It’s human nature to ask questions and believe the answers of someone who’s in authority—and it’s likely one of the reasons behind the success of many discussion platforms online. Today, these Internet forums are constantly fueled by its respective communities looking to discover new knowledge, develop more skills, and somehow contribute to the cause.
However, with the wealth of Internet forums and online discussions, there’s one that particularly stands out: Quora.
With over 300 million active users, Quora has evolved into a platform where industry-thought leaders answer questions relevant to their niche. Businesses and marketers alike are seeing it as an opportunity to increase visibility, establish brand authority, and drive traffic by providing well-thought answers that help them display their expertise and expand their reach at the same time.
Hence, while Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are great platforms for your digital marketing strategies, Quora is something that shouldn’t be overlooked. In this article, we discuss everything you need to know about Quora and why you should include it in your marketing efforts.
What is Quora?
Quora, as they put it, is a Q&A website where questions are asked, answered, and edited by Internet users in the form of opinions. It works almost the same as a social network where you can follow other users, as well as topics and particular questions that interest you.
But, here’s where Quora get advanced:
- It requires name verification so you don’t have to deal with suspicious answers from anonymous users.
- You can add a byline that identifies your expertise (e.g. white hat SEO specialist or digital marketer).
- You can target your question to a specific user.
- You can publish content on Quora like you would in LinkedIn.
- You can upvote answers that you find most helpful
The Reason Behind Quora’s Success
While Quora may seem like a typical forum, it’s actually far beyond that. It puts you in front of people who may actually be looking for answers relevant to your business—and answering them allows you to build your brand, which can then lead to increasing conversions on your site or gaining interest in your products and services.
If the Q&A platform doesn’t work, then Josh Fetcher, author and product marketer, wouldn’t have spent four months building more than 7,000 followers on the site, which by the way earned him more than 2,000 new members to his Facebook Group and 3,000 leads to his email list. You can also guess that it’s the same reason why Neil Patel writes answers on Quora that can be more than 2500 long.
The Benefits of Using Quora
- Exposure to over 300 million monthly visitors – With the consistently increasing number of users, you are guaranteed with exposure to millions of visitors worldwide.
- Answer product/company-related questions – There will likely be users asking questions related to your products or services. You can answer them in a helpful manner and with authority.
- Build authority on your niche – Having that said, Quora proves to be a place to demonstrate your expertise on your niche thereby allowing you to establish authority and credibility.
- Get industry insights – In Quora, you not only ask and answer questions, you also gain valuable industry insights from both customers and other industry experts.
- Generate leads – When you consistently provide valuable answers, users will eventually become interested in you, which can potentially then drive actions such as visiting your website or signing up to your email list.
Now that you know the advantages of being in Quora, it’s time to learn how you can actually benefit from it.
How to Use Quora for Marketing
1. Create Your Profile
The first step to using Quora is, of course, to create and optimise your profile. While doing so, keep in mind that Quora includes the first 50 characters in your bio with your answers. So, if your goal is brand exposure, make sure to weave in your company name in the first few sentences.
Here are some tips to optimise your Quora profile:
- Keyword-optimise your headline – Be found for keywords related to your industry by including them in your headline.
- Add links in your description – Include hyperlinks that will direct users to your website or social media accounts.
- Use your brand name as a topic – If you’re a digital company, creating a topic that’s specific to your brand can drive users to ask questions about your company or products and services.
- Add Relevant Topics in the “Knows About” – As the name suggests, this section allows you to highlight the topics you’re familiar with.
2. Find Relevant Topics
After optimising your profile, it’s time to actually start contributing. There are millions of topics on Quora and to find the ones you are expert in, you’ll have to search for relevant keywords in the query bar. For instance, if your industry is search engine Optimization, you’ll have to search for that term and select an interesting topic when it appears.
At the top right, there’s a green Follow Topic button you can click to follow a specific topic. You’ll now be updated with the latest activities within that topic on your newsfeed.
3. Answer Questions
By following relevant topics, you can now easily ding questions you’ll want to answer. One tip to answer questions is to use content that you’ve already published in your blog. For instance, you can use snippets from your article and include a link that will direct users to the full content on your website.
If you’ve established authority in your niche, there’s a chance that users will eventually start specifically asking you—and that’s great as it means they’re starting to trust your expertise.
Get Started Today!
Quora has so much more to offer for brand awareness and lead generation—and all these only prove why adding the Q&A network to your marketing strategy can be so valuable today and for the many years to come.
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