Women in Digital

Here at 2C, we are a predominantly female force. We’re fuelled by girl power and, as a result, we recognise the importance of showcasing the pioneering women of Digital Marketing. In this blog, we will look at five inspirational female figures that are storming the online-scene; whether that be through Social Media giant Facebook, Software trailblazer Microsoft or simply influencing through a personal blog, we can all learn a thing or two from these game-changing heroines.

Molly Welch is a Marketing Manager for Google’s Artificial Intelligence department and has been at the company for over five years. Welch previously held the post of Product Marketing Manager, and has also been involved in the department of Social Impact Marketing. Prior to her career at Google, Welch interestingly worked in the Research and Communications office of Condoleezza Rice, the former US secretary of state. Graduating from Stanford University with a distinction in B.A. International Relations, it is evident that Molly’s hard-work and ambition lie at the root of her success.

With almost two decades of experience under her belt, Mari Smith is an Internet Marketing heavyweight. Since 2007, Smith’s career has revolved around Social Media Marketing at Facebook, with her prestigious title of ‘Premier Facebook Marketing Expert’ reflecting her industry reputation as the ‘Queen of Facebook’. Furthermore, Smith truly practices what she preaches, boasting over 1.7 million followers across all of her social media profiles. This impressive figure includes her YouTube subscribers, that she has gained through regularly uploading informative content related to her work. On top of this, Mari is an established writer, and her name regularly appears in newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times and Success Magazine.

Alongside Smith and Social Media Strategist Amy Vernon, Ann Handley also featured on Forbes December 2017 list of ‘Marketing Influencers to Watch’, in addition to being named on IBM’s list of the ‘Seven people influencing Digital Marketing’. Handley’s website coins her as a ‘Digital Marketing pioneer’, and quite rightly so. Ann’s online and in-person training programmes, provided by her company ‘MarketingProfs’, benefit over 600,000 people. What’s more, Hadley is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of ‘Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content’ and ‘Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business’, and has written many articles and bylines for publications such as the The Huffington Post and NPR.

Annie Cushing has worked extensively in the areas of web analytics, SEO, PPC, social media and competitive analysis, and so it comes at no surprise that she founded and runs the incredibly successful blog annielytics.com. In her own words, Annie has ‘played just about every role one can play when it comes to creating and promoting content online, she’s written it, edited it, marketed it, optimised it, acquired links for it, emailed about it and pimped it on social media’. Cushing spotted an opportunity to educate and now provides Marketers with strategies to help them understand and effectively use tools such as Google Analytics: she ‘makes data sexy’. You may also spot Cushing on Search Engine Land as she often posts data-oriented articles here.

Purna Virji holds the respected title of Senior Global Engagement Manager at Microsoft, and has been at the company for over three years. She has featured on AdWeek’s 2018 ‘Young Influentials’ list, and was hailed by PPC Hero as the ‘world’s #1 most influential expert’ in 2016 – it’s blatant that Virji has had a significant impact on the Digital landscape! As well as contributing to many industry online publications, and exercising her skills as an MA in International Journalism, Virji is a regular keynote speaker at worldwide conferences, sharing her knowledge and expertise at events including SMX Advance, Big Digital and PubCon Pro.

So there you have it, five high-flying women of the digital world, and they’ve all achieved wonderful things throughout their careers. That said, they didn’t get to where they are without hard work, dedication and ambition; attributes that we can all employ to maximise our success. If you would like to expand your digital marketing knowledge and expertise, why not sign-up to the 2C newsletter for regular insights, updates and more!