Can you tell us about your job?
I am the digital manager at EDAN, the pan-African television channel.
The job of digital manager involves supporting and strengthening the company's digital transformation.
It defines and drives the company's digital strategy to integrate new communication technologies into existing tools and methods.
What are your main responsibilities?
My job is to define the digital strategy for the various media where the target audience can be found. To strengthen the company's market positioning and define its digital identity. To communicate about the various programs and opportunities offered by my channel, EDAN.
I monitor developments regularly, keeping an eye on all the opportunities and impacts offered by digital technology in all its diversity.
I also monitor the activities of competitors and anything else that could influence the market and impact the brand.
What skills do you need to develop for this job?
You need to have a good understanding of the digital ecosystem, excellent technical knowledge and skills in the digital field, and strong analytical and synthesis skills.
In addition, having a background in marketing or communications could be a plus.
However, the recipe that goes beyond skills is to have a sense of observation, listening, creativity, innovation, and foresight.
What academic or non-academic path did you follow to get there?
I studied marketing and market development engineering.
However, I began to discover digital technology in a communications company when I was doing my first internship.
I then trained online to improve my skills, and my passion for this profession did the rest.
Do you work with a team? Do you collaborate with other departments?
I work alone, but I collaborate with all departments at EDAN.
What are the best aspects of your job? What are the main challenges?
One of my satisfactions is that digital technology is now at the heart of the company's business. Especially during this coronavirus health crisis, it is one of the departments that is operating at over 100% capacity because there are no physical barriers to it. Those who were hesitant to undergo digital transformation will be severely tested.
Our business is flexible and forward-thinking. We hear everything (real-time customer feedback), we see everything (good monitoring allows us to anticipate the market), and we are a source of new ideas.
I still believe that the role of digital manager should enable the company to achieve its overall objectives, but also improve the performance of each department by informing them of changes and developments in customer needs, trends in our target market, and weaknesses observed in our competitors.
One difficulty we sometimes face is that the environment is changing so rapidly that an analysis based on long-term observation can become obsolete in a fraction of a second.
Analyzing and interpreting data can be a real headache.
Do you have any anecdotes to share with us?
I remember when I had to do my first online campaign, I selected all the social networks I had heard of and produced a 15-page document after many sleepless nights.
The client arrived and asked me if I had written a book series.
I said yes, and following my answer, he asked me if I could reduce it to three slides and just include the four most widely used platforms.
I realized that you have to be practical and realistic in this job.
Read also: The role of Digital Manager – Interview with Tania Diallo