The Reinvention of Your Analytics Skills!
Last week, myself and 7,000+ of my friends attended Adobe’s Summit 2014 in Salt Lake City. The overarching theme of the event was “the reinvention of marketing”, which got me thinking about how digital analytics professionals can continue to reinvent themselves and their skills.
Digital analytics is a rapidly evolving field, progressing swiftly from log files, to basic page tagging, to cross-device tracking. The “web analysts” of just a few years ago have progressed from pulling basic reports to advanced segmentation, optimisation and personalisation and modeling in R.
So as technology continues to develop, how can analysts and marketers stay up to date on their skills?
1. Attend trainings and conferences like Adobe Summit. These events are a great opportunity to learn how other companies are leveraging technologies, and spark creative ideas. If you struggle to justify budget, propose attending low cost events like DAA Symposiums or our ACCELERATE, or consider submitting a speaking submission to share your own insights (as speaking normally earns you a free conference pass.)
2. Read up! There is no shortage of blogs and articles that discuss new trends in digital. Try to carve out a small amount of time each day or week to read a few.
3. Network and discuss. Local events like DAA Symposiums, Web Analytics Wednesdays and Meet Ups are great places to meet people and discuss trends and challenges.
4. Join the social conversation. If you can’t attend local events (or, not as often as you would like) use social media as another source of inspiration and conversation. Twitter, Linked In groups or the new DAA forums are great places to start.
5. Online courses. Lots of vendors offer free webinars that can help you stay up to date with your skills. Or, consider taking a Coursera, Khan Academy or similar online course to learn something new.
6. Experiment. Playing can be learning! If you hear of a new tool, social channel or technology, try getting your hands on it to see how it works.
What other tips do you have for keeping skills fresh? Share them in the comments!
