Quora is a social network that utilizes a question and answer format in order to provide expert advice. The About page of Quora states "When you want to know more about something, Quora delivers you answers and content from people who share your interests and people who have first-hand knowledge -- like real doctors, economists, screenwriters, police officers, and military veterans."
When users log on to Quora, they can create personal profiles and homepages customized to reflect the people, topics, and questions they know the most about. The potential to widely share expertise in an online forum makes Quora a potentially valuable networking and marketing tool that is worth considering for many businesses and marketers.
Use Quora For Name Recognition And Links
The advantage of Quora is the personal nature of the information shared, which allows users with the most knowledge and expertise to receive the credit they deserve.
Joan Stewart of the Publicity Hound writes; "Unlike Wikipedia, everything on Quora is tied back to a person. Each question and answer has a revision history associated with it, and each change in the log is associated with the person who made it."
Improve Customer Satisfaction With Quora
Any time users can gather in one place to ask questions and to talk about which services they use, it's inevitable that some users will share negative feedback. By doing a brief daily search of Quora, you can track feedback related to your company.
Heather Whalen writes at Mashable "Companies can deliver customer service via Quora by responding to complaints and criticisms. Additionally, company representatives can serve as resources, as illustrated by Instagram's CEO, Kevin Systrom, who has answered questions about the app's origins, name and URL."
Use Quora For Peer Networking
Connecting with industry experts is a way to get recommendations, guest posts, and referrals, and Quora is one place where you can find many of them. If you work in an industry that is spread across nations and continents, then Quora can function like a local business mixer.
Ritika Puri is a social media consultant who uses Quora as a business to business networking tool: "Positioned as a question and answer (Q&A) engine, the platform has evolved into a peer-driven, substantive resource for millions of business leaders, students, journalists, marketers, designers, engineers, and high-tech aficionados who have one thing in common: a desire for knowledge."
Generate Leads Through Quora
The real value of Quora for many users comes through the opportunity to make valuable contacts with potential clients. John Behan, an account executive at Strutta shared in a Quora discussion "At Strutta we use it [Quora] to assert our position as thought leaders in our industry, and share our knowledge of contests and promotions with people who have asked great questions."
Find Relevant Content Ideas For Your Blog
If you want to make your blog content relevant for your readers, We Do Marketing suggests "Look for questions related to your business with few answers and a large number of followers. Then write a blog post responding to the question. In your post, provide a link to the Quora question, and in the Quora answer field, link to your blog."
While users on Quora will be suspicious of spammers just trying to get more traffic, if you can answer a question appropriately in a blog post format, you'll be able to generate a valuable back link to your site that may win over some new customers in the process.
Greater Interaction With Social Networks
Quora can be linked to Facebook or Twitter, and therefore users can learn what their contacts are already discussing on Quora and engage them on a level that goes beyond the pithy remarks that are so typical for Twitter. Media Bistro notes "The platform uses your social graph to show you questions asked or answered by people you are connected to or answers they may have voted up or followed." Answering and asking questions on Quora is an excellent way to take your networking on Twitter to the next level.
Quora is an excellent marketing and networking tool that has a dedicated user community that moderates the questions and answers in order to prevent comment spam and shameless self-promotion. If you're looking for a platform where you can show your authentic expertise, then Quora is a great place to build your reputation.
