Digital Marketer Interview Questions

Digital marketers are responsible for developing and carrying out online marketing campaigns. There are a number of different positions available to digital marketers, and they will often specialize in a certain platform or field. This can include specializing in social media marketing, Google AdWords, copywriting, or search engine optimization, to name a few.

Although digital marketers sometimes design advertisements and create content, their main job is usually to oversee the marketing campaign and strategy. This will typically consist of carrying out a campaign, observing the results, and then optimizing it to get better results next time.

Responsibilities

Digital marketer responsibilities may include:

Identifying target audiences
Developing marketing strategies
Creating ad copy
Contracting out design work
Analyzing key performance indicators and customer interactions

Skills

A company can’t make any sales if noone knows about it. To ensure companies are reaching their customers, a skilled digital marketer will:

Communicate with clients about short- and long-term goals
Interact with customers to identify key demographics
Utilize critical thinking to identify weaknesses in marketing campaigns
Stay up to date on current trends
Provide leadership to other staff members working on the campaign

Qualifications

In order to gain an entry-level position, candidates will typically need either a bachelor’s degree or experience within the field. Often, employers will be more interested in a digital marketer’s portfolio than their degree. Therefore, it’s important for candidates to get hands-on experience. For those who are striving for a management position, a master’s degree in a related field is usually required.

If you’re getting ready to interview for a position as a digital marketer, you can prepare by researching the company as much as possible. Learn about the 9 things you should research before an interview.

Salary

Salaries for digital marketers range between $47K and $81K with the median being $68K.

Factors impacting the salary you receive as a digital marketer include:

Degrees (associate's or equivalent certificate, bachelor's, master's)
Years of Experience
Location
Reporting Structure (seniority of the executive you report to, number of direct reports)
Level of Performance - exceeding expectations

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Digital Marketer Interview Questions

Question: Why did you decide to pursue a career in the digital marketing industry?

Explanation: The interviewer will likely ask this question early in the interview. It helps them set the stage, break the ice, and get you talking about your profession. It will also give them an idea of your motivation for this particular position. Finally, it provides them with information they can follow up on to ask additional questions.

Example: “I’ve always been interested in online activities. It started with a social media account and gaming but then grew into other areas. During college, I became interested on how to use the internet to market products. After learning traditional marketing techniques, I explored online channels and methodologies. After that, I knew digital marketing was my passion and never looked back.”

Question: Can you describe what a responsive website is?

Explanation: This is a technical question which the interviewer will use to explore your knowledge of digital marketing. Technical questions are best answered with a brief response and no additional information. If the interviewer wants to learn more, they will ask you a follow-up question.

Example: “A responsive website is one which is capable of adjusting its appearance according to the device on which it is being viewed. The adjustments include changes in font size, layout, graphics, and other elements of the website.”

Question: What is the most efficient manner in which you can increase traffic to a website?

Explanation: This is an operational question. The interviewer is seeking to learn what methods you use to accomplish a specific task. Naturally, generating traffic to the website is probably one of the most important things a digital marketer will do. There are many ways you can accomplish this, so pick one or two you feel will be applicable for the company with which you are interviewing.

Example: “There are several ways you can accomplish driving traffic to your website. Some options include using search engine optimization (SEO) as well as referring links. However, driving traffic to the website is not as important as retention - keeping the visitor on the site. This requires compelling content the visitors can relate to which creates either interest or engagement.”

Question: In your last answer, you mentioned SEO. Can you describe the different types of SEO practices?

Explanation: This is an example of a follow-up question. Any time you provide an answer, you should be prepared for a follow-up question in which the interviewer digs deeper into the topic. Make sure that when you provide answers, you have additional knowledge of the topic you are addressing.

Example: “SEO practices can be broadly divided into two categories – white hat SEO and black hat SEO. White hat SEO is a legitimate practice to get higher rankings on search engine result pages. It strictly abides by Google’s guidelines for SEO. Popular white hat SEO techniques are publishing quality content on the website, HTML optimization, and restructuring the website. Black hat SEO practices violate the guidelines provided by Google and Google’s algorithms. Common black hat SEO techniques include spam links, keyword stuffing, cloaking, hidden text, and hidden links.”

Question: What are some of the digital marketing tools you use or are aware of?

Explanation: This is another technical question targeted on finding out more about your capabilities and qualifications for a digital marketer job. You need to be able to demonstrate your understanding of the tools used in this profession. Simply list the top tools you use or are aware of.

Example: “There are several different digital marketing tools that I use regularly. These include Keyword Discovery, RankWatch, Google Analytics, StumbleUpon, XML Sitemap Generator, Digital Point Keyword Tracker, and Submit Express Link Popularity.”

Question: Why is online marketing preferred over traditional marketing?

Explanation: In recent years, digital marketing has surpassed traditional marketing in its growth rate and proliferation. An interviewer will ask this question even though they already know the answer. The purpose of the question is to discover why you believe digital marketing is important. This will also provide them with a better understanding of your expertise in the field.

Example: “it’s no mystery that digital marketing is growing at a faster rate than traditional marketing. There are several reasons behind this. The first is its ease and low cost compared to traditional marketing. It takes very little effort and funding to put up a website, create an email campaign, or use other digital marketing techniques. Another factor is that digital marketing campaigns can be adjusted and refined much easier than broadcast or print marketing. Finally, more people use digital platforms than any other media. Therefore, the reach for digital marketing is greater than traditional marketing techniques.”

Question: What are the best methods to get native backlinks to your site?

Explanation: This is yet another technical question that will test your knowledge of digital marketing techniques. If you’re qualified for this position, you should have no trouble answering this question. Remember that technical questions should be answered succinctly.

Example: “ A common method to get a backlink to your website is to write guest posts on other popular websites in your niche. You can also accomplish the same thing by liking other posts that were commenting on a post on other websites. Another method is to invite other website managers to post on your site with the promise of exchanging backlinks.”

Question: We already discussed the benefits of digital marketing. Can you explain the limitations of online marketing?

Explanation: One way to test a person’s knowledge of a job is to ask them to make an argument against it. This is that type of question. When discussing the limitations or weaknesses of digital marketing, you may want to include ways you can overcome them.

Example: “ Due to the ease of use and proliferation of digital marketing, there are many fraudulent websites and exaggerated claims for products and services on the web. This is best illustrated by the recent rash of fake news and CGI images. The result of this is people have become skeptical about claims made and services offered via digital marketing. Since this is more difficult to accomplish using traditional marketing techniques, people have come to trust television and print media more than digital marketing.”

Question: Can you explain the difference between direct marketing and branding?

Explanation: Here is another technical question in which the interviewer is probing your knowledge of marketing. This isn’t specific to digital marketing but is still a subject that you should have some knowledge of. Interviewers often ask questions of this nature to try to determine the scope of your knowledge in a particular field.

Example: “When executing a direct marketing campaign, the advertiser is attempting to establish communication with his target audience. This type of campaign utilizes shopping ads, dynamic search ads, search networks and other techniques. Branding, on the other hand, seeks to expose a company’s brand to sites and applications which have a higher audience reach. Common methods used for this are YouTube ads, custom ads, display ads and remarketing.”

Question: Which do you think is more essential, engagement numbers or likes and followers?

Explanation: This could be a trick question. Most casual social media users or influencers measure their success based on likes and followers. However, for anyone conducting business via the Internet, engagement is the key. This is what leads to purchases and revenue. You should always default to engagement when discussing digital marketing in a business context.

Example: “When executing digital marketing campaigns, the objective is always increasing user engagement. Engagement is what drives transactions and generates revenues for companies. Likes and followers help create brand awareness and buzz around a company’s products. But until the followers become engaged, there is no revenue.”

Additional Digital Marketer Interview Questions

How would you describe what SEO is to someone who has never heard of it before?
What experience do you have with SEO?
What makes Facebook a great marketing tool in your opinion?
Can you state one thing that sets you apart from other marketers?
How would you handle developing a new brand?
What is your approach to content creation?

A word of warning when using question lists.

Question lists offer a convenient way to start practicing for your interview. Unfortunately, they do little to recreate actual interview pressure. In a real interview you’ll never know what’s coming, and that’s what makes interviews so stressful.

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