When it comes to marketing on social media platforms, few people think of the more obscure ones. The social media trinity – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram – are the first picks. Other platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn, and Snapchat are a close second.
Platforms like Pinterest are also good choices but others like Reddit and Quora are not always considered. These are the more obscure platforms available on the Internet. Unfortunately, they might be obscure to marketers, but they’re still popular among users and host a large audience as well.
The answer to why Quora is not among the top choices is also because of two major factors:
- Not everyone knows about Quora
- Not everyone knows how to use Quora
This also means that by not tapping into this social media platform, you can be isolating a large number of your target audience. So, we’re going to be finding the answers to both of these questions and more here. By understanding how to use Quora, you can add another level of depth to your content marketing strategies.
What Is Quora?
In its most basic form, Quora is an open question and answer platform. Users can ask questions they are curious about and get replies from their followers. The community also has the power to pick the best answers.
Down-votes and Up-votes determine which answers are the best in terms of relevance and comprehensiveness, and the answers with the most down votes are generally hidden. Quora gives you insight into your chosen community and what topics users are interested in. Launched in 2009, Quora has around 300 million active monthly users. Out of this number, 40 million active users are based in the US alone.
Tapping into Quora as a social media platform means that you will be interacting with an audience that is very large. In this case, understanding how to use Quora for content marketing purposes is definitely worth trying.
Why Should You Use Quora For Content Marketing?
Quora is the perfect tool for content marketing because it offers a number of benefits. The following are some of the major benefits you get to enjoy:
1. Community Insight
The most lucrative benefit you get is the view you get into the community. Remember that Quora is an open platform. This means that many questions and answers are aimed to be for the people, by the people.
2. Testing Different Topics
You can use Quora as a source to test out different content marketing topics before you launch a whole campaign based on it. The overall number of topics discussed on Quora comes to around 400,000. Additionally, this number keeps growing with each passing year.
3. Flexibility in Use
Most people who’re marketing on Quora have found it to be a flexible tool because it’s not just suited for corporations and businesses. Quora is perfect for the independent entrepreneur who wants to establish their industry expertise in this area. This means that you can customize your marketing plan according to your goals in mind.
4. The Content is Evergreen
Have you ever searched for an answer on Google and found a Quora question in the results? These questions can often be very old too with some of them being years old. But, the answers are still relevant which makes them show up in the search results. That means that content relevancy on Quora is almost evergreen.
5. Establish Your Authority
Want to be looked upon as an authority in your field? Quora is the perfect platform to establish this. Answer questions related to your field and demonstrate your knowledge and expertise on the subject. This will help to build a credible audience and generate interest in your services.
These are just some of the key benefits that you get to enjoy through Quora. Once you start using it, you will notice other marginal benefits as well!
How Do You Market Content On Quora?
Now, let’s take a closer look at how you can start to market your content on Quora to meet your goals. Content marketing on Quora isn’t difficult, but you do need to know how to do it properly. There’s a certain art to doing this which is why it can be very complicated for someone who is just starting out.
So, to help you out, we’re breaking it down into the following simple steps. If you follow them, you won’t have any issues on Quora at all.
1. Make a Complete Profile
First things first, you need to make a proper profile on Quora. For Quora, you need to make it for an individual instead of a corporation. Most people don’t like getting answers from corporations. It’s obvious that the company is looking to market something.
There’s no issue if a person from a certain company is answering the questions though. Remember to also fill in all the details. In this case, you want to make sure that you have details covered such as profile image, links to website, description, a title bio with credentials, credentials for education, and tags.
Pick these tags wisely because they show off topics that you are knowledgeable about. You can also include skills, hobbies, and other areas of interest here too which can help you connect with users.
2. Picking the Questions Properly
Once you have your profile set up, it’s time to start answering questions. To do so, you have to pick and choose the questions properly. So, suppose you’re someone with a background for social media, all you have to do is search for “Social Media” in the Quora search bar.
This will show you the related questions that users have asked. Before you start answering a question though, pay attention to the following details:
- When was it asked? Ideally, recent questions are the best to answer
- How many answers have they received? Aim to be among the top 5 answerers for the question
- How many public followers are there? The more public followers there are, the bigger the reach of the question.
- How many views has the question received? Quora shows views of users who stop by that question. This means that certain answers can get views of 60k above. Others might not get as many.
By paying attention to this factor, you can ensure that your answers are viewed and generate user interest in your profile.
3. Drive Traffic To Your Site
One of the best parts about answering on Quora is that you can drive traffic to your site by including the link to your website too. However, you have to do this properly. Make sure that the question and the answer are relevant to the content on your website.
If you’re just randomly linking your website to an answer, you won’t generate as much traffic if it isn’t relevant. Also, avoid excessive linking in your answers. This means that if you’re answering, a link or two is enough. If you’re adding five links, you could end up getting your account suspended.
Even if that doesn’t happen, people can tell that you’re promoting something instead of answering the question at hand. Remember that your answer has to be of value to the readers.
4. Using Quora Ads
Did you know that Quora also has an advertising program? Quora Ads is a great tool to use and produces effective results as well. In an experiment done by Social Media Lab, it was found that Quora ads that linked to blogs had a higher conversion rate than the ones which linked to landing pages.
Nonetheless, lead generation was still at a high rate and it provided tangible results for marketers. There’s also a great silver lining here. Not many advertisers know about Quora Ads which means that you will have lower competition and higher chances of converting your audience.
5. Add Images and Edit and Format Properly
Always make sure that you take the time to edit and format your answers properly. This should be done with as much diligence and attention as you would give to a blog post. Typos and spelling mistakes here are going to reflect badly.
Quora also provides editing and formatting tools including bullet points, numbering, and other features which make it easier for people to read a large block of text. Also make use of features like bold, Italics, and even underlining to show highlight your point. It makes the text more interesting to read and breaks the monotony for the eye.
Another plus point here is that you can add images to your answers. Images draw the attention of the readers towards the answer. Quora also has a feature where any image posted with the first answer will appear in the thumbnail of the question. This will attract the attention of the readers towards the question and also read what you have to say.
By paying attention to these things, you can easily make use of Quora for content marketing purposes. Plus, Quora works like other social media platforms, so users can follow you and take a look at your answering history as well.
[Images – Main Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels; other images from respective social platforms]
Dave Brown is a highly experienced content marketing expert who has been helping clients with digital marketing for many years. Not only is he determined to help businesses achieve their content marketing goals but he is also excited to take on new projects from a diverse range of industries.For reliable content writing services, reach out to him today!