“Knowledge is power” is an adage almost everyone has heard right from the time they were young children. This is what our parents told us to coax us to get to school or finish our homework. This is what we remembered when we saw the best performers in school or college. And this is what we realized when trying to make our way out in the world.
So, who holds this power and how can we get it? For centuries, this knowledge has been concentrated on those who have dedicated their entire lives earning it. Thus, any information on any topic had to come from these limited and dedicated people – be it, professors, researchers or industry experts. Reaching out to them was a completely different struggle altogether.
However, in the past few years, this information and knowledge from these very people have been brought closer to us – right at our fingertips – thanks to the evolution of social media. Now, no existing knowledge is difficult to obtain, should you be willing to put even a little effort. A social platform leading this initiative is Quora.
With its simple question and answer methodology, Quora is what we intuitively associate with gaining knowledge – asking questions and getting answers! Typically in real life, if you asked a question, you would expect your friend to answer it. However, on Quora, if you ask a genuine question, you may have an industry expert answering it for you! Such a simple yet powerful tool.
The world recognizes the power of this simplicity and opportunity of the platform. This is clearly indicated by the 150+ million users on the platform, with nearly 30% of the traffic coming from India alone. What an opportunity for marketing your product or brand! Which marketing manager would want to let it go? But then, which marketing manager won’t? So, if everyone is doing what you are doing, what is your advantage? Why even bother in the first place!
If the numbers are anything to go by, Quora has something for everyone. All you need to do is put a little dedicated effort on fine-tuning your marketing strategy to make Quora an integral part of it. Consistency is the key here. Once, you have done that and established your practices, you can sit back and see the platform perform its magic.
Keeping this in mind, let us see how to build a successful Quora marketing strategy
Keep it simple
The essence of Quora and the cause of its popularity is its inherent simplicity. As humans, we are accustomed to the question-answer methodology. This is also the easiest way to get what you are looking for in one glance. Hence, the essential part of any Quora marketing strategy to be successful is to keep it simple. If a user is asking for something, give them a direct and relevant answer, rather than beating around the bush. This greatly increases the chances of your answer getting an upvote from the readers.
Client engagement is the key to any marketing strategy’s success. And if you want to engage with your customers meaningfully, the best way is to give them what they are looking for. At Quora, they are looking for an answer. Give it to them, they will automatically look you up, if they have a question next time.
Know your customers
With that premise in mind, the next important point is to know who are the customers you are engaging with – on Quora or any other platform. Are the existing customers looking for a solution? Or potential customers who can benefit from your services? Or are they new entrants in your industry looking for guidance?
You should target your answers to any questions towards the particular segment of customers the question is relevant to. This helps build an image for your brand that cannot be copied since it is cultivated. A simple act of understanding your customers and tailoring your answers to meet their requirements can go a long way in building a relationship, based on trust and understanding.
Build a persona
Now you know who your customers are. You know what they are looking for. You also know that you can answer their queries in a way that will be of great help. But why should they listen to you? There are so many people out there, to answer a simple query. How do you make your or your brand’s voice heard?
This is the first step of a direct engagement that you have with your customers. And you know what they say about first impressions, right? Your persona or your profile is your first step to making an impression. To tell the world, why you are qualified to answer their query and why should they listen to you.
So, put in some efforts and get a good profile description ready for your Quora profile. The first 50 characters of your profile are displayed with your answer. Make sure these are optimized to give the maximum credibility to your authority over the subject. For example, if you are answering a question about marketing strategy and your profile shows you are the owner of a brand consultancy, or working as the marketing manager in a company, you automatically get heard more. Your profile shows your experience and authority.
Hence, it is a good idea to invest some time in setting up the profile, with all relevant details and links if you may want. It has been observed by multiple studies that Quora is one of the largest contributors in incoming clicks on any website. Thus, to drive traffic to your website, simply include a link with your profile description.
Build credibility
Now that you are ready with a profile and all set to answer questions, how do you go about it?
Follow relevant topics
A very important factor is to find relevant topics. Quora as a platform has all sorts of topics under the sun, but what are you best qualified to answer as an individual or as a brand. It is critical that you identify the same and follow the relevant topics to find out what are the customers asking? What is trending and what is the biggest pain point for a customer. Just following relevant topics can keep you abreast with the developments in the industry.
Answer correct questions
Now that you know what the industry and its customers are looking for, select the questions that you can answer in a strategic manner. Try to choose
- Recent questions
- Questions that are asked by many people
- Questions that have not already been answered by other industry heavyweights
- Questions that have already been answered but you can add a better answer and add more value
Keeping all this in mind, makes your answers appear relevant and useful to users looking for them and increase your following.
Present your answers in a proper manner
If you know what questions you are going to answer and in how much detail, the next important step is to make it as presentable as possible. Good formatting like breaking detailed descriptions into paragraphs or bullet point, highlighting key points can make your readers very happy. It is simple to follow such answers and get a good perspective.
Another important and kind of a make or break deal is the editing and proofreading of your answers. Get it thoroughly checked before posting. This goes a long way in building a meaningful engagement with your clients.
Be consistent
Like all efforts, a successful Quora marketing strategy is based on consistency. You cannot appear once every 6 months and expect your customers and followers to remember you. Make sure you are consistent and available to answer the queries. This is the core of establishing your credibility, your followers should be able to reach you when they need you to find an answer.
Review the results and adjust your inputs
Now that you have put in the efforts and are consistently answering the questions on Quora, it is time to analyse the impact (or RoI) of this initiative. It is simple to measure. The traffic directed to your website from Quora is a clear indication of your popularity and engagement via the platform.
If the numbers are not what you expected, take a step back and analyse what can be going wrong. Are the links not relevant? Are people not finding the answers relevant? What is the engagement level on Quora itself and what percentage of it is redirecting to your website? Analysing these details and adjusting your strategy can work out wonders in terms of increasing your Client Engagement.
Another quick addition to your strategy could be to link your other social media accounts to your Quora profile and pushing the content as a blog on your website. This increases the reachability of the content and keeps it consistent. Effectively utilized, Quora can be a strong platform for your brand.
