Growing brand awareness is a time-consuming task that requires effort and drive. And you as a marketer need to know the most effective, fast, and cost-efficient ways to do it. Which is why you may have heard about Quora marketing.
Quora is used by millions of potential buyers and thousands of companies, and it’s the perfect place to promote your product. Find out how to use Quora to market your business and become a top writer to boost traffic to your website. To collect the best tips I’ve asked our Outbound Marketing Manager Valerie to help me and she has eagerly supplied me with advice armory that helped her get her answers seen by over half a million people.
Outline:
What is Quora
Quora is a question-answer platform where you can ask anything and receive answers by volunteer posters. The questions vary from professional ones that demand a lot of experience and knowledge, to personal, funny, and even confusing questions anyone might have.
If you’re in marketing, you might want to try using Quora as a valuable traffic source. By answering questions in your niche and inserting links to your blog or landing page (all links are no-follow, by the way, in case you’re considering it for SEO), you can grow your traffic and improve your brand awareness.
If you answer questions regularly and your answers are of great quality (we’ll go into how to write good answers on Quora further on), you can become a top writer. As a top writer, your answers can be added to the Quora Digest mailing list and people who are subscribed to the topic you’re active in will receive an email with your answer.
Note: If 100k people are subscribed to a topic, there’s no guarantee that all of them will receive your answer. Sometimes only 1% of subscribers will.
How Quora can help your business
Besides driving traffic, there’s many other reasons you may want to give Quora a try:
✔ Stay up to date on new trends in your niche. Discover relevant issues, ask your own questions, and learn from your target audience and competitors.
✔ Educate people about your product. If someone is asking directly about your tool or service, don’t lose the opportunity. Provide full support to potential clients and share relevant links when necessary.
✔ Grow brand awareness. Quora is used by millions of people, and consistently sharing your solution in relevant topics will help you stay top of mind with potential leads.
✔ Engage people to visit your website. Use storytelling intertwined into your expertise to create excitement and desire to find out more about your company and solution.
✔ Turn into an influencer and make an impact on public opinion. When you consistently provide great answers that receive upvotes, your reputation in the niche will grow and you will be able to influence opinions in your niche.
✔ Generate a keywords database and find content ideas. With Quora, you can analyze what people are searching for in the topics relevant to your niche and use these ideas for content. Use the popular “how-to” questions to create a keywords database for SEO.
✔ Help young professionals. There are thousands of people on Quora who are just starting in your profession. Help young professionals by sharing your experience and tips on how to improve in your field.
According to SimilarWeb, more than half a billion people visit Quora monthly. Need traffic to your website and more clients? Tiny budget? Quora is the solution for you.
– Valerie, Snov.io Outbound Marketing Manager
How to create the best Quora profile
Building your Quora marketing strategy starts with your profile. Add as much information as you can, make sure your photo is actually you, describe who you are and why potential readers should trust your answers. Avoid looking too promotional and salesy – readers trust real people over brand accounts.
Here’s how to create a Quora profile:
Step 1. Go to Quora and sign up through Gmail or Facebook.
Step 2. Choose at least 10 topics you are interested in.
Step 3. Define the languages you know.
Step 4. Click the Home button. On the right, there’s the Set up your account checklist: follow more spaces and topics, add credentials, upvote answers, ask questions, and, of course, start answering them.
Quora profile credibility cheat-sheet
Here’s a shortlist of tips on how to become more credible on Quora we’ve created from our own experience:
Tip 1. Reputation is in the details. Don’t try to cheat or fool other Quora users:
- Don’t be a John/Jane Doe. Use your real name.
- Add a short bio.
- Don’t be another faceless user. Use your real photo.
- Mention the city you live in and which ones you visit most often.
- Include credentials about your education and employment.
- Provide the company name you are working at and share a link to your website so people can find out more.
- Connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts.
With all this information about you, people will see you as a pro and not a passer-by.
Tip 2. In the settings, you can choose the frequency and types of emails you want to receive from Quora. Choose Daily to receive emails with the questions you can answer every day.
Tip 3. Select topics you specialize in. The more topics you choose, the more questions you will have an opportunity to answer. For example, if you work in the email marketing niche, choose the following topics: email marketing, email deliverability, email automation, email addresses, lead generation, B2B lead generation, etc.
Tip 4. Add specified topics you are knowledgeable about and provide a short bio for them.
Tip 5. Regularly conduct research on the relevant topics and follow them. When you click the Follow topic button, other related topics will appear. Choose the ones most relevant for you.
These tips will give you an opportunity to answer more questions and if you do it right, you will soon become the top writer. As an actual example, take a look at our Outbound Marketing Manager Valerie’s profile.
How to choose the right Quora questions
Not all Quora questions can give you the results you’re looking for. Constant research on topics and questions is vital to the success of your Quora marketing efforts.
There’s a couple of things you should know about how to search for the right questions. Of course, first you have to define relevant keywords (you most likely already have them picked for your SEO) and search them in the Search bar. Now you can start choosing the best questions.
✔ Pay attention to the number of question followers.
The number of followers is actually the number of people waiting for answers to this question – the higher it is, the better. Filter the questions by type, topics, and time, and always follow the details on questions, choosing the most-awaited and most viewed questions (1,000+). This is manual work so get ready to spend some time searching for the best questions.
✔ Don’t just answer popular questions.
It’s extremely important to answer both old high-traffic Quora questions and new questions that have just recently appeared. By answering only old popular questions you are much more likely to be banned.
✔ Manage your questions.
Go to the Answer tab. There you will see three categories: Questions for You, Answer Requests, and Answer Later. In the first category, you can find questions suggested by Quora based on the topics you are interested in. In the second group, Answer Requests, there will be questions that other Quora users want you to answer – these are rare but a good sign that your answers are valuable to readers. The last category is kind of a backlog – when you come across a relevant question but have no time to answer it, add it there and answer it later.
✔ Don’t ignore Related Questions
When you are active on Quora, the platform starts suggesting Related Questions. Do not avoid them: the more you answer, the better is your reputation.
As the main aim of using Quora for marketing is to drive traffic to your blog, search for the questions answers to which you already have on your blog, and surely, link your answer back to the relevant article.
– Valerie, Snov.io Outbound Marketing Manager
How to write good answers on Quora
Generally, to become the top writer on Quora, you need to:
- Be one of the first to find the question you can answer
- Give answers as quickly after the question’s been posted as possible
- Write the best answers possible
Of course, the speed at which you search for questions and the speed you write with is totally on you. But I am here to help you with the last point – how to write good answers on Quora with these 21 tips.
Tip 1. Analyze your niche: see what people are interested in, how other Quora users answer, which answers get the most upvotes, and which get the least attention, and build your own answering strategy.
Tip 2. Present yourself as an authority. Be confident, especially when the question is about your service or product. Use words that prove you know what you are writing about, for example: definitely, certainly, no doubt, I am sure, absolutely, etc.
Tip 3. Be patient and avoid being too promotional. Strike a happy balance and stick to it.
Tip 4. When you do promote (when the question asks for it) don’t forget to share the benefits of using your solution. It’s never about what you can do, it’s always about what the user gets out of it.
Tip 5. If you are afraid that you will be banned for speaking about your product (which is not uncommon), add a toggle disclaimer. So your answer will be considered as “I know this because I work here.”
Tip 6. Provide proof and sources whenever you share any stats or data. Exact data and numbers are popular in Quora answers, to the point where even if your answer isn’t read in full, it’s often upvoted just for the research.
Tip 7. Add screenshots, graphs, infographics, gifs, and other relevant visual content as proof of the idea you’re pushing. Visual content gets more attention and is processed faster than reading.
Tip 8. Use videos. They get even more attention than pictures and are a neat way to complement your answer.
Videos are great and you should definitely try to use them in your answers. They work best for B2C and personal questions (like hobbies and interests). For B2B videos aren’t as popular so I try to avoid them and use text and valuable screenshots only. I insert videos in my answers only when they are really REALLY relevant.
– Valerie, Snov.io Outbound Marketing Manager
Tip 9. Memes and funny gifs won’t help you on Quora. Who wants to see memes when searching for help regarding Angel Investors or email marketing frequency?
Tip 10. Don’t tread water – get to the point. Reread your answer and make sure the readers won’t be asking “And..?” at the end.
Tip 11. Give full and rich answers. Write it in the form of a mini-article of at least 1,500 symbols. Check that you’ve covered all the important points and the text is easy-to-read.
Tip 12. Text formatting matters. Use numbered and bulleted points, write in bold and italics to emphasize important parts. Mix short and long sentences to improve readability.
Tip 13. When using Quora for marketing, remember that links to landing pages are forbidden. You can, however, insert links to relevant resources like your blog and e-books.
Tip 14. Attach links wisely. Do not just insert a URL in the middle of a sentence. Choose relevant anchor words to not lose the text’s readability.
Tip 15. Though the number of links in answers is not officially limited, we don’t recommend going overboard. Of course, if you’re trying to answer a question “Which email marketing blogs do you find useful?”, you’ll have to include a bunch of links and that’s ok. But if the question is more general or educational and you can avoid links – do it, or just use one or two.
Tip 16. When you answer questions, add topics. They are set as #hashtags so other Quora users can find your answers. This can help your answer get ranked in other topics and more people will have an opportunity to see it.
Tip 17. Don’t waste time SEO optimizing the answer. The only way your answer might appear on the first page of Google search results is if the question itself is optimized. No matter how many keywords you insert in the answer, it won’t be on the first page if the question itself doesn’t rank high.
Tip 18. You are replying to a real person, not a bot. Use personal pronouns, attract attention to your ideas, and try to establish a connection.
Tip 19. Never blame other writers on Quora and do not argue with them. If you do not agree with their opinion, express it in a polite manner, like this: “I do understand your point of view, though I stick to another one. Let me explain.
Tip 20. You are a professional so do not write in a sarcastic or comic manner. That’s unprofessional and might come across as rude and get you blocked.
Tip 21. Every snowflake is unique. You want your answers to be like snowflakes – one in a million. So always check if anyone’s already written what you were planning to write. If the question has a great following and you really know how to help users but most of your answer has already been written, you can try a different technique. Mention that you agree with someone’s answer, compliment their reply, and then write your answer. Take a look at how Valerie replies in such situations:
Extra tips on building a Quora marketing strategy
These tips don’t really fit in our previous lists, but I can describe them as unwritten rules that will help you build an effective Quora marketing strategy:
1. Be social. Share your answers on your other socials like Facebook: if you have a rich network there, it might help your answers get more attention.
2. Choose a niche you’re most knowledgeable in, find a relevant community, stay active in it, position yourself, and keep providing value.
3. Help others. Get in touch with other authors on Quora: follow them, upvote, leave comments, and hope they will pay back with your own coin. Moreover, this way you can grow your lead base – why not find people asking about your company and reach out to them directly?
4. Follow Spaces on Quora. Spaces are like Reddit Threads or Telegram Channels: there, people share their content and you can both learn something new and share your own relevant insights.
5. Add your Quora account to your Contact Information landing page and mention that questions on Quora are answered within 24 hours (just an example, you can set your own time limits). Make sure you are committed enough to actually deliver on your promises. This will open a new communication channel with potential leads.
6. Ask your own questions from time to time and give them a “personal” twist. As an example, take a look at these two questions and say which one would you rather follow and answer:
Which tool do you personally use for sending email drip campaigns?
or
What are the best tools for sending email drip campaigns?
The first question is more likely to gain traction on Quora because it gives authors a possibility to provide their honest answers without too much research and gives them an opportunity to promote their tool.
7. Be consistent. There’s no clear framework of how many questions or answers you should write daily, as long as you do it regularly. We recommend writing daily, but you can just switch on Quora notifications and check your account a couple of times a week.
I answer 2 questions daily. It’s really good if you to leave even just 1 comment a day. In 365 days, you will have 365 answers on Quora. Not bad for a lazy approach! [laughs] As for questions, I don’t ask them, actually. But if there’s anything you’re interested in – go ahead.
– Valerie, Snov.io Outbound Marketing Manager
8. Don’t try to cheat the system. Do not:
- Quote without a source
- Create fictional accounts to grow upvotes
- Copy your own answers from other questions or parts of articles on your blog
9. If you get a moderator’s suggestions for improvements, do them as quickly as possible. Otherwise, you may either get blocked or your answer will be hidden.
10. Check your Quora performance regularly. Go to the Statistics tab to get insights on your answers’ views, upvotes, and shares, overall and individual posts. You can see stats for the last day, week, month, year or the whole time you’ve been on Quora. With this information, you will be able to find poor-performing answers and improve them.
11. Use Google Analytics together with Quora. Go to your Google Analytics, choose Quora, and learn just how much traffic you’re generating from Quora.
12. Try Quora Ads and Quora Pixel if you have the budget for it. This way you can promote your solution and get information on clicks and conversions.
Start using Quora for marketing
Quora is a goldmine of knowledge and leads. If you use our tips and put consistent effort in developing your Quora marketing strategy, you can raise brand awareness, nurture potential leads, and bring convertible traffic to your website.
So why not give it a try today?
Thanks for Such a detailed and well researched post on Quora Marketing!