Digital + Becoming T-Shaped!

The Squared Online course by Google has definitely been an early hit with my fellow Squared classmates. Yesterday, we has our second class. We were introduced by Aiden, followed by a class with Mike Berry. Mike was fantastic at presenting the course and has worked as a Digital Lecturer, Trainer & Consultant for the likes of Imperial College Business School, Hult International Business School and the NHS.

There was a lot of discussion in the course as a result of the questions raised in the lesson. Interestingly, one of the questions asked, "What would you like to get from Squared Online?" ties in nicely with one of my previous blog posts, "What does Squared Online mean to you?"

Another interesting debate arose when discussing the word "Digital". What exactly does "Digital" cover? What does it mean? I have summarised some of the responses from the discussion below:

"Digital is a whole new way of doing things" - Chris Farrance

"Digital has become a way of life" - Narayan Sahota

"Connected intelligence" - Carman Telehoi

"The future of marketing" - +Camilla Shuckburgh 

"Multi-screening, sharing, communications" - +Amy Vears 

"Digital is Connectivity...anywhere...anytime" - +Qurat Qaiser 

"Interconnected, real time communications" - +Samuel Carbonero 

As you can see from the examples above, the term "Digital" has a different meaning to each and every one of us. A fantastic idea and explanation of what a Squared student aims to be is T-shaped. Now, I know what you're thinking, how can someone be T-shaped? 

The T-Shaped Theory

The illustration above aims to outline the "T-shape" theory. Along the top, lay your general skills, a 'jack of all trades' as such. These skills could be Social Media, Google Adwords, Data Analysis, Mobile Traffic. The aim is to have the broad knowledge of the Digital Marketing world, and to specialise in one key area. Maybe it starts in the reverse - you are a specialist in a dedicated area, ultimately looking to broaden your knowledge across the board.

Integration is a key aspect of the "T" based theory. Regularly, different departments are responsible for different aspects of a campaign or strategy. The key to understanding this is to understand how each of the departments are interlinked, how an action from one area of the business has an effect on another area of the business. Having a true understanding of this then allows data to be used and processed in new ways, extracting new information from data already in existence. 

Planning future campaigns and strategies using this knowledge of how each department links and joins to another allows an individual the consideration of various requirements for all areas of the business, resulting in a campaign maximising returns for a business.

Some great thoughts and phrases I would like to close this post with, courtesy of +Mike Berry;

"Keep an open mind, challenge your assumptions and fail small - win big!"

What does the term "Digital" mean to you? It would be great to hear your thoughts!