Interview with Gabriela Ruseva, Digital Marketing Analyst at 365 Data Science
Gabriela Ruseva, Digital Marketing Analyst at 365 Data Science, is here to answer our “Meet the Team” interview questions!
Hi Gabriela, how are you? Thanks for jumping in at the call for an interview guest this week! Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself and how you got to be interested in digital marketing in the first place?
Hey, oh, no problem, thanks for having me! I’m Gabriela and I’m a Digital Marketing Analyst at 365 Data Science. How I came to be interested in digital marketing… Well, I graduated with a BSc in Management with International Business at Royal Holloway, University of London. The course structure covered many different modules like International Business, Accounting, Economy, HR, and Marketing. However, my business sense helped me realize today’s huge importance of marketing for businesses, so this is when my thought of pursuing this career path came to light.
Well, I for one am glad that thought dawned on you, Gabriela! So, what is it like to run the digital marketing efforts at 365 Data Science? What are you doing now?
I’m a Digital Marketing Analyst and the Social Media Lead here, and I get to work with a very capable group of young people (the 36-Hive as Viktor’s been trying to refer to us as of late). We’re all determined to reach new milestones every single day, and that’s quite motivating.
We spend most of our time communicating with customers and businesses, writing awesome content, sharing it on social media and coming up with fresh ways to supply our students with any information they might need.
In fact, connecting to our students is one of my favorite things about my job.
Being able to interact with them and help them get closer to their dreams is the best thing ever!
For sure! That’s not the first time we’ve heard this response, so I am sensing so same shared goals here. But Gabriela, we’re interested – and we haven’t asked anybody else this – what is it like to work in a startup?
Hahaha, okay, I am not going to lie… the workload is heavy sometimes, both because we kind of need to concentrate on a bunch of different responsibilities all at once, and also because we occasionally encounter problems we hadn’t anticipated.
Absolutely, I understand, but to be fair – who doesn’t, right?
Oh, for sure! In fact, the cool thing is, that because of this dynamic situation, we are always focused on learning, growing, and generally being better. We are constantly presented with opportunities to develop our skillset by handling a variety of challenges… Which, I believe, is extremely beneficial for anyone who aspires to develop professionally. I hope you agree with me, too. :)
Of course, Gabriela. Actually, if you hadn’t said it, I probably would have! But let’s talk about the data science part of 365 Data Science. Were you aware of the different ways data science could be implemented in marketing before joining the 365 Data Science team?
To be honest, not really. Similar to Martina, my knowledge of data science was quite limited in the beginning. The only thing I knew was that data science extracts insights from data, but I never realized the immense help the field could give to marketers.
Now that I’ve learned more about this evolving field, I can definitely say that a hand-in-hand relationship between marketing and data science exists. In fact, data science has enormous value for marketing. For example, marketers implement data science to measure the success of marketing campaigns, get actionable insights for customers, create effective email campaigns, segment and target the right groups of customers, create successful social media engagement strategies, and so much more!
Because of data science, today’s marketers get fewer headaches. Thank you, Data Science!
‘You’re welcome’ chimes in the 36-Hive. I am joking! But that’s awesome to hear, Gabriela, thanks for that.
Let’s change gears a little. We know you love Instagram and you’re also trying to grow your personal Instagram audience. But is Instagram your favorite social media platform?
You’re right, I love this platform. Instagram could be a very useful tool for both visual people and brands if they know how to make the most of it. And it is also really amazing how easy it is to find like-minded people there…
Have you been an Instagram person for long now?
I don’t think it’s been that long! I joined Instagram a few years ago, with the thought of starting my own ‘personal blog’. Although I now know a lot about social media marketing and use different tactics to grow both my personal and 365 data science accounts, the journey hasn’t been easy for sure. In fact, it got even more difficult after Facebook started making huge algorithm changes, which negatively affected everyone’s engagement rates. Nonetheless, most of us keep on trying to outsmart the algorithm (digital marketers…)! And, to be honest, I’m quite positive about the future! :)
And that’s great to hear! So, is it safe to say that this is your favorite platform?
Well, it might surprise some of you, but no. My favorite social media platform right now must be YouTube and here’s why! It’s predicted that video content will account for more than 80% of all internet traffic by 2020. So, not surprisingly, this growing demand has made YouTube marketing a hot topic among entrepreneurs, and many influencers. Naturally, businesses are now starting to include YouTube in their growing strategy to increase exposure, traffic, sales, and revenue. Essentially, YouTube is a platform that is abundant with opportunities, challenges, and generally excites me a lot. I believe it presents lots of growth opportunities and if you learn how to use its features properly, you will be rewarded.
That’s a great answer, Gabriela. And is exploring YouTube’s data science realms one of the projects you’re working on now?
Haha, you guessed it. I must say, the field of data science is not lagging behind in terms of establishing its presence on the platform. The data science community on YouTube has been growing a lot lately, and I’m super happy and proud that we managed to get more than 20K subscribers in less than a year! It’s amazing how many people are motivated to learn data science and look for different ways, both paid and free, to expand their knowledge. I’m really excited to see what we will have achieved by this time next year!
Alright, everyone, you heard the lady – subscribe to our YouTube channel and join our growing community of data science learners.
Hey – that’s usually my job! But, yep. Subscribe to our channel; we post pretty cool videos every week.
Gabriela, before we run out of time here, we have a special bonus question and it’s by Viktor: What is a hobby or interest of yours that you think would benefit others if they took it up? (That’s a nice one, we’re asking it, too!)
That’s a hard question, but I am up for the challenge.
Well, for starters, I believe in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Prioritizing my physical and mental health has been my focus for years and I can’t even tell you enough how much the healthy habits I’ve established have improved my overall well-being and made me feel good. Not only does exercising and following a healthy diet improve your physical appearance, but it also reduces stress and gives your energy levels a much-needed boost.
We are on the same page here, Gabriela. Perhaps our readers will also agree that exercise helps various aspects of your life. Do you as well?
Naturally. For example, I see health as an asset that works ‘behind the scenes’ but plays a significant role in performing well at work. Staying healthy does make me feel more energetic and helps me concentrate harder at work.
All of this probably sounds too cliché, but my experience tells me it is true! And I encourage everyone reading this interview to try implementing some healthy habits, such as exercising or just eating right. Trust me, a positive change will drastically improve many aspects of your life. ;)
