession.
Who is a targeting specialist and what does he do
A targeting specialist is a specialist who is engaged in setting up and running advertising campaigns on social networks.
An advertising tool that a targetologist should be able to work with – VK Business, Facebook Ads Manager, myTarget, etc. The ability to work with contextual advertising in Yandex.Direct and Google Ads will be a big plus for the target audience.
The main task of the targeting specialist is to set up an advertising campaign so that not all ads can be seen, but only a specific audience – your target audience. “Target” is translated from English – the goal. To do this, the specialist creates and customizes ads by geo, age, gender, interests, behavior, and so on. He also needs to plan the advertising budget and spend it with the greatest efficiency. The number of applications depends on the work of the targetologist. But the transition of applications to sales already depends on the sales department and the quality of the advertising page / site / landing page.
What types of advertising do modern targetologists work with?
- social media advertising;
- teaser advertising;
- contextual and banner advertising;
- mailings;
- push notifications and more.
How does a targeting specialist differ from an SMM specialist?
The SMM manager is engaged in promotion in social networks. His task is to establish communication between the company and customers, to form a positive brand image. He is responsible for content preparation and account management. The targeting specialist focuses only on advertising. Although now more and more vacancies come across where the SMM manager is also required to be a targetologist and vice versa.
In any case, the more skills you have, the more you can earn.
Examples of:
Antonina wants to create an account on Instagram and VK, regularly post content there, communicate with clients, gain subscribers – she needs an SMM specialist.
Valery wants to place advertisements on VK in order to receive more applications – he needs a targetologist.
Duties
What are the responsibilities of a targeting specialist:
- analysis of the offer, competitors, product advantages;
- search and collection (parsing) of the target audience, segmentation;
- drafting advertisements, as well as creating creatives;
- setting up targeted advertising;
- work with the budget – planning and adjustments in the course of the RK;
- analysis, optimization and scaling of an advertising campaign, conducting experiments and a / b tests;
- creation of reports.
Requirements
What are the requirements for such specialists:
- knowledge of services and tools for effective advertising customization;
- understanding the principles of advertising systems;
- knowledge of the basics of marketing;
- the ability to independently create creatives or set tasks for designers and copywriters;
- understanding how to select and segment target audience;
- ability to calculate the budget;
- analytical thinking.
How much does the targeting specialist earn?
The target’s salary level depends on requirements, experience, region and employment – full-time in the office or remote work.
How to Find and Hire a Good Target Engineer If You’re an Entrepreneur
To find such a specialist, you need to know the basics of Internet marketing yourself. Otherwise, you will not be able to conduct an interview and understand whether the applicant will cope with the tasks.
What you need to know before starting your search
Budget… You need to understand how much you are willing to pay the maximum for each client, taking into account the targeting salary. You can choose a different payment model: salary or piecework. With a salary (or simply a fixed payment), you must understand how much profit the work of 1 specialist will bring you. With piecework, there are also payment options – for leads, for a percentage of transactions, or also fixed. Basically, targetologists work for a fixed salary, less often for a%.
Promotion channels… You want to find a targeting specialist for advertising on VK, but perhaps your offer will go to Instagram, Facebook, or even Odnoklassniki in general. If you are not sure where is the best place to be located, consult a targeting specialist.
Where to find a targeting specialist
You can post an ad on job search sites, look for a targeting specialist among freelancers, contact an agency, view several resumes with portfolios and cases, look into the targeting communities and parser publics.
What to ask at a job interview
- are there any cases, what kind of work experience;
- how the specialist is going to search for an audience;
- what tools and services does he use;
- how he sees your target audience;
- can give advice on improving the landing page and offers.
Ask the applicant to complete a test task with primary analytics of your business and a budget forecast.
How to understand that there is a specialist in front of you
A good targeting specialist asks questions to learn more about your business, can give recommendations on offers and a landing page, is able to predict the budget, does not promise mountains of gold.
How the work is structured
Steps from the beginning of cooperation to the result.
- Filling out the brief and discussing all the details of the project. You draw up a clear TOR based on your requirements and wishes, the target researcher examines your website or page on social networks, analyzes the past ACs (if any) and decides whether to promote the project.
- Planning. A good targeting scientist has a plan of action ahead of time and get to know it better BEFORE starting an ad.
- Study of target audience. A specialist studies your target audience and divides it into segments. Then it collects it, for example, using parsers. Or collects data during a test campaign.
- Create ads and launch a test campaign. Before the start of a full-fledged launch, testing and analysis of the first data is always carried out.
- Main campaign launch and reporting. At this stage, adjustments to the RC can be made and the budget revised. You need to request regular reports so as not to waste your budget.
How to search for orders or work for a targeted advertising specialist
The target researcher can search for vacancies on job sites, freelance exchanges, and social networks. You can also make your own business card site with cases.
The highest paying jobs are posted on hh.ru, but you can also search on other job sites, such as finder.vc or rabota.ru.
New vacancies are regularly posted in the VK community of Cerebro Target in the “Project Exchange” section.
If you are a beginner targeting specialist and have just completed the courses, you can fulfill your first orders for reviews with a small fee. It is better to start with micro projects with a small budget.
PS Based on the definition, the responsibilities of the targeting specialist should include only setting up advertising on social networks. But in practice, most employers are looking for a universal specialist who can set up both targeted and contextual advertising. Plus, advertising tools are constantly evolving, and now there are many parameters in the context settings that can be attributed to the target.
Where to study as a targeting specialist
Or where to send your personnel for training. You can study the profession of “targetologist” remotely. Here are some online courses:
1. Netology.
2. Skillbox.
3. Courses of SMM-school Republic.
- basic course on targeted advertising;
- system targeting.
4. Free and paid courses from SMM School.
5. Convert Monster Courses:
6. The most effective course on setting up targeted advertising with Alexei Knyazev.
7. Several useful courses from Udemy.
8. Courses from GeekBrains in conjunction with Mail.ru Group.
9. Courses from HiConversion.
10. Courses of the Brunoiam Training Center:
- targeted advertising;
- contextual advertising;
- attracting clients from social networks.
Conclusion
A targetologist is a specialist who is engaged in setting up advertising campaigns on social networks. But since advertising tools are constantly evolving, and the number of requirements is growing, ideally, the targeting specialist should also be able to set up contextual advertising and work with advertising platforms. There is a tendency for the professions of SMM-manager, targeting specialist and contextual advertising specialist to merge into one. There is already a request for such specialists.
The targeting specialist must constantly develop, monitor the emergence of new tools and services, and understand the trends of online advertising.