10 Digital Marketing Interview Questions
Interviews can be incredibly nerve-wracking; there’s no denying that. However, you can help keep your nerves in check by preparing yourself in advance (also see controlling nerves at an interview).
So, when you finally get that interview for your ideal job in digital marketing, give yourself the best chance of impressing by practising and preparing answers to some of the most common questions from the field – just like you would swot up for an exam. Then, when the interview comes around, you’ll feel more relaxed and able to answer questions concisely and professionally.
To help get you started, here are some common digital marketing questions that you may be asked at an interview.
1: How would you define digital marketing?
It might seem like a simple question; however, it can lead candidates to try and impress an employer by showing them every single little thing you know about digital marketing.
Do not do this; you will only end up waffling and confusing yourself as you try and remember about this broad subject area. Instead, keep your answer short and concise, acknowledging that digital marketing is a vast subject. At a basic level, though, it’s a type of online marketing that aims to connect and engage with customers through digital media advertising and content. You can also add in a summary of SEO and social media marketing.
You may also be asked if digital marketing can be segmented. The answer is yes - inbound and outbound. You should then go on to explain the difference between the two.
2: What are the benefits of online marketing over offline marketing?
Here you should acknowledge that both areas have benefits – especially if your potential employer has an offline marketing department – and then go on to outline the benefits of digital marketing.
This can include reasons such as:
- You can reach a broad and diverse audience
- It’s cost-effective for lead generation in comparison to offline marketing
- A campaign can still be altered when live, where a printed flyer or brochure cannot be corrected easily
- There are numerous tools to measure a digital marketing campaign in real-time.
4: Can you tell us about SEO?
The term SEO is one of the most popular buzzwords in relation to digital marketing. In fact, many clients and businesses will know that they need to improve their SEO, even if they don’t know what that actually means. Which is precisely why you’re likely to get asked to define what SEO is, as this will help an employer to extract expert candidates from those with just a good CV.
Your answer should go along the lines of defining that SEO (search engine optimisation) will look to improve the content and composition of a responsive website to increase your visibility online. This occurs through search engine indexing as well as trying to enhance your rank on various search engines. One of the most effective SEO techniques occurs through link building.
Tip: If you mention jargon in an answer be prepared to define it, i.e. a responsive website is one that is compatible with multiple devices such as smartphones and tablets.
4: How would you increase our Facebook likes?
A trick question of sorts, here your interviewer is asking if you know what’s king – likes or engagement. Impress by letting them know that first and foremost, you would like to improve engagement, as this improves reach and ultimately how many people are introduced to a company.
You can also use this question to give some tips on improving ‘likes’ and tools like sponsored ads. You could even suggest a more suitable social media site if you don’t believe Facebook is the best option for that business.
5: How would you deal with a social media complaint?
This question is looking to test your expertise with digital marketing in conjunction with your customer/client service skills. If you’re dealing with social media in your marketing role, it’s likely that you’ll come across a complaint at some point.
Here advise that speed is critical and a complaint should never be ignored. Instead, try to move a conversation to a private setting ASAP and aim to resolve the issue. There are many famous examples where customers that have complained have been dealt with effectively and have gone on to tweet or comment on their service experience, and this has gone viral. This can often be as effective as a social media campaign as it shows other customers you care.
6: What are the limitations of digital marketing?
Digital marketing isn’t always successful, so by having knowledge of limitations, an interviewer will know that you understand ‘what not to do’.
Common limitations include:
- Competition – digital marketing is accessible for all businesses, which means your competitors will be working on similar campaigns to you. Getting noticed means being innovative and standing out from the crowds.
- Data mistakes – online tools, such as Google Analytics, can provide you data in incredible detail to manipulate and extrapolate. However, it is only useful if it’s interpreted correctly. If not analysed well, this data can be misleading.
- Doing everything – digital marketing is a vast field, and it can become overwhelming if you try to do every trick in the book at once. Instead, a campaign should be focused on one goal, i.e. generating leads and building your campaign around that goal.
7: How would you set up and track a successful campaign?
Talk about different goals for a campaign. This could be something like generating leads, increasing brand awareness or boosting social media followers. You can then go on to outline some tools that can be used to measure the success of that goal.
8: How will your digital marketing knowledge and experience benefit our business?
Here you have the ideal opportunity to outline previous roles or experiences that you’ve had. For graduates, who might not have the most experience, you can use a question like this to show how much you’ve researched the business that you’re interviewing for and the USPs that you have that could benefit that business.
9: What tools could we use to improve our digital marketing?
This is effectively two questions in one. Firstly, the interviewer would like you to explain the knowledge you have about tools such as Google Analytics, Semrush, Moz, SEOProfiler, etc. However, the interviewer is also probing to see if you have looked at their website and researched the company – something which you should always do (and in particular check the source code to see what analytical tools they currently use).
10: How do you stay updated with the latest marketing trends?
Digital marketing is a field that is continually changing and evolving. A method that might have been fundamental to one marketing campaign could become outdated in just a few months. So, to show that you’re willing to learn and research all the latest methods and ideas, an interviewer will want to know what publications you regularly read.
To Conclude
These are just some of the most common digital marketing questions. Ultimately what you are asked will depend on the job you are applying for. For instance, a social media manager will focus more on social tools such as Hoot Suite and effective social media campaigns they’ve seen. While a content creator might be asked more about link building and keyword density. Always study your own area the most, but have knowledge about other key areas, too.
Also, make sure that you make a brilliant first impression at the interview and be prepared to answer more general interview questions, as an interviewer will wish to know if you’ll fit into the culture of an office and what your ambitions are. Finally, make sure that you prepare at least five questions to ask during the interview.
by Rob Scott
Managing Director
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Rob Scott
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