9 Types of Digital Marketing Side Hustles
Digital marketing involves using digital platforms like search engines, websites, mobile apps, and email to promote products or services. Marketing online helps companies expand beyond local audiences, potentially reaching global customers if they have the necessary infrastructure. This global reach also enables individuals with digital marketing skills to offer their expertise to businesses worldwide, offering opportunities online alongside a full-time job. If you’re curious, this guide will explore the top digital marketing side hustle ideas for 2024, explaining why starting a digital marketing side gig could be advantageous and presenting some of the best options.
Social Media Management
Social media is now a key tool for businesses aiming to boost their online presence. Companies utilize platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to connect with customers and build brand loyalty. A social media manager plays a crucial role in handling a company’s online presence. Their responsibilities include:
- Managing content: Choosing what to post and when to post it.
- Creating engaging content: Designing visually appealing posts to attract the target audience.
- Handling customer inquiries: Providing customer service publicly and privately.
- Analyzing data: Studying engagement metrics to optimize performance.
To excel as a social media manager, it’s essential to understand your clients’ audience demographics, interests, and buying behaviors.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a great side hustle in digital marketing for those looking to grow their online presence. Whether through a blog, videos, or other formats, the aim is to attract an audience and recommend products to them.
To start:
- Find a niche: Think about what interests you and what problems people face. Look for products with affiliate programs in that niche.
- Pick a format: Choose how you want to present your content, like blogs, videos, or images.
- Sign up as an affiliate: Join affiliate programs to get unique links for your content.
Once you’re set up, focus on growing your audience and promoting products. Remember to be transparent about your affiliate links to maintain trust with your audience.
Content Writing and Copywriting
Content marketing is a strong tool for businesses to shine online, attract customers, and provide useful info to their audience.
You can focus on:
- Blog posts
- White papers
- Infographics
- Sales pages
- Case studies
- Tutorials
When offering content creation services, it’s important to know the difference between content writing and copywriting. Content writing educates readers through blog posts, white papers, and tutorials.
Email Marketing Campaigns
Email marketing as a side hustle has been around for a long time and remains a top marketing tool for companies. It’s used for signing up for lists, getting purchase updates, and more. Unlike platforms, where visibility can be uncertain, email offers reliable exposure.
As an email marketing expert, you’ll help businesses create and improve their email campaigns. Tactics include:
- Opt-in forms: Design forms on websites to encourage visitors to join the email list.
- Email campaigns: Craft sequences to introduce new subscribers to brands and build trust.
- List segmentation: Organize subscribers into smaller groups based on data for personalized emails.
- Copy testing: Write compelling subject lines and email content to boost open rates and encourage action.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a type of online marketing side hustle where brands team up with online personalities to showcase their products. Influencers attract followers by sharing their interests and activities on social media.
To become an influencer, focus on posting regularly and finding your niche. For example, if you’re good with finances, start a YouTube channel sharing money tips. As your audience grows, brands may approach you to promote their products. For videos, you can dedicate segments to showcasing products or include sponsored spots.
Authenticity is crucial in influencer marketing. Your audience trusts you as a real person, so be honest about products and always disclose paid promotions.
Graphic Design Services
Graphic design involves creating visual materials that tell stories and convey ideas for companies. These graphics help brands establish their identity, showcase products, and provide important information to viewers. In digital marketing, graphic design encompasses various tasks, from crafting social media visuals to enhancing website aesthetics for better user experiences.
Understanding a brand’s identity is key to graphic design. Many companies provide brand guidelines, which outline tone, colors, typography, and other elements that define the brand. Additionally, graphic designers often draw inspiration from existing designs, adding their own touch to make them unique and align with the brand’s guidelines.
SEO Consulting
SEO makes websites more visible on search engines like Google, driving free organic traffic. As an SEO consultant, your goal is to help businesses rank higher by creating top-notch content and optimizing existing pages. Learning Google’s guidelines is key. To start in SEO consulting as a digital marketing side hustle involves assessing a client’s website to identify areas for improvement. This includes:
- Reviewing website structure and URLs for accessibility
- Checking meta information (title, description)
- Understanding each page’s search intent
- Fixing broken links and 404 errors
- Ensuring speed and mobile-friendliness.
Web Design and Development
A website is like a digital shopfront for businesses. People often visit a company’s website to learn about them before making a purchase. In web design and development, you’ll use platforms such as WordPress, Shopify, BigCommerce, and Webflow to construct websites.
To create excellent websites for clients, you’ll need some technical skills:
- Programming languages: Learn JavaScript, PHP, HTML, and CSS to design custom websites.
- Graphic design: Familiarize yourself with tools like Photoshop, Figma, and Canva to create unique website graphics.
- Page performance: Ensure a great user experience by optimizing page speed (resize images, streamline code, use caching), and developing mobile-friendly websites.
PPC Advertising
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is when advertisers pay Google Ads every time someone clicks on their ad. They bid for ad spots, make ads, and target them through the publisher’s dashboard. This gets quick traffic for the advertiser, letting them test and improve their campaigns until they make a profit.
A PPC campaign manager helps businesses with their paid campaigns by:
- Finding keywords: Research relevant terms related to the client’s business that show people might want to buy.
- Creating landing pages: Make pages that match the ads and convince visitors to buy.
- Writing ads: Craft catchy titles and descriptions that address what people are searching for and why they should click.
- Setting bids: Decide how much to bid to get views and clicks.
- Collecting data and optimizing: Track which ads and keywords work best, remove bad ones, and test to find the most effective ones.
Start a Digital Marketing Side Hustle Today
To explore various avenues in digital marketing, discover top side hustle ideas for 2024, ranging from influencer marketing to graphic design services, and from email marketing campaigns to SEO consulting. Unveil the potential of expanding your skills and expertise in these areas to propel your career forward and seize lucrative opportunities online.
