Anyone can benefit from using proxies. It can be used for protection, bypassing restrictions, etc. However, as a digital marketer, you can unlock a much bigger array of benefits by knowing how to use proxies to your advantage. In this article, you will learn the basics of proxies, the advantages you get for using proxies as a digital marketer.And how to get proxies 

What Are Proxies? (Residential Proxies vs. Datacenter Proxies)

Proxies are a tool that reroutes your connection to different locations, which allows you to virtually log in from any location from any device. Proxies allow you to hide your identity and bypass website restrictions. 

Residential proxies are the recommended type since it has superior performance, locations, and ease of use compared to Datacenter proxies. However, datacenter proxies are much cheaper, faster, and stable. Residential proxies are usually provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), which can provide a separate IP address to someone’s laptop, phone, or smartwatch. Datacenter proxies are provided by data centers which means they are cheaper and stable due to better equipment.

Before choosing, make sure to assess what you need and use your best judgment on which will work best. 

Ways to Get Benefit From Proxies as a Digital Marketer

Now that you have an excellent introduction understanding of proxies. Here’s a list of how you can benefit from it as a digital marketer.

• Market Research

Market research requires a ton of information about its competitors, target market, products, services, etc. However, some websites that hold this information are geo-blocked, which means you can’t access them from certain parts of the world. To bypass this, you can use proxies because they change your IP address to another location, allowing you to access these websites. These proxies are called rotating residential proxies because they rotate or change your IP address every time you visit a website, thus changing your location. Keep in mind that a residential proxy is ideal for this job since it has more locations than datacenter proxies.

• Social Media Marketing

Social networking companies now have tight limitations on third-party programs, logins, and account creation or sign-ups to avoid fraud. These limitations become a significant issue when we wish to create various social media accounts to demonstrate our presence and activity to our followers but are unable to; this also impacts businesses that require multiple social media accounts. The risks of managing your social media accounts from the same device or IP address are listed below.

• Multiple accounts associated with the same IP address or device may be a reason social media platforms block you. 
• You may be shadowbanned by social media networks (i.e., they ban you but don’t tell you).

These consequences don’t sound pretty. However, they can all be bypassed by the use of proxies.

• Safer Downloads

As a digital marketer, you might be managing multiple social media accounts, websites, blogs, etc. Many of these require assets to be downloaded from the Internet. These can be pictures, fonts, or resources since the Internet doesn’t have the best reputation for being the safest place. It’s essential to have a proxy to protect yourself from fraud or malicious software, especially if you have sensitive information such as passwords to your client’s social media accounts. 

• Keeping Your Identity Safe

As cybercrimes and security breaches are becoming more common, keeping your identity safe has never been more critical. And using a proxy can help you with just that. While using a proxy, your connection is secure, and you can browse without worry.

How to Get a Proxy?

You can buy proxies from proxy server providers, and the easiest way to find them is by a quick Google search. However, to avoid being scammed, there are some things to look out for. 

• Terms of Service (the fine print) – The TOS or fine print is something almost all of us skip. However, make sure to check for anything malicious since we are essentially giving out sensitive information such as passwords, names, and more that can be released into the internet. Once it’s out there, it can’t be taken back. Take this step very seriously.
• Domain Age – A good proxy server should have a domain age of at least two years old. To check this, go to whois.domaintools.com. 
• Privacy – Private proxy servers are the way to go since they are tied only to your IP address. Don’t ever use public proxy servers since (you guessed it) it’s public! This means they are not private whatsoever, so try your best to avoid them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, you now know what proxies are and the difference between residential and datacenter proxies, how you as a digital marketer can benefit from using proxies, and how to get a proxy.