Quora as a marketing channel, anyone?

[Solais]

That's not what I mean.

Were these new questions with no other answers, old questions from 3 years ago with Wiki Answers, etc.

I filtered by

- Within Last Week

and I looked for questions with 0 - 3 answers in them.

 

[Solais]

That's the problem.

If I am a Quora reader and I have a question about "how to sell blue widgets" and I look on Quora for that, I will get back like 2,300 questions where someone else has asked the same question as me already.

Which question do I choose to now read?

The one created 4 years ago with 100+ answers ( some of which might be top experts that answered ), or the one created last week that 2 people answered of which those people might only have a history of answering 8 other questions on a similar topic ( basically look like amateurs ) that no one has upvoted?

You gotta start where the reader is even hanging out first.

Right now, you're going to the empty water holes and trying to help out. That will get you nowhere.

This is what I mentioned earlier in this thread that most people go about this like it's an unplanned free for all ( Quora as a marketing channel, anyone? ).

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I'll give it another go, but wouldn't your answer be buried underneath an avalanche of existing answers?

Or do you just play the "long game" and wait for views to accumulate? Hmm...I didn't consider that.

 

[James Fake]

As a Quora user every now and then for; I'll throw my 2 cents in. It was mentioned before that I often cringe away from marketing masked answers, however it depends on the nature of the answer too. I think Quora won't work for everyone, but in certain niches and industries where a DEEP answer is needed; I will be drawn towards really good thorough no BS answers. When I am impressed with someone's true deep expertise (including their intent or thoughtful'ness), I definitely look briefly at what they do or represent. I also think think giving away 'free' info always works well (the info or industry tidbits that are usually 'guarded')

 

[lludwig]

I used it last year with Investor Junkie and may again this year with my personal brand as it ties in better as well.

Results we meh at the time, but they have improved their algos.

I think organic still does better with them.

 

[BreakAlive]

That's the problem.

If I am a Quora reader and I have a question about "how to sell blue widgets" and I look on Quora for that, I will get back like 2,300 questions where someone else has asked the same question as me already.

Which question do I choose to now read?

The one created 4 years ago with 100+ answers ( some of which might be top experts that answered ), or the one created last week that 2 people answered... of which those 2 people might only have a history of answering 8 other questions on a similar topic ( basically look like amateurs ) that no one has even upvoted?

You gotta start where the reader is even hanging out first.

People are attracted to crowds, sheep follow sheep, social acceptance and group think/wisdom of the crowds draw people in. Our brain's shortcut our thinking that way. It's one of the basics of marketing. People are going to hang out and do what everyone else is doing ( going to the popular questions and "trusting" what others have already blindly trusted and upvoted ).

Right now, you're going to the empty water holes and trying to help out. That will get you nowhere. No one else is there, so those won't draw people in ever.

This is what I mentioned earlier in this thread that most people go about this like it's an unplanned free for all ( Quora as a marketing channel, anyone? ).

There is a saying, "Profit is made on the purchase". That applies here too. The traffic is made on the right selection of question.

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Thanks for sharing your insights in this thread.

I have a question about this approach.

If we're targeting very popular questions with 100+ answers then isn't that similar to targeting high search volume key words for SEO? For example, "Baby toys" which you will need a lot of resources to compete. That's why people suggest targeting long tail key words (lower volume, less competition) to even have a chance of ranking and been seen.

Then it seems like there should be an ideal Views vs. Answers ratio for a question. That is, questions that will get you the most amount of views given all the other existing answers (competition).

I'm new to Quora marketing so correct me if my analogy is wrong.

What other criteria do you use to select your questions? Or do you consistently answer the questions that are most popular/highest views?

 

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[ZF Lee]

I tried answering questions on Quora but Indians would always get the most upvotes even if my answer was well researched.

Than I found out that Quora is bloatware in India. It's included with every new phone someone buys. Naturally Indians use it a lot. Their answers always start with a story, one that has nothing to do with the subject in question. And finally at the very bottom they answer a bit about the question. Indians like stories and they upvote them to the top of the results. So I stopped using it at all. Many of the questions I was getting for me to answer were very regional to India too.

Probably that's a reason why I haven't written on Quora for ages.

Maybe I'd have to call it quits, even though I started on the platform just to practice writing.

I also got turned off by answers that somehow didn't answer the question thoroughly, but just spun into a link-trap or sales pitch:

'Want to know the answers to X problem? We are the top service provider for X solution. Go to this link NOW!'

Plus, I remember meeting with Malaysian Quorans many moons ago, and they were joking about how you could write shit that wasn't related to your profile's stated expertise, and get upvoted heavily.

For instance, one of the entrepreneur guys in the group said one of his best upvoted post was on SEX...not even related to his stated areas of business.

I'm surprised readers don't look into the answerers' profiles and start asking questions. If this happened on even Reddit, some folks might spot the BS answer and starting making noise in the comments section. But even the latter seems to be rare on Quora, or probably I'm not browsing it hard enough?

 

[eliquid]

What other criteria do you use to select your questions? Or do you consistently answer the questions that are most popular/highest views?

Yes

 

[MichaelCash]

I was able to get some traffic from Quora and Yahoo answers. It is easy to start and you can market your business by explaining its benefits in the response. I tried different strategies, for example, to target popular, high ranked questions or target questions with less number of responses, so your response will be more visible.

 

[BreakAlive]

I would call it similar to SEO. However, you don't need a lot of resources to compete on Quora. You need a good answer and a few other things. Ranking in SEO though, you need a lot more. But I see the comparison you are making and you could call it that, but I don't feel you need resources really.

There isn't an ideal views to answers ratio.

It's like sales.

You aren't going to sell anything if you are hitting the places no one visits. You must be in the waterholes that everyone else is at with Quora for so many reasons.

I am not going to give away the farm here since I don't want things saturated, but just stick to where the rest of the traffic is.

Thanks for the answer. I'll give it a go and see the results.

 

[Muller21QQQ]

Thanks for the answer. I'll give it a go and see the results.

for me Quora is a good tool for marketing
when comments get into Digest, then you can really get a lot of traffic to your site

 

[simplymoto]

Has anyone successfully used Quora as a marketing channel, either in

A) Advertising (they now offer advertising)

or

B) As a person who answers questions?

to effect leads, sales, or website traffic?

Quora is pretty stiff on their rules in trying to keep marketing objectives to a minimum.

Also, anyone get invited to this? And if so, does it have an impact on your marketing? I'd imagine for "more than $1000 a month" you'd have to spend HOURS writing content, to the tune of $5 an hour type of stuff.

View attachment 24595

MJ I've been invited to be a content writer like you three years ago. From a pure payout terms you are right, it's like $5 for hours of writing. Nonetheless I say you should go for it, Quora is stuffed with high quality people, waay better than Twitter or Reddit. If you can't write shit you don't get any likes there. I think you'll do great over time.

 

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[lludwig]

Quora paid ads I've found not bad either.

 

[Andy Black]

Not that I have used it as a marketing channel successfully myself (or really tried for that matter - I've always preferred Medium.com). But I used to read a lot of content by "Nicolas Cole", a writer who has essentially started his writing career on Quora. Today, he has somewhere around 30 million accumulated views on his Quora posts alone.

He used platforms like Quora and Medium to build up a massive following, then used that popularity to get into many of the world's biggest publications like Inc., Forbes and whatnot.

Today he runs a branding agency for business executives and entrepreneurs, pretty much helping them to get featured in those big media outlets and build a following for themselves.

I think the point with these platforms is that they only really pay off when you invest huge amounts of time into them. Once you've got a following over there, then your answers will naturally get more views and thus get picked by the editorial team to be featured. Then oftentimes other publications like Inc. etc. pick them up and syndicate them on their website.

Posting the occasional answer or two probably won't do much.

Ha. I came across Nicolas Cole on Twitter recently. I think he’s smart. I liked his book, till I got bogged down in the How-To sections.

 

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