Progression, Promotions and Paid Media: An Interview With Senior PPC Exec, Megan
PPC, paid social, display, Google Shopping, YouTube advertising, video, Sky AdSmart – the list goes on! The paid media world is a competitive one and we couldn’t do it half as well as we do if it wasn’t for our people.
We spoke with Megan who joined WMG as a PPC exec with minimal experience. Fast forward two years and Megan has cemented herself as an invaluable member of the team, progressed to become a senior PPC executive and is already working towards her second promotion.
Take a read to find out more about life in the paid media team, why she chose WMG and what her favourite part of the job is.
Tell me about your role.
I’m a senior PPC executive in the paid media team. So, my main responsibility is to support the technical account managers (TAMs) and the more senior members of the team. But I also have a small portfolio of accounts to look after myself. For these businesses, I run all of their paid media whether it be across Google or social platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok. I work to meet the performance targets that we’ve set, meet their KPIs and work on strategy for their paid media plan. This also involves me supporting my clients with any promotions or anything internally that they want to drive forward.
As a senior exec, if we have any junior people who join the pod, I’ll also help to support and train them alongside the rest of the team. This involves lots of shadowing or weekly training sessions and we also have monthly training as a full team covering anything new that’s coming out in the paid media world.
What is a pod?
A pod is the smaller team you work with on a day-to-day basis. Pod structures can vary from team to team but overall, the structure includes a pod leader who is normally the senior account manager – they deal with a lot of the bigger, higher revenue accounts. Some pods also have a senior TAM alongside additional TAMs as well depending on their portfolio of clients. Then there’s the senior PPC exec and an exec. We also have graduates who are in a graduate scheme that will then be filtered into our pods as they feel happy and confident to progress.
The pod set up allows for different levels of capabilities in each group and a lot of support. Each pod has a different speciality too, so client accounts go to different pods depending on their speciality and then each pod help to support the others or train other team members. It’s nice to be part of a smaller team on a day-to-day basis but the full paid media team has over 20 people now and we still chat together.
Why did you choose WMG?
I chose WMG because I came from an in-house digital marketing role and I wanted more of a fast-paced environment which is what WMG provides. In my previous role, I didn’t have the support that I wanted in order to deal with my day-to-day job and to progress at the same time. One of the main things that drew me to WMG was the progression plans and because the team is growing, there is so much support and so much knowledge for me to learn from.
However, we don’t just train each other. If we see online training courses that we want to attend, they allow us to take time out to do this. I even had a training day at Microsoft, and we also have Google ones. So, there’s a lot going on in terms of training and progression opportunities which is exactly what I wanted.
What’s your favourite thing about working in the paid media team?
There’s such a variety of people in the team. We’re all different ages, we all come from very different backgrounds, we all have such different knowledge. So, it’s just really nice to be with such a mixture of people. Our team are really good at having a laugh with each other too. Even when we’re really busy and there’s a lot going on, we all make sure everyone is having a good time.
I report directly into Kiki who’s been at WMG for nine years now. Much like myself, she started as an exec and since then she’s worked her way up to become a senior member of the team. Kiki is so detailed when it comes to her accounts which gives you a great understanding of everything you need to know. She also knows a lot about the overall company and if you have any questions about the wider business, she can normally help.
Then there’s Tom who’s our Head of Biddable Media. He deals with all of us, he’s kind of like the umbrella across the whole paid media team. Tom is really nice, approachable and friendly but he actually comes from a background of working with Google too. He knows so much about paid media and can support you with any issues you face, he’s always so calm, deals with everything in his stride and nothing is ever an issue. Being in between Tom and Kiki has really helped me progress – Kiki is very technical minded while Tom is more client facing so I’ve had the best of both worlds.
And then there’s Sophie who’s our operations manager. She’s such an easy person to go to, if you ever need help or just someone to chat to, she’ll always give you her time. She also deals with our 121s and progression plans. For example, if you go to Sophie and tell her you want to do more on LinkedIn, she’ll then put that in your plan and put in place any training you need.
I actually came to WMG wanting to have more of a paid social focus and I’ve since done multiple sessions with Facebook and I’ve had sessions for cross platform, so I now do a lot on LinkedIn, TikTok and Twitter too. Sophie spearheads all of this, pushes me towards any training I want to do and makes sure I have the time to do it. Also, if we get any new social accounts, she directs a lot of them to our pod because she knows that’s where we want to progress. Whereas if people want to be on eCommerce and Shopping accounts, she’ll try and make sure they have more exposure to this.
Can you sum up your time here so far?
I’ve been here for two years in July and it has been an absolute whirlwind. When I joined, I had a little bit of experience but not a lot. But in my time here I’ve had a promotion and I’m working towards my second promotion now. I think when you come from an inhouse role where you’re dealing with one company and one set of rules, to then join an agency where you’re dealing with so much, every day is different and so busy.
If that’s what you like and if you want to progress, this is one of the best agencies for that. We also have a clear progression ladder within the team which means you know where you can go and what you can achieve. Within our 121 forms, we have a full training plan of everything that we need to know for our job role and if you want to progress to the next stage, you’ll receive the full training plan of everything you need for that role.
There’s so much support as well. If there’s something that you don’t know much about that you need to work on, everyone in the team will give you the time of day to train you and help you get to where you need to be.
Are you wanting to kickstart your career in paid media? We have a number of open vacancies just waiting for the right person.
With impressive benefits and huge development potential, our opportunities are rife, spanning digital PR, paid media, outreach, SEO, content, CRO and account management. Get in touch to chat more.