Quora is an already established, yet fast-growing, user generated questions-and-answers platform. In other words, this is an online knowledge market.
It was founded in June 2009 by two former Facebook employees, Adam D’Angelo, who was a CTO at Facebook, and Charlie Chiever, who was an engineer and manager at Facebook. Quora HQ are based in the heart of sunny Mountain View, California.
Adam D’Angelo admitted in the interview for Business Insider that he was already thinking of Q&A stuff when he was in college. He also confessed that a major factor that made him and his partner pursue the development of Quora was the apparent gap in the market for something like it. So, essentially, they were able to come up with something new and pioneer in creating a worthy, knowledge sharing site.
However, to some Quora may seem like something ordinary and unremarkable at first glance. You could even go as far as calling it a plain Q&A page, right? Similar to Ask.com, Answers.com, Yahoo Answers…and many others.
So, what makes Quora so special?
Quora stands out because of its special contributors. People who answer questions for the site are the brightest brains in tech, like Mark Zuckerberg for example, powerful people from Silicon Valley, many field experts and inspiring people such as Hillary Clinton.
Quora connects people who have the knowledge to those who search for it by asking their questions. Its beautiful mission is to “grow the world’s knowledge of all kinds” to help people understand each other better, and provide resources which the rest of the world can benefit from. Through Quora, you can find otherwise unattainable information right from the people you wouldn’t be able to reach in any other way.
Quora may seem to be focused on tech and digital media, but you can find questions and answers about almost everything. From nutrition to psychology, people from around the world come to share and discuss their different perspectives by using Quora.
Why is Quora a smart spot for Online Marketers?
According to Quantcast, Quora reaches over 1.6 million Americans monthly.
Moreover, based on the data from compete.com, the estimated number of Quora’s unique visitors grew 62.33% between February 2015 and February 2016; this number equals 17,222,022 people today. This makes quora a high traffic potential resource to any marketer.
How can Quora be used for Marketing? #QuoraMarketing
Go to https://www.quora.com/signup and set up an account by connecting with Facebook, Twitter or Google+. You can also create an account separate from any social channels using just your email and password.
Then, create a profile and fill out as much as you can about the company you represent, its experience and expertise. Don’t forget to add your website and social media links so traffic could easily flow to your pages from Quora.
1. Content Creation
First of all, you can use Quora to get inspired and create better content for your company blog.
Search for trending topics in your field.
- How to evaluate the popularity of a particular thread
It’s simple, a question that makes a perfect guest post idea should contain a lot of answers and upvotes.
Find out what people are asking and check out the best answers they get. Read everything carefully. Then, consider writing an article that covers exactly what people want to know and their expectations.
For Instance: Trending Now…
Once you come up with a great topic idea, you need to decide how to approach it and what it is that you’re going to include. Quora can help with this, too! Check all the existing threads about the selected blog topic. These threads will help you craft a perfect outline that touches on all of the necessary aspects of the issue you want to talk about. What is more, you can even go one step further and create an entire user-generated blog post based on Quora findings.
- How to accomplish that
Just ask people a question, encourage some experts in the field to join the discussion. Give it some momentum (wait a while) and ultimately include all the best answers within the roundup article.
Quora users will help formulate your topic by providing you with true stories, personal examples and valuable insights.
- How to maximize the engagement rate and gain high-quality answers for your questions
Make sure that you correctly categorize your question and invite some experts in the field or just active users to answer it.
- How to recognize an engaged user
Take a look at the number of answers the particular user gave, at how many upvotes he or she gets, plus check the user’s following. These indicators will easily point out the quora authority.
2. Craft better Headlines with Quora
Of course, there are plenty of methods that can help you craft a good, catchy headline. From Google: search results, suggestions, related terms, Keyword Planner…toCoschedule Headline Analyzer, Portent’s Content Idea Generator and many other super useful tools or methods that can provide you with ideas and help come up with well-performing titles for your content marketing.
Read more: Headline Writing Masterclass – The Secrets of Getting More Clicks
User generated content gives you a slightly different perspective because it reveals how people perceive your topic and the way they talk about it. So, this makes for super valuable insight, priceless added value and a strong hint for how to craft your headline right.
This is why you should always pay attention to the tone of voice quora users use and apply their wording within your text and headlines if possible. The reason is simple: this tactic will make your writing feel more authentic and close to your readers.
3. Reputation Management
Another good reason for using Quora is to lead discussions about your product and answer user questions. Remember that Quora, like any other user generated platform, is used freely and topics are also brand related. Different questions about your company or product might already exist there. Use the search option to find user issues and comment passionately.
Make sure all of your answers are complete and worth reading, but be precise and keep close to the point.
However, hustling or selling is exactly what you shouldn’t be doing on Quora. Instead, aim to spread knowledge.
Go ahead and initiate and follow threads that concern your product / service, industry or any related topic, demonstrate your expertise, connect with your current and potential users and influence your brand image positively.
Become an active Quora participant by posting thoughtful questions regularly. Such contribution is very well perceived, especially if company employees, and ideally the CEO, answer the Quora questions.
4. Extend the life of every article you write
Incorporate Quora into your content promotion plan …and repost your blog posts on Quora!
Blog building requires the use of many different channels to promote each piece of content, especially your evergreen topics. Also, remember to take advantage of the20/80 rule for growing your audience effectively.
According to this strategy, you should be spending 20% of your time and energy on content creation and 80% on content promotion. You should do your best to extend the life of every article you write to the maximum.
And Quora allows its contributors to start a personal blog, so create a blog and republish your writing there. It’s best to make it your weekly content promotion routine. Quora might become a great traffic asset and will bring some additional air and buzz to your best pieces.
To get started, click on your profile and navigate to blogs. There, you’ll be able to create a blog and customize its name, URL, and description.
Summing up
Quora has a powerful community. It can make a great traffic resource, help you create more appealing content, establish authoritative presence and credibility, deliver better customer service and maintain your good reputation. Start using it today and you will see how many benefits it can bring you in return.
What about you?
Are you using Quora as a part of your daily marketing routine? Would these methods above be helpful to your business strategy? Perhaps you have more ideas on your mind – Tell us how quora could be used for marketing.
We would love to hear your thoughts!
Feel free to leave a comment!
