A Media Analyst is a professional who specializes in analyzing and evaluating media data and trends to provide insights and recommendations for media planning and decision-making. They utilize various analytical tools and methodologies to assess the performance and effectiveness of media campaigns across different channels. In this blog post, we will describe the primary responsibilities and the most in-demand hard and soft skills for Media Analysts.

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Main Responsibilities of a Media Analyst

The following list describes the typical responsibilities of a Media Analyst:

Advise

Advise internal team with regards to patterns and relationships in the data.

Aide in

Aide in identifying best KPIs and measurement tools for campaigns based on objectives and strategies.

Analyze

• Analyze audience demographics and behavior.

• Analyze data and coordinate with media managers on trends, insights, and action recommendations.

• Analyze media cost efficiency and pricing strategies.

• Analyze program grids and various demographic reporting to better target media buys.

• Analyze, review, and report on the efficacy of campaigns and provide insights / recommendations.

• Analyze Web site behavior using Web analytics tools to determine areas of site improvement.

Assess

Assess media campaign compliance and adherence to regulations.

Assist in

• Assist Associate Media Manager in upkeep of program optimizations, budget details and forecasting.

• Assist Brand Managers with localized support as needed.

• Assist in developing media measurement frameworks.

• Assist in tactical research.

• Assist with internal and external communication efforts for changes that impact programs.

Attend

• Attend and participate in all meetings / calls with clients.

• Attend weekly Production and Marketing meetings.

Build

• Build, deliver, and present reports, including integrated dashboards.

• Build out campaigns in platforms to reflect parameters identified in Media Plan.

• Build target-oriented audiences based on campaign's objectives.

Coach

Coach and develop junior teammates.

Collaborate with

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align media strategies.

• Collaborate with media planners and buyers to refine targeting strategies.

Collect

Collect and analyze media data and metrics.

Communicate

• Communicate effectively with various audiences with support for some clients.

• Communicate success of and report on overall program results.

Compile

• Compile data and design client-facing presentation decks based on findings.

• Compile new creative developments within the industry to better service the client.

• Compile social data and design client-facing presentation decks based on findings.

• Compile weekly / monthly reporting for campaigns and provide tactical performance analysis.

Conduct

• Conduct A/B testing and experiments to measure media impact.

• Conduct market research and competitive analysis.

• Conduct media channel attribution analysis.

• Conduct media modeling and forecasting.

• Conduct ongoing tests that drive towards growth and achieving client goals with minimal support.

• Conduct post-campaign analysis and evaluation.

Contribute to

Contribute to business reputation and expertise in the marketplace, through thought leadership.

Coordinate

Coordinate media buys, KPIs and goals with Media, Analytics, and Consumer Marketing.

Create

• Create and improve organization processes, procedures and systems to support business needs.

• Create and present insightful, meaningful, accurate reports and analysis with minimal support.

• Create campaigns in GripIt and assign GRP.

• Create daily social media posts with original copy and original or repurposed creative assets.

• Create detailed personas and map the ideal journeys of our client's customers will go through.

• Create interesting video titles that resonate with the channel's audience.

• Create, maintain, and analyze their worth.

• Create report dashboards (Tableau, Excel) for internal and external clients.

Define

Define and track key performance metrics and recommend strategies for continuous improvement.

Deliver

Deliver quality analytics work to client and internal teams thoughtfully and on-time.

Design

Design and perform analysis, interpreting results and synthesizing recommendations.

Develop

• Develop analytical storytelling skills, helping to contextualize performance of paid channels.

• Develop and maintain media performance dashboards.

• Develop basic training content with QA.

• Develop operational campaign strategies.

• Develop strong relationships with clients and identify senior stakeholders.

• Develop tools that allow Bell Media to reach its full potential.

Drive

Drive traffic and conversion at full price.

Elevate

Elevate client requests for SOW changes with some support.

Ensure

• Ensure all daily reports and ongoing monitoring is delivered on a timely basis.

• Ensure local content is deployed appropriately.

• Ensure the quality of the data you will manipulate.

Establish

Establish and utilize metrics to interpret overall program results, trends and potential needs.

Evaluate

• Evaluate media buying and planning strategies.

• Evaluate media channel effectiveness and audience reach.

• Evaluate media vendor performance and negotiate contracts.

Execute

• Execute a tactical plan to effectively schedule on-air promos.

• Execute effective acquisition strategies and measure the impact against business objectives.

• Execute media test plans and measure the impact against business objectives.

Foster

Foster a team environment.

Gather

• Gather data on consumer, competitor, and market conditions.

• Gather research and communicates potential opportunity with leadership on a quarterly basis.

Generate

• Generate and provide insights for weekly / monthly media reporting.

• Generate dashboards and reports across multiple owned & third-party tools.

• Generate reports and presentations on media performance.

Help

• Help crafting meaningful media briefs in order to meet our needs.

• Help each other - We genuinely help others to shine and be amazing.

• Help manage web-based applications and tools.

Identify

• Identify and adapt to changing audience behaviour and social media algorithms to enhance performance.

• Identify and contribute to the development of content and strategies for media and online platforms.

• Identify areas for campaign improvement and optimization.

• Identify key trends and patterns in media data.

• Identify new opportunities for clients to meet their business goals.

• Identify opportunities for media innovation and new channels.

• Identify trends in the data to help inform strategy.

Implement

• Implement and monitor tests e.g. A / B landing page, copy tests and conversion lift tests.

• Implement custom audiences, contextual, look-alikes, and other affinity groups for targeting.

• Implement processes that ensure efficiency.

Increase

Increase brand engagement and consideration in the markets.

Initiate

Initiate promo delivery notes based on upcoming priorities.

Lead

• Lead influencer campaigns and maintain influencer relationships.

• Lead interdepartmental education regarding display and paid social as the subject matter expert.

Learn

Learn the nuances of digital measurement to further understand the why of performance.

Listen

Listen and report on customer activity and overall sentiment.

Maintain

Maintain a high level of accuracy.

Make

• Make it matter - We focus on what will have the biggest impact.

• Make recommendations on team shape based on the requirements, deadlines and expected budget.

Manage

• Manage all aspects of campaign account management.

• Manage and grow digital and data partnerships to elevate campaigns.

• Manage beta tests of new services for client set.

• Manage data collection processes to support proper management of campaigns.

• Manage media spend according to predefined client targets.

• Manage / QC URLs and tracking on campaigns to ensure full data capture.

Measure

Measure and analyze media ROI and attribution.

Meet

Meet and exceed client expectations and set KPIs with minimal support.

Monitor

• Monitor account performance & provide regular updates to the manager.

• Monitor and analyze social media trends and sentiment.

• Monitor and optimize online campaigns.

• Monitor media campaigns and track performance.

Optimize

• Optimize campaigns to improve performance.

• Optimize the team's media strategy and budget allocation by analyzing paths to purchase.

Oversee

• Oversee all aspects of a paid media campaign with a focus on solely driving conversions.

• Oversee all aspects of a social media campaign with a focus on driving conversions.

• Oversee tagging implementation and analytics via GA360 and Adobe Analytics.

Own

Own the marketing KPI framework, taxonomy and tracking principles.

Participate in

Participate actively in the social media activities and / or news media analysis for the Department.

Perform

Perform advanced statistical analyses.

Prepare

• Prepare and execute Quarterly Business Reviews for select customers.

• Prepare program presentations for stakeholders and internal marketing partners.

• Prepare reports and present to internal teams, leveraging our real-time data dashboards.

• Prepare to report on multiple accounts simultaneously.

Prioritize

Prioritize workload based on priority of programs supported and business impact of work.

Promote

Promote team culture and training.

Provide

• Provide budget recommendations for campaigns and manage budget pacing.

• Provide clients with campaign insights and suggestions for improving overall performance.

• Provide data-driven insights and participate in new business proposals.

• Provide exceptional customer service.

• Provide feedback on training content.

• Provide insights and recommendations for media optimization.

• Provide internal learnings, insights and recommendations to improve strategy.

• Provide ongoing and post-campaign analysis to the Client Service teams.

• Provide recommendations for media budget allocation.

Publish

Publish, merchandise and maintain product catalogues and collections.

Read

Read through the results, tagging and categorising the conversations.

Report

• Report back your analysis and insights in excellent written business English.

• Report on key metrics for campaign effectiveness among relevant internal stakeholders.

Research

Research and understand the competitive landscape on YouTube.

Search

Search and analyse new data sources to provide additional insights.

Select

Select and create thumbnails that generate high click-through rates.

Stay informed about

• Stay informed about media research methodologies and best practices.

• Stay on top of industry trends and available beta programs.

• Stay updated on industry trends and emerging media technologies.

• Stay up to date with all Google Ads and Bing Ads Updates, and current industry trends.

Strategize

Strategize for the channel's optimal viewership and engagement growth.

Support

• Support Client Success team with short- and long-term strategic planning for growth.

• Support colleagues at all levels with ad-hoc data requests.

• Support External Media Team as required.

• Support Paid Search and Paid Social campaigns through building and reporting.

Track

• Track all campaigns and manage inventory of all call-tracking numbers.

• Track key social media analytics monthly.

Understand

• Understand clients needs and metrics and communicate actionable insights to internal team.

• Understand clients needs and metrics and communicate actionable insights to the internal team.

• Understand what media Gen Y and Z wants to consume in the digital platform.

Update

Update sales tools based on new study results.

Upload

Upload and serve in-house promotional assets to web and mobile.

Use

• Use analytic skills to utilise historic data and improve on predictive modelling assumptions.

• Use analytics to create titles that go viral.

• Use creativity to generate new insights, visualisations and reporting metrics.

• Use databases or other primary and secondary studies.

• Use of Content Management System to schedule and distribute national content.

• Use out-of-box approach to every task.

• Use Research info to strategically schedule Cross Promotion inventory.

• Use social listening data to conduct research on topics such as brand affinity, audiences and trends.

• Use statistical analysis techniques to interpret media data.

Utilize

Utilize data visualization tools to present findings effectively.

Work with

• Work with client management team to meet reporting deadlines and aid in relevant discussion.

• Work with current data partners on audience refreshes, campaign optimizations.

• Work with internal stakeholders on translating corporate initiatives into social media content.

• Work with tech partners and data partners on data aggregation and QA.

• Work with the Digital media teams to develop measurement action plans for media campaigns.

• Work with the VP / Director of Paid media on case study opportunities.

Most In-demand Hard Skills

The following list describes the most required technical skills of a Media Analyst:

1. Proficiency in media analytics tools and platforms.

2. Knowledge of statistical analysis and modeling techniques.

3. Experience with data manipulation and data cleaning.

4. Familiarity with media research methodologies and data sources.

5. Proficiency in using data visualization tools, such as Tableau or Power BI.

6. Understanding of media measurement and attribution models.

7. Knowledge of media planning and buying strategies.

8. Experience with media data analysis and reporting.

9. Proficiency in using statistical analysis software, such as R or SPSS.

10. Understanding of advertising and marketing metrics and KPIs.

11. Familiarity with media buying platforms and ad servers.

12. Knowledge of digital advertising platforms, such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads Manager.

13. Proficiency in using web analytics tools, such as Google Analytics.

14. Experience with media forecasting and budgeting.

15. Understanding of media cost analysis and optimization.

16. Knowledge of data integration and data management.

17. Familiarity with media research panels and audience measurement data.

18. Proficiency in using customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

19. Knowledge of data privacy and compliance regulations.

20. Experience with data storytelling and presenting insights.

Most In-demand Soft Skills

The following list describes the most required soft skills of a Media Analyst:

1. Analytical and critical thinking abilities.

2. Strong problem-solving skills.

3. Attention to detail and accuracy.

4. Excellent communication and presentation skills.

5. Ability to work with large datasets and complex data.

6. Collaborative and teamwork abilities.

7. Time management and organizational skills.

8. Adaptability and flexibility to changing priorities.

9. Curiosity and continuous learning mindset.

10. Business acumen and understanding of marketing objectives.

Conclusion

Media Analysts play a pivotal role in providing data-driven insights to optimize media strategies and improve campaign performance. By possessing a combination of technical expertise, analytical skills, and effective communication abilities, these professionals contribute to the success and effectiveness of media planning and decision-making processes.