Digital media reaches far beyond social apps and graphic design studios. Anyone who creates, distributes or analyzes content through digital platforms works in this field.
Hospitals use it for patient outreach. City governments use it for public notices. Retailers, streaming services and nonprofits all depend on it daily.
That range makes careers in digital media unusually flexible for someone just starting out. Campbellsville University’s Associate of Science (A.S.) in Digital Communication and Design and Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Digital Design Technology both build toward this field. Each one depends on a different mix of strategy, design and technical skill.
This guide walks through six common digital media careers and the industries hiring for them. It also covers typical entry-level pay and what it takes to land a first role.
Careers in Digital Media: What Professionals Actually Do
Every digital media role shares a common foundation. Professionals plan, produce or evaluate content meant for a screen. That screen might be a website, an app, an email or a social feed. Some roles are more creative. Others lean analytical. Many blend both.
This guide covers six career paths. They are digital designer, content creator or strategist, social media manager, UX designer, digital marketing coordinator and web designer. Each one requires a different balance of visual skill, writing skill and data literacy. The best fit usually comes down to what a person enjoys most.
None of these roles requires a computer science background. Communications, marketing and design programs typically satisfy the entry-level education requirements instead. Most new hires pick up platform-specific tools on the job or through short certificate courses.
Digital Media Careers: The Roles Employers Are Hiring for in 2026
The five roles below make up most entry-level hiring in digital media careers today. Digital designer, the sixth core role, gets its own deeper breakdown later in this guide.
Content Creator/Strategist
A content creator or strategist plans and produces a brand’s written, visual and video material. The goal is to reach and engage its audience. Day to day, the work ranges from drafting blog posts and scripts to building content calendars.
It also includes briefing designers or videographers on a project. Content creators are common hires in technology, retail and media companies. They typically use content management systems, editing software and analytics dashboards.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks this work under its writers and authors category, the closest official match for the role. That category reported a median wage of $76,910 in May 2025. Entry-level pay came in at $44,310.
Social Media Manager
A social media manager builds and runs an organization’s presence across platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. The role includes scheduling posts and responding to audience comments. It also means reporting on which content drove engagement or sales.
Social media managers work across nearly every industry, especially retail, hospitality and entertainment. They rely on platform-native schedulers and analytics tools to do the job.
BLS groups this role under market research analysts and marketing specialists. That category reported a median wage of $78,760 in May 2025. It is projected to grow 7% through 2035, much faster than average, with entry-level pay near $43,390.
UX Designer
A UX designer researches how people use a website or app. From there, the designer builds the layout, flow and navigation to make it easier to use. Day to day, the work includes user interviews, wireframing and testing prototypes before handing designs to developers.
UX designers are hired heavily by finance, technology and e-commerce companies. They build their work in tools such as Figma alongside user research methods. Campbellsville also offers a dedicated A.S. in User Experience for students who want to focus on this path specifically.
BLS classifies this role as a web and digital interface designer. That category reported a median wage of $104,000 in May 2025, with entry-level pay near $53,750. Nielsen Norman Group, a longtime UX research and training firm, publishes guidance on the portfolio mistakes that most hurt a UX job search.
Digital Marketing Coordinator
A digital marketing coordinator manages daily tasks across a marketing team’s email, paid ad and organic campaigns. Day to day, the role includes scheduling email sends and tracking ad spend. It also means pulling performance reports for a manager.
Coordinators are hired across nearly every industry that runs its own marketing. They typically start on tools like Google Ads, Google Analytics and email platforms such as Mailchimp.
BLS places this role in the same market research analysts and marketing specialists category as social media management, with entry-level pay near $43,390. Google offers a career certificate in digital marketing and e-commerce built around these exact entry-level tasks.
Web Designer
A web designer builds and maintains the visual layout of a website: page structure, color, typography and images. That is distinct from the coding a web developer handles. The work includes designing page templates and choosing imagery.
It also means testing how a site looks across devices. Web designers work heavily in technology, retail and marketing agencies. They use website builders and content platforms such as WordPress and Webflow along with standard design software.
BLS classifies web designers under the same web and digital interface designer category used for UX design above, with the same $104,000 median wage and $53,750 entry-level pay. That combined category is projected to grow 5% through 2035, faster than average, as e-commerce continues to expand.
Digital Communications Careers: Blending Strategy and Creativity
Industry hiring for these roles clusters in a few recurring sectors. Technology and information companies, marketing and design agencies and financial services firms show up repeatedly among the top employers profiled above. Retail and wholesale trade round out the list for web and marketing-focused positions specifically.
Campbellsville University’s A.S. in Digital Communication and Design and B.S. in Digital Design Technology prepare students for exactly this range of employers. That range spans agencies to in-house marketing teams. Coursework in both programs centers on real digital tools.
Beyond these leading sectors, digital media professionals also work in healthcare, education, entertainment and government. Many organizations outside these core industries now need at least some in-house support for digital content.
Ready to turn your creative skills into a career?
Both Campbellsville digital media programs center on real tools like Figma and Adobe Creative Cloud. See which program fits your goals.
View ProgramWhat Does a Digital Designer Do? Roles, Tools and Salary
A digital designer creates visual content, such as graphics, layouts and ads, for websites, social media and marketing. The role includes building brand graphics and laying out email templates. It also means preparing image assets for a marketing team or client.
Digital designers typically use Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma and Canva. They are hired most often by specialized design firms, technology companies and advertising and public relations agencies.
BLS tracks this work under its graphic designers category, which reported a median wage of $62,960 in May 2025. Entry-level pay in that category started around $39,520. Employment is projected to decline slightly through 2035, but BLS still expects about 16,000 openings a year as designers retire or change occupations.
How to Get Started in Digital Media With a Campbellsville Degree
Landing any of these careers in digital media starts with two things: a portfolio and platform fluency. A finished degree opens doors. Even so, most hiring managers still ask to see a portfolio before an interview.
According to AIGA, the professional association for design, a portfolio is the result of a designer’s best work and proven ability, not just a finished credential. Building one early, through class projects or freelance work, matters as much as the credential itself.
Employers also expect comfort with the software a role uses, but that shows up more convincingly in a portfolio than a resume. A few finished projects built in the actual tools a role uses tend to carry more weight with hiring managers than a list of software names.
Google also offers career certificates in UX design that build these skills. Campbellsville folds the digital marketing and e-commerce certification into both program curricula, and adds the UX design certification specifically within the B.S. in Digital Design Technology. The strongest candidates blend creative instinct with comfort reading data, since many of these roles now include some kind of performance metric.
Students who want a faster, marketing- and strategy-focused path typically fit the A.S. in Digital Communication and Design. Those who want deeper design, UX and technical training typically fit the B.S. in Digital Design Technology. Both build the portfolio work and platform skills this field expects from every new hire.
Launch your digital media career by exploring Campbellsville’s A.S. in Digital Communication and Design or B.S. in Digital Design Technology today.
Digital Media Career FAQs
A few questions come up often from students weighing a digital media path. Here are direct answers to the most common ones.
Do I need a technical degree to work in digital media?
No. These roles typically call for a background in communications, marketing or design rather than computer science. You usually learn platform-specific tools on the job or through short certificate courses.
Which digital media career pays the most starting?
Among the six roles profiled here, UX designer and web designer post the highest entry-level pay, both near $53,750, based on BLS data for web and digital interface designers. Digital designers post the lowest entry-level figure at $39,520.
Should I choose the A.S. or the B.S. program at Campbellsville?
Students who want a faster, marketing- and strategy-focused path typically choose the A.S. in Digital Communication and Design. Students who want deeper design, UX and technical training typically choose the B.S. in Digital Design Technology.
Do digital media jobs require certifications?
A degree is not usually enough on its own. Employers also look for a portfolio and comfort with role-specific software, and many candidates add a credential such as a Google career certificate to strengthen their application.
About Campbellsville University
Campbellsville University is a private Christian institution founded in 1906 in Campbellsville, Kentucky. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).
It offers degrees from the associate through doctoral level. Programs run both on campus and fully online, serving students across the country.