Role Of Social Media in IT Industry

The top  IT giants taken into account are:

• Accenture
• Cap Gemini
• CGI Information Systems
• Cognizant Technology
• Genpact India Pvt Ltd
• HCL Technologies Ltd
• Hexaware Technologies Ltd
• IBM,
• iGate
• Infosys Ltd
• Infotech Enterprise Ltd
• KPIT Technologies Ltd
• MindTree Ltd
• Mphasis Ltd
• NIIT Technologies Ltd
• Oracle
• Polaris Financial Technology Ltd
• Ram Co Systems
• Syntel Ltd
• Tata Consultancy Services Ltd
• Tech Mahindra Ltd
• Wipro Ltd
• Zensar Technologies Ltd

Facebook

Of the list of observed companies on Facebook, Wipro seems to have a robust fan base (1261668 fans) after which, HCL Technologies has a wide fan base (575261 fans). Third in the ranking comes Infosys (432450 fans). While having fans for the brand is good, how the number expands is an issue of concern. As observed, growth is more in Wipro first; next in line is Infosys and then Oracle. Fan Growth rate is a factor that is crucial in determining the success of any established business. The top three companies with highest growth rates are Wipro (9.77 %), Tata Consultancy Services (7.86%) and Mindtree Ltd (7.12%). Updates from Mindtree Ltd were impressive to the audience i.e the highest engagement rate was recorded for Mindtree Ltd (14.31%). Second highest engagement rate was recorded for Infotech Enterprise Ltd (8.44%). NIIT Techonolgies Ltd come with a figure of 6.60%.

Likes are an indication of how many people have seen a particular post on Facebook and also to see if the post was impressive to them or not. Therefore they are a direct manifestation of the success of the post. Majority of the posts came from Wipro, Infosys Ltd., and Tata Consultancy services. The top three IT Companies where more traffic in the form of comments are generated by Infosys Ltd, Polaris Financial Technology and Tata Consultancy Services with an average of 695,633 and 295 comments per day respectively. Shares are used to spread messages. In terms of business, a large number of shares from the people means the information reaches a wider number of people. Therefore, it is a significant measure of the success of a post and invariably, the brand too. Quite surprisingly, Infosys has the highest number of shares even though it got lesser likes and comments. It is ahead of Oracle, which is ahead of Capgemini.

Conclusion: 

From the above, it is fairly clear that Wipro has the strongest social media presence of all the IT Companies that were considered for the research. It is found to give whereabouts of the company, current projects, technical advancements etc as posts on Facebook. Wipro also conducts polls and asks questions to study customer or people’s response.

Twitter:

Twitter undoubtedly is one of the pillars of social media. With about more than billions of people active on Twitter, it is mandatory to hold a significant presence on Twitter to gain support and brand value for the business. Therefore, a considerable amount of IT industries has now set up platform on Twitter for assisting their businesses. In Twitter, the top three pages of the total number of followers belong to Oracle, HCL Technologies Ltd., and Wipro Ltd with figures 227169, 210633 and 205168 respectively. Since Twitter is mostly about tweeting and conversations, the number of tweets published in a page is a direct measure of the page’s or brands’ success in the social media platform of Twitter. All in all, statistically, it was found out that Cognizant Technology Solutions has the highest number of tweets (499), ahead of Genpact India pvt ltd. (358) which is in turn ahead of Ramco Systems (289). Finally, the top three pages based on response to queries are HCL Technologies Ltd, Hexaware Technologies Ltd and Ramco Systems in order.

Conclusion: On the basis of the above research on Twitter, no company is said to have the strongest presence as different companies have proved their significance in different measures. However, a general conclusion would be that CTS is the most active on twitter given that it has the most frequency and highest number of tweets.

LinkedIn

It is necessary for every professional to stand out in their appeal on LinkedIn to attract clients and grow network with like minded individuals. Therefore, implicitly, the motive of every business is to look appealing on LinkedIn. Although the last few years have seen many companies striving to achieve a strong presence on LinkedIn, only a few IT Companies have managed to do so. The number of followers they carry is a direct reflection of their success. Topping all IT companies, IBM, Accenture and Oracle are observed to be the most active holding as many as 1694058, 1381552 and 1024497 followers respectively. However, the above statistics does not take into account companies like iGate, Mindtree Ltd, Mphasis, L&T and Infotech.

Conclusion: Being a professional networking platform, it is imperative that these companies take LinkedIn a little seriously. The employees can list the companies they have worked for and are currently working for in their profiles, raising the credibility of their profiles and theri employers respectively. Making this practise mandtory could elevate the brand’s level greatly. Since LinkedIn mainly has CXO level individuals interacting more with updates, brands should take responsibility in managing LinkedIn Pages in exclusive and wise way. Many IT companies didn’t show any interest in showcase pages which is a novel feature of LinkedIn Company Pages. Brands should leverage showcase pages for their products / verticals and run competition amongst the verticals to compete on engagement levels.

IT Companies on Google+

Even though Google+ seems widely unpopular on the social media platforms, a lot of companies do seem to have a rather significant stand on Google+ as well. Companies have successfully reached out to people with a significant number of responses. On Google+, Accenture has the largest number of followers (19280). Following it is Congizant Technology Solutions (5526) and third, comes Wipro ltd (4064). Accenture has nearly four times the number of followers CTS and Wipro has. On grounds of +1′s, IBM ranks number one, way ahead (almost twice in number) in figure in comparison to Tata Consultancy Services and Cognizant Technology solutions. However taking everyone by surprise, even though Accenture has the largest number of followers, it is replaced by Capgemini in the number of posts. The next highest number of posts has been observed in CTS which is ahead of TCS.

Conclusion: The significance of IT is misunderstood to the common man. Social media bridges this gap. The importance of IT in social media may be missing but clearly these firms have channeled their resources and efforts to platforms like LinkedIn as their target audience is prominent there. Facebook’s significance may not be felt at this point for these IT companies as the audience is more into light content, instead of technical based content. Therefore, as can be seen from the above statistics, a large number of IT Companies are burgeoning in the social media platform, making them more involved with their people and customer base. Though their success may vary in different platforms, their root objective of establishing their brands and gaining support has been accomplished.

Please Note: YouTube, Slideshare, Blog – Social Publishing Platform has not taken into account here.

Top tetra Digital marketing technologies changing trends in marketing in 2014

The digital marketing landscape is changing constantly. Each year, new tools, technologies, and platforms are introduced that subsequently shift marketing strategies.

In keeping with the theme of new digital technologies and strategies, here are four trends every digital marketer should be thinking about for 2014.

1. Interactive video experiences

As brands push past traditional impressions and toward true engagement, applications and services take over. Take videos, for example. A short video clip is able to convey a message much more effectively than static ads can, which is why sites like YouTube are popular and why we've seen the introduction of other video platforms, such as Vine, and Instagram's new video component.

Now, imagine an interactive video experience at street level with access to social media and new impressions. With these platforms available, agencies will be experimenting with interactive content to create and share brand experiences at street level in a social digital experience.

2. Cross-screen marketingBy generating content that speaks to multiple senses—primarily sight, sound, and touch—marketers can create unique experiences that engage audiences and create more powerful connections with their brands.

Though mobile is an increasingly important part of marketing, remember that just under half of all Americans still don't have smartphones, and mobile-first and mobile-only strategies make it difficult to target the less tech-savvy consumer. The answer to this problem: cross-screen marketing.

By creating integrated campaigns across multiple screens—TV, tablet, mobile, desktop, or interactive screens at retail locations or near the point of sale—marketers can reach people without smartphones and even more effectively target consumers with one or more device. That becomes increasingly important as the more tech-savvy customers consume media through more than one screen at a time.

3. Data-driven location-based marketing

The influx of mobile devices and the introduction of wearable technologies have opened the door to a whole new world of data collection. By harnessing GPS capabilities and layering that with other demographic and consumer information, marketers are able to deliver real-time messages. By using data to create a more vivid picture of a consumer—where you are, who you are, and what you like—marketers are able to paint a more context-aware picture of consumers and tailor the brand experience accordingly. By automating user analytics, marketing technology can become more predictive and thus more effective.

Also, as the barriers to mobile purchases and transactions continue to erode, location-relevant messages, especially those occurring near the point of sale, will become increasingly important.

4. Custom content delivery systems:

In 2014, more marketers will understand the value in moving away from purely promotional messaging and instead focus on delivering new valuable content, opening the door for more connective advertising and messaging.

More brands will take on the role of publisher and producer, creating dynamic, content-driven sites that provide information that consumers are looking for. By using predictive data that generates unique content for their audiences, brands will offer a complete experience and build relationships with custom

Miracle's in Digital marketing trends

1.  Business Model Disruption Will Get Spikier: All the changing technology and democratization of advantages typically held only by large companies generates some real doozy business model disruptions in 2014. You might be thinking about that viral video on Amazon drone delivery, right?  Nah.  Too much regulatory non-sense for delivery drones to take off in 2014 (Hi-yooooh! Pun intended!). 

Here’s my bet: doggie biometrics. 

2. Squeeze the Marketing Cost Balloon:Spiking costs from all that content, personalization, marketing technology spend and global campaigning is really cramping your style with the CFO.  Quick: CMO vs. CFO, who wins? Imagine: dog collar with accelerometer and GPS. Chip implant with biometric sensor and gyroscope. BAM!  You’ve got yourself a dog spinning out a terabyte of data about barking, peeing, eating, peeing, moving, peeing and sniffing habits.  And that enables pet owners to get: custom diet recommendations; pre-warning of pet illness; remote home intruder alert; and so much more! You heard it here first.

Sooooo…many CMOs will be taking drastic measures to manage marketing costs in 2014.  Insource more agency activity—yes, even the strategic kinds (many will even start there as they insource).  Consolidate global agency relationships.  Check.  Create smaller teams (euphemism alert = layoffs and restructuring).  Absolutely.  Makes you wonder if it really is all about the customer, doesn’t it?  CFOs are such downers.

3. Head or Tail of Content Distribution—Pick One!!!  A funny thing happens when content is digitized and anyone can create it and distribute it. Players in the middle get crushed.  (Well, that’s not actually funny.  It’s kinda sad.  Circle of life.)  We know this from the past 20 years watching what happened to books, music and movies.  2014 will be a year in which many marketers re-learn this lesson—only for their own brands!  Too many marketing shops will have pursued content marketing, trying to be in the head of the distribution—and they’ll spend a lot of money on it.  But, because brands are competing with, well, everything else for attention, only a few will actually make it into the head of the distribution.  If you want a good marker for what it takes to be there, see Red Bull.  100+ full-time, dedicated content people.  A wealthy Austrian billionaire with a long time horizon.  Lack of quarterly earnings pressure.  If that doesn’t sound like you, you’ll want to re-think your content efforts.  (shameless plug: yes, we have case studies and a POV on how to thrive in the content tail)

4.  Digital Immigrants Eye the Grand Canyon, Planning for the Leap: Digital immigrants are marketing shops that didn’t grow up digital.  If you’re in this group, chances are you’ve done a pretty good job making digital (or its components) individual disciplines sitting beside traditional marketing disciplines.  Now, you’re looking ahead to a world where digital is flowing through everything.  Sooooo, what’s it gonna take to dismantle those digital silos and re-cast your marketing chassis for that new world?  If you’re smart, you’ll start to get your ducks in a row on this in 2014.  That’s why we’re taking a deep dive to study it on your behalf.  Please let us interview you. (shameless plug to help us help you.  Email Corey Mull to participate)

5. Somebody Will Create a Hype Game about Gamification: Oh, the irony.  You know how every quarter it feels like you read about some revolutionary way to use gamification to change behavior?  Well, if you believe over a hundred marketing technology practitioners who are actually putting dollars behind marketing technology, gamification is all hype. Vanishingly few marketing technologists see gamification in digital marketing as creating any kind of business value compared to alternate investments.  To see which marketing technologies aren’t hype, participate in CEB’s Digital Marketing Capability benchmarking (and that completes the shameless plug trifecta).

6. Smart Brands Will Formalize Change Pre-Viz Teams:  “Huh?” you say.  Pre-viz is short for “pre-visualization”.  Think of this as creating immersive prototypes of what the new world will look like once a change happens (or a new product or service hits).  We came across one company that has a dedicated team for this.  The team includes a set of folks from around the company with eclectic skill sets, a hacker mentality, and an ability to literally create visualizations (think heavy on video and experiential) of what life looks like post-change.  Those visualizations help sell ideas, rally support around change (employees, customers and partners), and help provide vision for where to go.  Given all the change and all the moving pieces in Marketing (and commerce!) these days, you have to ask yourself why you don’t at least have a pre-viz tiger team.  Seriously.  Have one.

Read Wikipedia for more on pre-visualization’s origins (comes out of movie making).  Good thought starters for who should be on that tiger team.

7. Bot Traffic Becomes 135% of all Internet Traffic:  I jest (it’s actually62% now).  But 2014 will continue to unveil just how much digital traffic isn’t really people traffic, per se.  Picking up off my 2013 trend #2 (“Digital Dog Will Discover That It In Fact Caught a Buffalo, Not a Car”), this is all in keeping with more of the shine coming off digital.  And just to be clear, I’m not anti-digital.  I’m not in the paid employ of the “Keep TV Analog Foundation” or anything like that.  I just want us all to evaluate digital/social/mobile with clear eyes.  Doing my part to be a cosmic hype counterbalance. 

8. Some Brands Will Call a Tech Timeout:  Others will wish they had. We’re catching wind of some large enterprise marketing teams calling a timeout on new marketing technology and platforms in 2014.  These brands realize their people, process and structure are getting outstripped by the technology change.  In short, they aren’t getting all the way up to the productive part of the learning curves before they get sucked into new ones. During their 2014 timeout, they plan to get their you-know-what together on all the technology changes from the last five years, before they introduce any new ones.

9.   Some CIO-CMO Tandems Will Get Down to Brass Tacks: Ok, we’ve all read the glossies on CIO-CMO tandems who get along great.  And they do.  I believe them.  It’s down below, amongst the minions, where the friction happens.  So, CIO-CMO tandems who want to get stuff done will do the following to help their minions in the day-to-day:

a. Put capabilities ahead of technologies—together, they’ll think not about IT or Martech roadmaps, but about business capability roadmaps and what that means for technology.

b. Create different technology “treatment” lanes—these will formalize where IT gets involved and where it doesn’t, so as to speed marketing tech experimentation in areas where there’s low risk.

c. Identify “shallow IT” transition points—they’ll find the triggers for when IT becomes more involved to scale successful experiments.

We’ll blow these out in early 2014 by sharing highlights and case examples from a study by our pals in CEB’s Technology practice.

10. Google Reveals that Larry Page is Actually a Self-Aware, Driverless Car:  I’m going out on a limb on this one…or am I? 

If you have a different idea of what Larry Page really is, please share via comment below.

Happy Holidays from all of us here at CEB.  We’re wishing you the best in 2014.

Google Fundamentals Certification Exam

Many of these questions also find their way into the Advanced Search and Advanced Display exams, so you can also use this guide as a refresher course for your second exam. Contact us with any corrections, updates you think should be included, and other topics covered by Google.

Our advice is to use Google’s material to study for the exam and learn the AdWords platform in depth. The use our guide or others to refresh your memory on the basic concepts and mop up all of the easy questions on the test so you can spend more time on the difficult ones. Finally, good luck with your AdWords Fundamentals Certification Exam!

Accounts
Q: When setting up a Google AdWords Account, why should you choose your currency and time zone carefully?
A: These can not be edited once the account is set up.

Q: Which settings are specified at the Account level in AdWords?
A: Email address, password, and billing information.

Q: What happens to the rest of your Google products if you change your password for AdWords?
A: The new password will be required to log in to all other Google products.

Ads
Q: Your ad includes the phrase, “Your friend has a crush on you. See who!” and it gets disapproved. Why?
A: AdWords policy does not allow ads to simulate email inbox notifications or fake friend/crush requests.

Q: What is the formula for ad rank on the Search Network?
A: Maximum Cost Per Click X Quality Score.

Q: What is the best way to achieve the top position in paid search results?
A: Improve the Quality Score and raise the Cost Per Click.

Q: How should you check to see if your ads are still running on Google?
A: Use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool.

Q: Why should you use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool to check if your ads are live and running on Google?
A: By searching for keywords that trigger your ad, you can rack up impressions without clicks, which may lower your Click-Through Rate, which may prevent your ad from appearing as often as it is eligible.

Q: Why should you identify special offers before building an AdWords campaign?
A: In order to create compelling text for your ad creatives.

Q: All other things equal, if your closest competitor’s bid is $0.25, how much will you pay to show your ad in a higher position?
A: $0.26

Q: What is the formula for ranking keyword-targeted ads on the Search Network?
A: Maximum Cost Per Click x Quality Score.

Q: What are some phrases that are not allowed, according to Google Ad Policies?
A: Call To Action phrases like “Click here,” or “See this site.”

Q: True or false. “Click here” can be used in an ad.
A: False. This phrase violates Google’s Ad Policies.

Q: How can you create effective ad text?
A: Best practices include using prices, promotions, and exclusive offers in your ads.

Ad Extensions
Q: How are +1s calculated for your ad and Google+ page when using the social extension on your ads?
A: +1s from your Google+ page show in the count that is visible on your ad.

Q: What can a location extension do?
A: Assist nearby customers in finding or calling your nearest location.

Q: With the sitelinks extension set at both the campaign and Ad Group level, which ones will be displayed?
A: The sitelinks at the Ad Group level will be displayed.

Ad Groups
Q: Why is it a bad idea to duplicate keywords in multiple Ad Groups?
A: Keywords in multiple ad groups compete against each other, and the keyword with the higher performance will trigger the ad in that Ad Group to run.

Q: What is the effect of including both keywords and placements in an Ad Group on the Display Network?
A: Your ads will be restricted to only specific sites that you choose and webpages where the content is relevant to the theme of the keywords.

Q: Why is it important to group similar keywords together in an Ad Group?
A: To ensure that the ads remain relevant to those keywords.

Q: Why is it a good idea to create multiple Ad Groups?
A: You can break up keywords and ads and group them by related themes.

Q: What should Ad Groups be organized around?
A: Common themes.

Q: True or false. Placements can be controlled at the Ad Group level.
A: True.

Q: What impact can poor landing page quality have on an Ad Group?
A: Keywords in the Ad Group may be given a lower Quality Score.

Q: What should you use Ad Groups for?
A: To organize ads by common themes that you want to advertise on.

Bidding
Q: What is the maximum CPC?
A: The highest amount of money an advertiser is willing to pay for a click on their ad.

Q: What does Smart Pricing mean?
A: Google may automatically reduce your CPC bids on pages on the Display Network that are less likely to turn into an actionable business result.

Q: When is Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) bidding not available?
A: If your campaign is opted in to the Search Network.

Q:What is the main goal of automatic Cost Per Click bidding?
A: To generate as many clicks as possible within the advertiser’s target budget.

Q: What is one effect using setting a daily budget lower than the recommended amount?
A: Ads will not show every time that a user searches for the keywords that could trigger the ad.

Q: What is important to keep in mind about manual Cost Per Click bidding?
A: The average profit derived from a paid click.

Q: Which bid methods are used for image ads on the Display Network?
A: CPM or CPC bids.

Q: When a CPM and CPC bid compete against each other, how does Google determine each ad’s position?
A: Google estimates how many clicks the ad might receive in 1000 impressions to get the comparison.

Q: What is Enhanced Cost Per Click?
A: A CPC bidding features to automatically bid more aggressively in auctions more likely to result in conversions.

Campaigns
Q: What does a “Pending” Campaign in AdWords signify?
A: It is Inactive, but scheduled to begin at a date/time in the future.

Q: What is one main benefit of using Google AdWords?
A: Ads are displayed to users who search for your particular products or services.

Q: With a new campaign, what effect can the AdWords average daily budget have on achieving positive ROI?
A: It can keep costs and exposure limited until profitability is achieved.

Q: What does the Optimize ad rotation setting do?
A: It allows the AdWords system to show the better performing ad more often than lower performing ads.

Q: You have a new product line and want to allocate additional budge to promoting it. What’s the best way to do this?
A: Create a campaign with a separate daily budget to promote just the new product line.

Q: What can the Opportunities tab be used to do?
A: Find keyword, bid, and budget ideas to improve campaign performance.

Q: Why is it important to monitor ad campaign performance?
A: In order to determine if campaigns meet business marketing and conversion goals.

Q: What is one benefit of not using a predetermined budget for AdWords advertising, compared to radio, print, and TV advertising?
A: Online campaigns are highly measurable and may be able to generate an automatic positive ROI. As long as ROI remains positive, it can be strategic to capture all traffic without a predetermined budget.

Q: Which budget delivery method should you use to distribute ads evenly over the course of a day?
A: Standard.

Q: True or False. With the Accelerated delivery method of ads, ads are shown as frequently as possible until the daily budget is spent.
A: True.

Q: With an ad serving option set to Optimize, how will AdWords handle multiple variations of text ads in the same Ad Group?
A: AdWords will try to show the best performing ad more often than lower performing ads.

Click-Through Rate
Q: How does a low CTR on the Display Network affect your Search Network Quality Score?
A: It doesn’t. Your ad performance, including CTR, does not affect your rank for search ads. A low CTR on the Display Network does not affect your Search Network Quality Score.

Q: If you have a keyword with a low CTR, what can you expect?
A: A lower Quality Score on the Search Network.

Q: What is one way you can increase CTRs?
A: Add negative keywords to the ad group to reduce irrelevant impressions.

Conversions
Q: Why does a lower Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) not indicate a higher profit?
A: A lower CPA may be accompanied by lower sales volume, reducing overall profit.

Q: What can you expect if you raise your bids?
A: More conversions and a higher CPA, in general.

Q: What can you expect if you lower your bids?
A: Fewer conversions and a lower CPA, in general.

Display Network
Q: How does a low CTR on the Display Network affect your Search Network Quality Score?
A: It doesn’t. Your ad performance, including CTR, does not affect your rank for search ads. A low CTR on the Display Network does not affect your Search Network Quality Score.

Q: What effect does using managed placements have on your campaign?
A: Your ads will show on webpages, videos, games, RSS feeds, mobile sites, and apps that you have specifically selected.

Q: What does Smart Pricing mean?
A: Google may automatically reduce your CPC bids on pages on the Display Network that are less likely to turn into an actionable business result.

Q: What is the effect of including both keywords and placements in an Ad Group on the Display Network?
A: Your ads will be restricted to only specific sites that you choose and webpages where the content is relevant to the theme of the keywords.

Q: How does adding placements to an Ad Group affect its Quality Score for the Search Network?
A: Placements are used on the Display Network, so they do not affect Quality Score on the Search Network.

Q: Should you use plurals, misspellings, and other variants of words in Ad Groups in the Display Network?
A: Since the Display Network considers broad match only, plurals, misspellings, and other variants are unnecessary.

Q: Which bid methods are used for image ads on the Display Network?
A: CPM or CPC bids.

Q: By including keywords in an Ad Group, how does Google automatically determine where ads on the Display Network might show?
A: Automatic placements would be used to target sites by context whose content shares the same themes as the keywords in the Ad Group.

Q: How do Managed Placements work?
A: Advertisers can manually specify which websites their ads appear on throughout the Display Network.

Q: What is used to determine Quality Score on the Display Network?
A: The quality of the landing page.

Q: How can the Contextual Targeting Tool help you?
A: It can show you potential webpages where your ad can show up based on your keywords.

Keywords
Q: Why is it a bad idea to duplicate keywords in multiple Ad Groups?
A: Keywords in multiple ad groups compete against each other, and the keyword with the higher performance will trigger the ad in that Ad Group to run.

Q: From which AdWords tool can you get ideas for negative keyword and placement exclusions?
A: The placement performance report.

Q: What is keyword contextual targeting?
A: It is when themes of keywords are matched by AdWords to relevant content on various websites that run Google ads.

Q: For a direct response campaign, which keywords should an advertise delete or consider not using at all?
A: Keywords that generate a lot of impressions with very few conversions.

Q: Under the new match type policies, if you use the exact match keyword [red shoe], will your ad appear for plurals and misspellings?
A: Yes. This is a new change in Google AdWords policies.

Q: Does the Display Network take into account match types like phrase and exact match?
A: No, the Display Network uses only broad match.

Q: Why is it important to group similar keywords together in an Ad Group?
A: To ensure that the ads remain relevant to those keywords.

Q: What can you use the Keyword Tool to do?
A: Find new keywords for advertising campaigns.

Q: If you have a keyword with a low CTR, what can you expect?
A: A lower Quality Score on the Search Network.

Q: True or False. Negative keywords can help you refine the targeting of your ads.
A: True.

Q: True or False. Negative keywords can increase the CTR of ads.
A: True.

Q: Even with an unlimited budget and a positive ROI, what can limit the amount of money you can invest in a campaign?
A: The amount of profitable traffic available for the keywords that your campaign is targeting.

Language
Q: How does the AdWords system decide which ad language to target?
A: Language of ads is determined by the language setting of the Google interface the client is using.

Q: If someone in Russia sets their language preference to English, will they see ads targeted to people in Russia? Will their ads be in Russian or in English?
A: They will see ads targeted to people located in Russia with the ads in English.

Q: What language setting should you use to target a Spanish speaker in the United States?
A: Spanish.

Q: True or False. In order to target Spanish speaking users with Spanish language ads in the United States, adjust the language targeting settings.
A: True.

Location
Q: Where can an advertiser change the location targeting of an ad?
A: Location targeting is set at the campaign level.

Q: What is a primary benefit of location targeting?
A: The ability to target combinations of countries, territories, and regions.

Q: True or False. Google can use the IP address of users to target ads based on location.
A: True.

My Client Center
Q: What is one benefit of My Client Center?
A: A dashboard that provides summaries of different metrics for all of your clients’ accounts.

Q: What is the primary function of the My Client Center account?
A: An umbrella account for access to individual accounts with a single login.

Q: What is one way to limit a user’s access to only a specific number of accounts in the MCC?
A: Create a new MCC account linked to the original MCC account. Move the specified number of accounts into that MCC and grant the user access to the sub-MCC account.

Mobile Ads
Q: How can you get greater exposure on mobile devices?
A: Enable bid adjustments and bid higher on mobile devices.

Quality Score
Q: How does a low CTR on the Display Network affect your Search Network Quality Score?
A: It doesn’t. Your ad performance, including CTR, does not affect your rank for search ads. A low CTR on the Display Network does not affect your Search Network Quality Score.

Q: What is the formula for ad rank on the Search Network?
A: Maximum Cost Per Click X Quality Score.

Q: What are some recommendations for increasing Quality Score for a keyword?
A: Edit the ad associated with that keyword and direct users to a landing page that is very relevant.

Q: What happens when the Quality Score of a keyword is increased?
A: The ad may earn a higher average position.

Q: When are Quality Score and Ad Rank calculated?
A: Every time someone conducts a search where your ad is eligible to appear.

Q: What does a higher Quality Score typically lead to?
A: Lower costs and higher ad positions.

Q: How often is Quality Score evaluated?
A: Each time someone does a search that triggers your ad.

Q: What is used to determine Quality Score on the Display Network?
A: The quality of the landing page.

Q: How does a low CTR on the Display Network affect your Search Network Quality Score?
A: Ad performance on the Display Network does not affect rank for Search Ads or Search Network Quality Score.

Search Network
Q: What is the best bidding option for clients that want to spend the least amount of time setting and managing individual keyword bids?
A: Automatic Cost Per Click (CPC)

Q: What is the formula for ad rank on the Search Network?
A: Maximum Cost Per Click X Quality Score.

Q: How is advertising cost accrued on the Search Network:
A: Costs are accrued when someone clicks on an ad that is displayed on the Search Network.

Q: What is the formula for ranking keyword-targeted ads on the Search Network?
A: Maximum Cost Per Click x Quality Score.

Q: What effect do negative keywords have on Ad Groups in a Search Network campaign?
A: The ad will not show if the negative keyword appears in the user’s search query.

Q: What happens if a Search Network campaign consistently reaches its daily budget?
A: There will be missed potential ad impressions.

Many of these questions also find their way into the Advanced Search and Advanced Display exams, so you can also use this guide as a refresher course for your second exam. Contact us with any corrections, updates you think should be included, and other topics covered by Google.

Our advice is to use Google’s material to study for the exam and learn the AdWords platform in depth. The use our guide or others to refresh your memory on the basic concepts and mop up all of the easy questions on the test so you can spend more time on the difficult ones. Finally, good luck with your AdWords Fundamentals Certification Exam!

Accounts
Q: When setting up a Google AdWords Account, why should you choose your currency and time zone carefully?
A: These can not be edited once the account is set up.

Q: Which settings are specified at the Account level in AdWords?
A: Email address, password, and billing information.

Q: What happens to the rest of your Google products if you change your password for AdWords?
A: The new password will be required to log in to all other Google products.

Ads
Q: Your ad includes the phrase, “Your friend has a crush on you. See who!” and it gets disapproved. Why?
A: AdWords policy does not allow ads to simulate email inbox notifications or fake friend/crush requests.

Q: What is the formula for ad rank on the Search Network?
A: Maximum Cost Per Click X Quality Score.

Q: What is the best way to achieve the top position in paid search results?
A: Improve the Quality Score and raise the Cost Per Click.

Q: How should you check to see if your ads are still running on Google?
A: Use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool.

Q: Why should you use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool to check if your ads are live and running on Google?
A: By searching for keywords that trigger your ad, you can rack up impressions without clicks, which may lower your Click-Through Rate, which may prevent your ad from appearing as often as it is eligible.

Q: Why should you identify special offers before building an AdWords campaign?
A: In order to create compelling text for your ad creatives.

Q: All other things equal, if your closest competitor’s bid is $0.25, how much will you pay to show your ad in a higher position?
A: $0.26

Q: What is the formula for ranking keyword-targeted ads on the Search Network?
A: Maximum Cost Per Click x Quality Score.

Q: What are some phrases that are not allowed, according to Google Ad Policies?
A: Call To Action phrases like “Click here,” or “See this site.”

Q: True or false. “Click here” can be used in an ad.
A: False. This phrase violates Google’s Ad Policies.

Q: How can you create effective ad text?
A: Best practices include using prices, promotions, and exclusive offers in your ads.

Ad Extensions
Q: How are +1s calculated for your ad and Google+ page when using the social extension on your ads?
A: +1s from your Google+ page show in the count that is visible on your ad.

Q: What can a location extension do?
A: Assist nearby customers in finding or calling your nearest location.

Q: With the sitelinks extension set at both the campaign and Ad Group level, which ones will be displayed?
A: The sitelinks at the Ad Group level will be displayed.

Ad Groups
Q: Why is it a bad idea to duplicate keywords in multiple Ad Groups?
A: Keywords in multiple ad groups compete against each other, and the keyword with the higher performance will trigger the ad in that Ad Group to run.

Q: What is the effect of including both keywords and placements in an Ad Group on the Display Network?
A: Your ads will be restricted to only specific sites that you choose and webpages where the content is relevant to the theme of the keywords.

Q: Why is it important to group similar keywords together in an Ad Group?
A: To ensure that the ads remain relevant to those keywords.

Q: Why is it a good idea to create multiple Ad Groups?
A: You can break up keywords and ads and group them by related themes.

Q: What should Ad Groups be organized around?
A: Common themes.

Q: True or false. Placements can be controlled at the Ad Group level.
A: True.

Q: What impact can poor landing page quality have on an Ad Group?
A: Keywords in the Ad Group may be given a lower Quality Score.

Q: What should you use Ad Groups for?
A: To organize ads by common themes that you want to advertise on.

Bidding
Q: What is the maximum CPC?
A: The highest amount of money an advertiser is willing to pay for a click on their ad.

Q: What does Smart Pricing mean?
A: Google may automatically reduce your CPC bids on pages on the Display Network that are less likely to turn into an actionable business result.

Q: When is Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) bidding not available?
A: If your campaign is opted in to the Search Network.

Q:What is the main goal of automatic Cost Per Click bidding?
A: To generate as many clicks as possible within the advertiser’s target budget.

Q: What is one effect using setting a daily budget lower than the recommended amount?
A: Ads will not show every time that a user searches for the keywords that could trigger the ad.

Q: What is important to keep in mind about manual Cost Per Click bidding?
A: The average profit derived from a paid click.

Q: Which bid methods are used for image ads on the Display Network?
A: CPM or CPC bids.

Q: When a CPM and CPC bid compete against each other, how does Google determine each ad’s position?
A: Google estimates how many clicks the ad might receive in 1000 impressions to get the comparison.

Q: What is Enhanced Cost Per Click?
A: A CPC bidding features to automatically bid more aggressively in auctions more likely to result in conversions.

Campaigns
Q: What does a “Pending” Campaign in AdWords signify?
A: It is Inactive, but scheduled to begin at a date/time in the future.

Q: What is one main benefit of using Google AdWords?
A: Ads are displayed to users who search for your particular products or services.

Q: With a new campaign, what effect can the AdWords average daily budget have on achieving positive ROI?
A: It can keep costs and exposure limited until profitability is achieved.

Q: What does the Optimize ad rotation setting do?
A: It allows the AdWords system to show the better performing ad more often than lower performing ads.

Q: You have a new product line and want to allocate additional budge to promoting it. What’s the best way to do this?
A: Create a campaign with a separate daily budget to promote just the new product line.

Q: What can the Opportunities tab be used to do?
A: Find keyword, bid, and budget ideas to improve campaign performance.

Q: Why is it important to monitor ad campaign performance?
A: In order to determine if campaigns meet business marketing and conversion goals.

Q: What is one benefit of not using a predetermined budget for AdWords advertising, compared to radio, print, and TV advertising?
A: Online campaigns are highly measurable and may be able to generate an automatic positive ROI. As long as ROI remains positive, it can be strategic to capture all traffic without a predetermined budget.

Q: Which budget delivery method should you use to distribute ads evenly over the course of a day?
A: Standard.

Q: True or False. With the Accelerated delivery method of ads, ads are shown as frequently as possible until the daily budget is spent.
A: True.

Q: With an ad serving option set to Optimize, how will AdWords handle multiple variations of text ads in the same Ad Group?
A: AdWords will try to show the best performing ad more often than lower performing ads.

Click-Through Rate
Q: How does a low CTR on the Display Network affect your Search Network Quality Score?
A: It doesn’t. Your ad performance, including CTR, does not affect your rank for search ads. A low CTR on the Display Network does not affect your Search Network Quality Score.

Q: If you have a keyword with a low CTR, what can you expect?
A: A lower Quality Score on the Search Network.

Q: What is one way you can increase CTRs?
A: Add negative keywords to the ad group to reduce irrelevant impressions.

Conversions
Q: Why does a lower Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) not indicate a higher profit?
A: A lower CPA may be accompanied by lower sales volume, reducing overall profit.

Q: What can you expect if you raise your bids?
A: More conversions and a higher CPA, in general.

Q: What can you expect if you lower your bids?
A: Fewer conversions and a lower CPA, in general.

Display Network
Q: How does a low CTR on the Display Network affect your Search Network Quality Score?
A: It doesn’t. Your ad performance, including CTR, does not affect your rank for search ads. A low CTR on the Display Network does not affect your Search Network Quality Score.

Q: What effect does using managed placements have on your campaign?
A: Your ads will show on webpages, videos, games, RSS feeds, mobile sites, and apps that you have specifically selected.

Q: What does Smart Pricing mean?
A: Google may automatically reduce your CPC bids on pages on the Display Network that are less likely to turn into an actionable business result.

Q: What is the effect of including both keywords and placements in an Ad Group on the Display Network?
A: Your ads will be restricted to only specific sites that you choose and webpages where the content is relevant to the theme of the keywords.

Q: How does adding placements to an Ad Group affect its Quality Score for the Search Network?
A: Placements are used on the Display Network, so they do not affect Quality Score on the Search Network.

Q: Should you use plurals, misspellings, and other variants of words in Ad Groups in the Display Network?
A: Since the Display Network considers broad match only, plurals, misspellings, and other variants are unnecessary.

Q: Which bid methods are used for image ads on the Display Network?
A: CPM or CPC bids.

Q: By including keywords in an Ad Group, how does Google automatically determine where ads on the Display Network might show?
A: Automatic placements would be used to target sites by context whose content shares the same themes as the keywords in the Ad Group.

Q: How do Managed Placements work?
A: Advertisers can manually specify which websites their ads appear on throughout the Display Network.

Q: What is used to determine Quality Score on the Display Network?
A: The quality of the landing page.

Q: How can the Contextual Targeting Tool help you?
A: It can show you potential webpages where your ad can show up based on your keywords.

Keywords
Q: Why is it a bad idea to duplicate keywords in multiple Ad Groups?
A: Keywords in multiple ad groups compete against each other, and the keyword with the higher performance will trigger the ad in that Ad Group to run.

Q: From which AdWords tool can you get ideas for negative keyword and placement exclusions?
A: The placement performance report.

Q: What is keyword contextual targeting?
A: It is when themes of keywords are matched by AdWords to relevant content on various websites that run Google ads.

Q: For a direct response campaign, which keywords should an advertise delete or consider not using at all?
A: Keywords that generate a lot of impressions with very few conversions.

Q: Under the new match type policies, if you use the exact match keyword [red shoe], will your ad appear for plurals and misspellings?
A: Yes. This is a new change in Google AdWords policies.

Q: Does the Display Network take into account match types like phrase and exact match?
A: No, the Display Network uses only broad match.

Q: Why is it important to group similar keywords together in an Ad Group?
A: To ensure that the ads remain relevant to those keywords.

Q: What can you use the Keyword Tool to do?
A: Find new keywords for advertising campaigns.

Q: If you have a keyword with a low CTR, what can you expect?
A: A lower Quality Score on the Search Network.

Q: True or False. Negative keywords can help you refine the targeting of your ads.
A: True.

Q: True or False. Negative keywords can increase the CTR of ads.
A: True.

Q: Even with an unlimited budget and a positive ROI, what can limit the amount of money you can invest in a campaign?
A: The amount of profitable traffic available for the keywords that your campaign is targeting.

Language
Q: How does the AdWords system decide which ad language to target?
A: Language of ads is determined by the language setting of the Google interface the client is using.

Q: If someone in Russia sets their language preference to English, will they see ads targeted to people in Russia? Will their ads be in Russian or in English?
A: They will see ads targeted to people located in Russia with the ads in English.

Q: What language setting should you use to target a Spanish speaker in the United States?
A: Spanish.

Q: True or False. In order to target Spanish speaking users with Spanish language ads in the United States, adjust the language targeting settings.
A: True.

Location
Q: Where can an advertiser change the location targeting of an ad?
A: Location targeting is set at the campaign level.

Q: What is a primary benefit of location targeting?
A: The ability to target combinations of countries, territories, and regions.

Q: True or False. Google can use the IP address of users to target ads based on location.
A: True.

My Client Center
Q: What is one benefit of My Client Center?
A: A dashboard that provides summaries of different metrics for all of your clients’ accounts.

Q: What is the primary function of the My Client Center account?
A: An umbrella account for access to individual accounts with a single login.

Q: What is one way to limit a user’s access to only a specific number of accounts in the MCC?
A: Create a new MCC account linked to the original MCC account. Move the specified number of accounts into that MCC and grant the user access to the sub-MCC account.

Mobile Ads
Q: How can you get greater exposure on mobile devices?
A: Enable bid adjustments and bid higher on mobile devices.

Quality Score
Q: How does a low CTR on the Display Network affect your Search Network Quality Score?
A: It doesn’t. Your ad performance, including CTR, does not affect your rank for search ads. A low CTR on the Display Network does not affect your Search Network Quality Score.

Q: What is the formula for ad rank on the Search Network?
A: Maximum Cost Per Click X Quality Score.

Q: What are some recommendations for increasing Quality Score for a keyword?
A: Edit the ad associated with that keyword and direct users to a landing page that is very relevant.

Q: What happens when the Quality Score of a keyword is increased?
A: The ad may earn a higher average position.

Q: When are Quality Score and Ad Rank calculated?
A: Every time someone conducts a search where your ad is eligible to appear.

Q: What does a higher Quality Score typically lead to?
A: Lower costs and higher ad positions.

Q: How often is Quality Score evaluated?
A: Each time someone does a search that triggers your ad.

Q: What is used to determine Quality Score on the Display Network?
A: The quality of the landing page.

Q: How does a low CTR on the Display Network affect your Search Network Quality Score?
A: Ad performance on the Display Network does not affect rank for Search Ads or Search Network Quality Score.

Search Network
Q: What is the best bidding option for clients that want to spend the least amount of time setting and managing individual keyword bids?
A: Automatic Cost Per Click (CPC)

Q: What is the formula for ad rank on the Search Network?
A: Maximum Cost Per Click X Quality Score.

Q: How is advertising cost accrued on the Search Network:
A: Costs are accrued when someone clicks on an ad that is displayed on the Search Network.

Q: What is the formula for ranking keyword-targeted ads on the Search Network?
A: Maximum Cost Per Click x Quality Score.

Q: What effect do negative keywords have on Ad Groups in a Search Network campaign?
A: The ad will not show if the negative keyword appears in the user’s search query.

Q: What happens if a Search Network campaign consistently reaches its daily budget?
A: There will be missed potential ad impressions.

Q: True or False. You can pay for specific placement in top ad positions in the Search Network.
A: True.

Q: True or False: You can pay for specific placement in top positions in the natural search results.
A: False.

Q: How can Search Network marketing help you reach your advertising goals?
A: By acquiring potential qualified customers.

Q: What are the minimum requirements to run an ad on the Search Network?
A: Text ad, keyword list, and a default bid.

Q: How often does AdWords run an auction to determine which ads will be shown on the search results page?
A: An auction is run every time a users enters a search query.

Video Ads
Q: You want to pay when a user views your video ad through a cost-per-view advertising model. Which of Google’s services would be most appropriate?
A: TrueView video formats would allow this model of payment through YouTube advertising
Q: True or False. You can pay for specific placement in top ad positions in the Search Network.
A: True.

Q: True or False: You can pay for specific placement in top positions in the natural search results.
A: False.

Q: How can Search Network marketing help you reach your advertising goals?
A: By acquiring potential qualified customers.

Q: What are the minimum requirements to run an ad on the Search Network?
A: Text ad, keyword list, and a default bid.

Q: How often does AdWords run an auction to determine which ads will be shown on the search results page?
A: An auction is run every time a users enters a search query.

Video Ads
Q: You want to pay when a user views your video ad through a cost-per-view advertising model. Which of Google’s services would be most appropriate?
A: TrueView video formats would allow this model of payment through YouTube advertising

Learning LinkedIn Get Started & Build Your Foundation

Get Started &Build Your Foundation

Leveraging the power of LinkedIn begins with building a solid professional profile and presence. As a professional, how do you stand out from the crowd on LinkedIn? How do you differentiate yourself from the millions of professional users on the network? What will make your profile visitors want to learn more about you and your business to ultimately connect with you? You must first establish a foundation in order to begin building your influence, generating introductions and

referrals, and uncovering valuable business opportunities.

LinkedIn suggests that having a completed profile provides you with a 40% greater chance for networking success, and they make it easy for you to understand how to achieve that

100% completion.

Having a completed profile is the most effective way to showcase all of who you are

through your talents, background, experience, passions, interests, and areas of

expertise. In addition, a completed profile is going to make you appear to be a more

competent user in the network.

Your LinkedIn profile may be the first stop for a new introduction. With a solid foundation,

you will be well positioned for the next phase, where you can grow your influence and

build your business.

Checklist to Achieve a Powerful and Complete Profile

Upload a professional image

This is your best opportunity to make a great first impression, and it is essential

to attracting connections.

Create a compelling headline

You only have 120 characters at the top of your profile to describe what you

do to the world and grab their attention. Use brief, descriptive, compelling keywords

so the right professionals on LinkedIn can discover you.

List your current position and at least two past positions

Use descriptive keywords that you quoted in your headline if possible, and be

sure to describe your role for each position.

Complete the “Summary” section of your profile

This is your chance to really describe who you are and how you help people. I

recommend that you write your summary in the third person. Otherwise, you’ll

be using the letter “I” quite a bit, which can be off-putting.

Complete the “Specialties” section of your profile

Utilize customer-focused keywords, as these are the terms that will help you

show up in search results within LinkedIn. When thinking about these keywords,

brainstorm words and phrases that people in your target markets

might search for to find someone with your background, experience, and service

offering.

Give recommendations first

Request recommendations that can be displayed on your profile. The best way

to receive recommendations is to first give them! Hint: You will need at least

three recommendations in order for LinkedIn to label your profile “completed.”

Complete the “Interests” and “Groups and Associations” sections

Each of these terms will be hyper-linked and will take you to other users in the

network who share these interests.

HINT

You will need at least three recommendations in order for LinkedIn to label

your profile “completed.

Optimize Your Profile to Get Found by Contacts

By now, you probably realize the importance of adding relevant keywords that your

target markets may search for to your headline, summary, and specialties sections of

your LinkedIn profile. Here are some pro tips to optimize your profile to get found by

great new contacts:

Optimize Your Profile to

Get Found by Contacts

1 )Edit your public LinkedIn URL

An example is my personal LinkedIn URL, http://www.linkedin.com/in/chandrakamal

Such customization will optimize your LinkedIn profile to show

up in search results on major search engines when someone searches for

your name. It is important to claim those results for your name as they provide

a gateway into your personal brand.

2)Customize your “website” listings

Under the “websites” section of your LinkedIn profile, you can list up to three

URLs. Choose the “other” option when setting up each of these links and

describe them with relevant terms. For example, rather than using the terms

“my website,” I use “Smart Social Pro Blog.” Not only is this more descriptive,

but it also gives me a better opportunity to rank for these keywords in search

engines.

3)Include a link to your Twitter profile

You can have more than one Twitter account listed. Give folks an additional

method to use to connect with you!

4)Make your entire LinkedIn profile publicly visible to everyone

You want other professionals on LinkedIn to be able to find you and contact

you anytime. Being invisible won’t help you build your network.

Get plugged in with linked in APPLICATIONS

To build a truly vibrant and influential profile on LinkedIn, you will want to take advantage of the

applications that are available. My personal favorites are listed below, but feel free to choose the

applications that are the best fit for you!

SlideShare

I use this application to bring in presentations that I've uploaded to Slide-

Share. It gives me a chance to show my expertise visually. Also, you can embed

video or audio into your SlideShare presentation that will automatically

play when someone visits your LinkedIn Profile. This can certainly be an effective

way to make your profile stickier. Most likely, if the visitor hears your voice

they will scroll down to this part of your profile.

Reading List by Amazon

We are what we read. Don’t miss this opportunity to create a window into

your passions and interests by showcasing and reviewing your latest reads.

Alternatively, when you are searching through profiles on LinkedIn for potential

connections and introductions, you can glean the same insight about others if

they have this application installed.

My Travel and Events

Personally, I love these two applications because they give me the opportunity

to showcase the part of my schedule that mostly involves connecting! I want

my connections to see where I’m traveling and also the events I’m attending.

Don’t miss any opportunities to meet a LinkedIn connection face-to-face.

WordPress or Blog Link

With these applications, you can automatically pull blog posts into your profile.

If you are taking the time to create great content on your blog, you must get it

out into the world.

Polls

The LinkedIn Polls application allows you to essentially conduct your own research,

either simply within your own network or to a more targeted audience

of professionals, which is a paid resource. I have found Polls to be an effective

tool for understanding my audience. You must make sure that your poll is

simple to understand and that your questions are compelling. Otherwise, you

may not get much response.