INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR DIGITAL MARKETING STREAM

1. Explain What Is Digital Marketing?

   Answer :
   Digital marketing is the brand marketing tactics through the internet. It includes various techniques like SEO, SEM and link building.

2. How Can You Categorize The Digital Marketing?

   Answer :
   The digital marketing/communication is categorized into two segments
   Inbound Marketing: This techniques takes the help of social media, digital content in e-books, webinars or e-newsletter to increase the number of clicks on links and learn more about a company and its services.
   Outbound Marketing: This segment includes placing ads, cold-calls, e-mails or reach out potential customers through digital mediums.

3. Explain What Is Seo?

   Answer :
   Search Engine Optimization widely known as SEO is the process of improving the structure, content and organization of your site, so that the Search engines can index them correctly. It also involves doing promotional activities to boost your search engine rank.

4. Explain What Is A Keyword In Digital Marketing ? How Important Is It From The Point Of Seo?

   Answer :
   “Keyword” in digital marketing is the word that a user’s or person enters into a search engine to find specific information.
   From SEO point of view, for better page ranking keywords are very crucial. How and where you have used the keywords will reflect your site ranking.

5. Mention What Are The Key Areas Where You Can Use Keywords To Optimize The Site Ranking?

   Answer :
   For better page ranking, you must use the keywords in following areas:
   • Keyword in Website URL
   • Keyword in Website Title
   • Keyword in Meta tag
   • Keyword in Web page content
   • Keyword density in body text
   • Keywords in Headlines

6. Explain What Is Ppc Or Pay Per Click Advertising?

   Answer :
   Pay Per Click also known as Cost Per Click, is a technique used to direct traffic to websites.  In this technique, advertisers pay the publisher ( website owner or host of the website) when the ad is clicked.  In other words, it is the amount spent to get an advertisement clicked.

7. Mention What Are The Primary Models For Determining Pay-per-click ?

   Answer :
   The primary models for determining Pay-Per-Click are
   Flat rate PPC :
   In this type of model, both publisher and advertiser agree to a fixed amount that will be paid for each click. In most time, the publisher has a rate card for PPC plan based on different areas of their website or network.   The amount varies as per the content that generally attracts more or less people.
   Bid based PPC :
   In this type of model, the advertiser competes with other advertisers in a private auction hosted by a publisher.  The advertiser will inform publisher for the maximum amount of bid he is willing to pay.

8. Explain What Is Google Adwords?

   Answer :
   Google Adwords is the single most popular PPC advertising system in the world.   It works on Pay per click model. The AdWords platform enables the business to create ads that appear on Google search engine and their other properties.

9. Mention What Is An Effective Ppc Keyword Should Be Like?

   Answer :
   An effective PPC keyword should be:
   Relevant : List out the targeted keywords
   Exhaustive : Apart from most popular keywords it should include the “long tail of search”
   Expansive: PPC is iterative, therefore the keyword list should be constantly growing and adapting

10. Mention What Are The Key Elements To Optimize The Conversion Rates Per Ppc?

    Answer :
    Conversion rate is nothing but to bring more visitors to your site.  To increase the conversion rates you have to focus on following things
    • Write compelling content on your site that is relevant to the keyword or search query
    • Maintain a high degree of relevance between your ads and corresponding landing pages
    • The webpage should easy registering process, signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase
    • Check design of your landing page which should have right combination of color, layout and GUI to attract more customers.



11. What Should Be The Approach For Effective Pay Per Click Campaigns?

    Answer :
    For effective Pay Per Click campaign, you need to do following things:
    Add more PPC keywords: By adding more keywords that are relevant to your business, you can expand the reach of your pay per click
    Split Ad groups: By splitting up your ad groups into smaller and more relevant ad groups, you can improve click-through-rate (CTR)
    Review costly PPC keywords: Review expensive and under performing keywords
    Refine landing page: To align with individual search queries modify the content and call-to-action of your landing page
    Add negative keywords: To improve campaign relevancy and reduce wasted spend, add non-converting terms /negative keywords. ( When search with that keyword, it will not show your website/content)

12. List Out Some Of The Useful Online Marketing Tools?

    Answer :
    Some of the useful online marketing tools are:
    • Google Analytics
    • Digital point keyword tracker
    • Crazy egg heat maps
    • Keyword discovery
    • StumbleUpon
    • XML Sitemap Generator
    • Favicon generator
    • SubmitExpress Link Popularity

13. Explain What Is On-page And Off Page Optimization?

    Answer :
    Off page optimization: It is the process of boosting your search engine ranking by getting external links pointing back to it.
    On page optimization: On page optimization directly deals with the content and structure of the website.

14. What One Should Do To Avoid The Penalty?

    Answer :
    • Do not link to any other site with bad page rank
    • Avoid Poison words, for example word “link”, when you hypertext this text to give the link to your site it becomes poison words
    • Avoid stealing text or imagesfrom other domains
    • Avoid re-directing users to another page through refresh meta-tags – don’t immediately send user or visitors to another page even before he or she clicked on the web page link.

15. Mention What Are The Characteristics Of “bad Links” ?

    Answer :
    The characteristics of “bad links” are:
    • Links from sites that are unrelated to your sites
    • Links from low Page Rank and Low traffic
    • Links from link exchanges
    • Links from those sites that are not in Google index
    • Paid links
    • Link from the same anchor texts coming from multiple sites
    • Spammy links from blogs or articles.

16. Can Social Media Marketing Really Help My Business?

    Answer :
    Most definitely! It’s been proven again and again by business after business. In fact, not utilizing social media marketing can actually harm your business, since having an online presence on social media is simply expected of any reputable firm these days.

17. What Are The Benefits Of Social Media Marketing For My Company?

    Answer :
    Whether your business is taking advantage of it or not, social media has forever changed the way that consumers communicate with businesses, and vice versa. Being accessible to your customers – and your prospective clients – via social media is a vital means of developing relationships with them and helping them through the sales funnel.

18. How Should Companies Measure Their Social Media Marketing Success?

    Answer :
    Success is measured using the same metrics you use for any other marketing activity: traffic, leads, and customers. Counting the number of fans or followers you have can help you understand your social media reach, but the bottom line that determines its success is how many people it drives to your site, how many of them are qualified leads, and how many of them actually become customers.

19. How Much Does Social Media Marketing Cost? What’s The Roi?

    Answer :
    One thing is for certain – social media marketing is never free. Whether you’re spending your own valuable time on it, asking an employee to add it to their workload, hiring a social media employee, or outsourcing to a marketing firm, there is always a cost. The key is to get the maximum ROI out of the time or money you put into it. It’s important to remember, however, that ROI doesn’t have to mean revenue. It can, but it can also mean meeting other objectives, such as getting new leads, increasing email subscriptions, or even boosting customer satisfaction. The ROI you end up with is the direct result of how focused your social media marketing strategy is.



20. Which Social Media Platforms Should My Business Have A Presence On?

    Answer :
    There is no set answer to this question, because you need to have a presence wherever your customers are – and different businesses have different audiences.
    One demographic spends most of their time on Facebook, while another really only engages on LinkedIn, and some divide their time equally between three or more sites. Find out where your customers are, and follow them there.

21. Does My Company Really Need A Blog For Social Media Marketing?

    Answer :
    

    Yes! A blog is one of those non-negotiables. Apart from all of the benefits it provides on its own, such as increasing your credibility as an industry expert, and providing fresh, keyword-rich content on a regular basis to please the search engines, a blog is a vital component of social media marketing.

    One of the most effective types of content to post on social media is a link to a blog post. Without fresh blog posts being shared on a regular basis, you won’t have nearly as much to talk about with your fans, and you won’t be driving as much traffic to your site, either.

22. Is Social Media Marketing Better For B2c Or B2b Businesses?

    Answer :
    

    It’s important for both, but in different ways. While B2C businesses can focus on more light-hearted, fun social media posts, B2B businesses need to use social media to share valuable industry content. As a tool for connecting a business with its customers, however, social media is vital to both.

23. How Should We Be Using Facebook For Marketing?

    Answer :
    

    Facebook is the social media platform of choice for over a billion people worldwide. Use it to connect and interact with your audience, and to share your content in a way that encourages your fans to share it as well.

24. How Should We Be Using Twitter For Marketing?

    Answer :
    

    Twitter has over 313 million users, and is ideal for sharing your content and connecting with other influencers in your industry.

25. How Should We Be Using Linkedin For Marketing?

    Answer :
    

    LinkedIn has over 467 million users. It is a great place to share your credentials with the world, but more importantly, it’s the perfect place to interact with your audience online. Using LinkedIn Groups, you can answer questions and contribute to discussions in order to demonstrate your industry thought leadership as well as your willingness to help others generously.

26. Should We Be Using Google+ For Marketing?

    Answer :
    

    Though it started out looking promising, Google+ is one platform we don’t recommend using for marketing purposes anymore.

27. Is Youtube Important For Marketing?

    Answer :
    

    Videos are becoming more and more important in the world of social media marketing. YouTube gets over 4 billion views per day! Promote your brand’s image through a video, let your audience have a peek behind the scenes at your business, or make a how-to video.

28. Is Outreach An Important Part Of Social Media Marketing?

    Answer :
    

    Guest blogging is one of the most effective and widely discussed methods of outreach, but social media can help your outreach efforts significantly, as well. Connect with other influencers in your industry via social media, and then build relationships with them through conversations and helping them to promote their content. Building a relationship in this way before reaching out to ask for a guest blogging opportunity can boost your chances of success greatly – and when your audience sees that you regularly converse with other experts via social media, they’ll see you as an expert, too!

29. How Can I Take Control Of My Brand Online Through Social Media Marketing?

    Answer :
    

    Taking “control” of your brand isn’t really possible anymore, thanks to social media. Whether you’re in the conversation or not, people will talk about you online, and there’s no way for you to “control” what they say. But what you can do is join in those conversations, and influence them by being a part of them. From negative reviews on Yelp to customer complaints on Twitter, the way to influence your audience’s perception of your brand is to participate in the conversations, and steer them in a direction you’re happy with.

30. Should Each Department In My Company Have Its Own Social Media Initiatives?

    Answer :
    

    A company’s social media activities don’t have to all come from the same place – but they do need to be coordinated, and that can be hard to do when each department is doing their own thing. Sending differing messages causes more confusion to customers than anything else – consistency is key.

31. How Much Time Should Social Media Marketing Take Each Week?

    Answer :
    

    Timing is everything in social media marketing. The good news is, by using social media you have the opportunity to reach your specific audience in real-time. But even though there are many tools you can use to schedule and automate posts to save some time, you’ll also want to keep track of the activity on your social media accounts throughout the day, so that you can provide timely responses to audience questions and comments. Between strategizing, creating and posting content and images, responding to your audience, and checking analytics, social media done right can be a full-time job.

32. What Are Some Common Social Media Marketing Mistakes Business Make?

    Answer :
    

    One of the worst mistakes is inconsistency – only posting sporadically, and not responding when consumers reach out to engage. Another biggie is using social media as a place to announce your own content and nothing more, without ever engaging in discussions or adding comments to the post that make your audience want to click or like or share.

33. Do I Need To Send An Email Newsletter?

    Answer :
    

    For some businesses, a newsletter is the way to go. For others, a different approach works better. Newsletters usually feature several different pieces of content, such as recent blog posts and current specials. But it’s also perfectly fine to send an email featuring only one piece of content, or an individual marketing message. Tailor your email structure to your unique audience, and see what works best through experimentation.

34. How Long Should My Emails Be?

    Answer :
    

    The average person will only spend about 20 seconds reading an email, so use that as a guideline. If your email will take longer than 20 seconds to read, make sure that the most important information, as well as your call to action and links, are located near the top, where they can be seen without having to scroll down.

35. How Do I Write A Great Marketing Email?

    Answer :
    

    The single best piece of advice we can give when it comes to writing a marketing email is to keep the following in mind: The purpose of every email you write is to deepen your relationship with each individual subscriber. That means writing to them as if they were a friend, or at least a real-life person, rather than sounding like a used car salesman.

36. How Can I Get Subscribers To Open My Emails?

    Answer :
    

    The key to getting subscribers to open your emails is by writing a stellar subject line every time. Other than your company name, that’s all they have to help them make that split-second decision when they see your email in their inbox.

37. Should I Segment My Email Lists?

    Answer :
    

    If you have the resources to write that extra content, and the flexibility within your niche to divvy your subject matter up into segments, then by all means, yes! Segmenting your email list is a great way to personalize marketing messages according to subscribers’ individual interests, making them that much more effective.

38. How Can I Increase My Click-through Rate?

    Answer :
    

    Amazingly, people are much more likely to do something if you simply ask them to. By placing a call to action in your email, specifically asking subscribers to “click here” or “shop now,” you’ll see a boost in your click-through rate.

39. How Do I Write A Great Call To Action?

    Answer :
    

    Your call to action should be very clear, and very simple. It should be somewhere towards the top of your email for those who won’t finish reading the whole email, and then repeated again at the end for those who do read all the way through. It should spell out exactly what you want subscribers to do, such as, “Click here to download our report.”

40. What Does The Can-spam Law Say?

    Answer :
    

    This law requires anyone sending commercial emails to include an unsubscribe link within each one, include the company’s physical address or P.O. Box as well, and to honor any subscriber’s request to unsubscribe by never emailing them again. Noncompliance with this law can be as high as $300 per email recipient.

41. What Is Content Marketing Exactly?

    Answer :
    

    Content marketing turns traditional marketing on its head. Instead of focusing on a company and its products or services, it focuses on the consumer’s needs first. The goal of content marketing is to provide valuable, genuinely helpful information to consumers for free, in order to create a relationship with them based on trust, which eventually leads them to make a purchase.

42. What Qualifies As Content?

    Answer :
    

    When most people think of content marketing, they think of a blog. And blogs are certainly one of the easiest and most effective means of content marketing available. But they aren’t the only forms of content that can be employed in a content marketing strategy. Any valuable information, conveyed via any medium, can be considered content. Videos, infographics, slideshares, PDFs, blogs, articles, podcasts, white papers, ebooks, webinars – the list goes on and on. 

43. How Should I Get Started With Content Marketing?

    Answer :
    

    Though it can be tempting to jump right in and start writing a blog without much forethought, the only way to ensure that your content marketing will be effective is to take the time to create a strategy first. Without a clear plan in place, all the time you put into developing content is wasted.

44. What Are The Steps To Developing A Content Marketing Strategy?

    Answer :
    

    First, determine who your target audience is. Develop a customer persona to whom your content should speak. Then, based on that persona and your company’s brand image, decide on your company’s voice, and the type of content you will be creating. Your content needs to be informative and valuable, as well as interesting and engaging, to your target demographic. And once you start producing content, constant tweaking of your strategy is in order, based on how successful each post is.

45. How Important Are Keywords In Content Marketing?

    Answer :
    

    Despite the constant changes to Google’s algorithm, keywords are still important in content creation. While the standards have been somewhat relaxed, so that words and phrases that mean approximately the same thing as the exact phrase searched for can now pop up in search results, too, it’s still best to include a few mentions of the exact words and phrases you want to be found for. Just remember that your priority is always to write for humans, not search engines.

46. Is There A Difference Between B2c And B2b Content Marketing?

    Answer :
    

    Yes and no. The purpose of each is the same, but since the audience is different, your content will also vary. B2B content tends to be more professional and businesslike in its voice – though not always – and the topics will of course be more business-oriented. B2C content, on the other hand, is usually more conversational, and the topics have a little more free range.

47. How Can I Incorporate Big Content Into My Content Marketing Plan?

    Answer :
    

    Big content, such as that contained in white papers and ebooks, is an important part of any content marketing strategy. Not only does it demonstrate to your audience that you are enough of an expert in your field to be able to write an entire ebook or white paper about a subject, as opposed to writing only short and simple blog posts, but it also gives you a tool for attracting email subscribers. By offering a piece of big content as an incentive to join your email list, you ensure that you have access to an audience interested in your content…and your company.

48. How Can I Create Content That Converts?

    Answer :
    

    It’s important to remember that content marketing is just one step in the conversion funnel. It’s only through a combination of SEO, content marketing, social media marketing, outreach, email marketing, and website design that prospective customers are led to convert. That said, content marketing is vital in the conversion process, since each page of your website and each informative blog post or white paper plays a distinct and definite role in convincing visitors to buy. Craft different content with each step of the conversion funnel in mind, and don’t forget to include a solid call to action.

49. What Are Some Common Content Marketing Mistakes?

    Answer :
    

    The most common content marketing mistake is to fall back into the old habits of traditional marketing. Writing blog posts that are overly salesy, or that promote the company and its products excessively, is a big no-no. Content should be valuable to consumers, and sales pitches are not only not valuable – they’re off-putting. There’s a time and a place for sales, and it’s not in your content.

50. How Do I Get People To Read My Content?

    Answer :
    

    Promoting your content through email and social media is vital, but even the best promotion efforts can be stalled by a lousy title. Make sure that the headline of your content is intriguing and informative. It should convey an idea of what the content contains, while also hooking people’s interest.

51. How Do I Measure The Success Of My Content Marketing Efforts – And My Overall Digital Marketing Efforts?

    Answer :
    

    Ultimately, the success of a digital marketing plan can be seen in the number of conversions it creates. But it can be difficult to track exact results, as a consumer needs several “touches” before finally deciding to purchase. A visitor may read a blog post, and then see an update on social media, and then read a few emails, before finally deciding to convert. While the blog post wasn’t the immediate cause of the purchase, it was that all-important first touch.

    So give your new digital marketing efforts some time to take effect, and then look for an overall uptick in sales. That’s how you’ll know if things are working as planned.

Pay-per-click

Pay-per-click (PPC),also known as cost per click (CPC),is an internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites,in which an advertiser pays a publisher (typically a website owner or a network of websites) when the ad is clicked.

Pay-per-click is commonly associated with first-tier search engines (such as Google AdWords and Microsoft Bing Ads).With search engines,advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market.In contrast,content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system.PPC "display" advertisements,also known as "banner" ads,are shown on web sites with related content that have agreed to show ads and are typically not pay-per-click advertising.Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have also adopted pay-per-click as one of their advertising models.

However,websites can offer PPC ads.Websites that utilize PPC ads will display an advertisement when a keyword query matches an advertiser's keyword list,or when a content site displays relevant content.Such advertisements are called sponsored links or sponsored ads,and appear adjacent to, above,or beneath organic results on search engine results pages,or anywhere a web developer chooses on a content site.

The PPC advertising model is open to abuse through click fraud,although Google and others have implemented automated systems to guard against abusive clicks by competitors or corrupt web developers.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate's own marketing efforts.

Affiliate marketing overlaps with other Internet marketing methods to some degree,because affiliates often use regular advertising methods.Those methods include organic search engine optimization (SEO),paid search engine marketing (PPC – Pay Per Click),e-mail marketing,content marketing,and (in some sense) display advertising.On the other hand,affiliates sometimes use less orthodox techniques,such as publishing reviews of products or services offered by a partner.

Affiliate marketing is commonly confused with referral marketing,as both forms of marketing use third parties to drive sales to the retailer.The two forms of marketing are differentiated,however,in how they drive sales,where affiliate marketing relies purely on financial motivations,while referral marketing relies more on trust and personal relationships.

Affiliate marketing is frequently overlooked by advertisers.While search engines,e-mail,and web site syndication capture much of the attention of online retailers,affiliate marketing carries a much lower profile.Still,affiliates continue to play a significant role in e-retailers' marketing strategies.

Inbound marketing

Inbound marketing is a technique for drawing customers to products and services via content marketing,social media marketing,search engine optimization and branding

Inbound marketing provides information,an improved customer experience and builds trust by offering potential customers information they value via company sponsored newsletters,blogs and entries on social media platforms.

Marketing strategist David Meerman Scott says that inbound marketing allows marketers to "earn their way" into a customer's awareness rather than invading their awareness through paid advertisements.

The term "inbound marketing" was coined by HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan and is synonymous with the concept of Permission Marketing,a 1999 book by Seth Godin.

Compared with outbound marketing, inbound reverses the relationship between company and customer.In fact,while outbound marketing is going to push the product through various channels,inbound marketing creates awareness,attracts and helps new customers with channels like blogs,social media,etc.

Content marketing

Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating,publishing and distributing content for a targeted audience online.It is often used by businesses in order to:

• Attract attention and generate leads
• Expand their customer base
• Generate or Increase online sales
• Increase brand awareness or credibility
• Engage an online community of users

Content marketing means attracting and transforming prospects into customers by creating and sharing valuable free content.The purpose of content marketing is to help companies create sustainable brand loyalty and provide valuable information to consumers,as well as create a willingness to purchase products from the company in the future.This relatively new form of marketing does not involve direct sales.Instead,it builds trust and rapport with the audience.

Unlike other forms of online marketing,content marketing relies on anticipating and meeting an existing customer need for information,as opposed to creating demand for a new need.As James O'Brien of Contently wrote on Mashable "The idea central to content marketing is that a brand must give something valuable to get something valuable in return.Instead of the commercial,be the show.Instead of the banner ad,be the feature story."For content marketing,continuous delivery of large amounts of content is required,preferably within a content marketing strategy.

When businesses pursue content marketing,the main focus should be the needs of the prospect or customer.Once a business has identified the customer's need,information can be presented in a variety of formats,including news,video,white papers,e-books,infographics,email newsletters,case studies,podcasts,how-to guides,question and answer articles,photos,blogs,etc.Most of these formats belong to the digital channel.

Digital content marketing is a management process that uses digital products through different electronic channels to identify,forecast and satisfy the content requirements of a particular audience.It must be consistently updated and added to in order to influence the behavior of customers.

Mobile marketing

Mobile marketing is multi-channel online marketing technique focused at reaching a specific audience on their smart phone,tablets,or any other related devices through websites,E mail,SMS and MMS,social media or mobile applications.Mobile marketing can provide customers with time and location sensitive,personalized information that promotes goods,services and ideas.In a more theoretical manner,academic Andreas Kaplan defines mobile marketing as "any marketing activity conducted through a ubiquitous network to which consumers are constantly connected using a personal mobile device".


Marketing through cellphones' SMS (Short Message Service) became increasingly popular in the early 2000s in Europe and some parts of Asia when businesses started to collect mobile phone numbers and send off wanted (or unwanted) content.On average,SMS messages are read within four minutes,making them highly convertible.

Over the past few years SMS marketing has become a legitimate advertising channel in some parts of the world.This is because unlike email over the public internet, the carriers who police their own networks have set guidelines and best practices for the mobile media industry (including mobile advertising).The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA),as well,have established guidelines and are evangelizing the use of the mobile channel for marketers.

While this has been fruitful in developed regions such as North America,Western Europe and some other countries, mobile SPAM messages remain an issue in many other parts of the world,partly due to the carriers selling their member databases to third parties. In India, however,government's efforts of creating National Do Not Call Registry have helped cellphone users to stop SMS advertisements by sending a simple SMS or calling 1909.

Mobile marketing approaches through SMS has expanded rapidly in Europe and Asia as a new channel to reach the consumer.SMS initially received negative media coverage in many parts of Europe for being a new form of spam as some advertisers purchased lists and sent unsolicited content to consumer's phones however as guidelines are put in place by the mobile operators,SMS has become the most popular branch of the Mobile Marketing industry with several 100 million advertising SMS sent out every month in Europe alone.

In Europe the first cross-carrier SMS shortcode campaign was run by Txtbomb in 2001 for an Island Records release,In North America it was the Labatt Brewing Company in 2002.Over the past few years mobile short codes have been increasingly popular as a new channel to communicate to the mobile consumer.Brands have begun to treat the mobile short code as a mobile domain name allowing the consumer to text message the brand at an event,in store and off any traditional media.

SMS marketing services typically run off a short code,but sending text messages to an email address is another methodology (though this method is not supported by the carriers).Short codes are 5 or 6 digit numbers that have been assigned by all the mobile operators in a given country especially for the use of brand campaign and other consumer services.Due to the high price of short codes of $500–$1000 a month,many small businesses opt to share a short code in order to reduce monthly costs.The mobile operators vet every short code application before provisioning and monitor the service to make sure it does not diverge from its original service description.Another alternative to sending messages by short code or email is to do so through one's own dedicated phone number.