My son just started asking the question “Why?”. If you read my about section you would know that I think that this is the best possible question that he (or anyone) could ask. Questions are the key to our survival and growth and it keeps us all informed and moving forward. Sir Francis Bacon famously stated that “Knowledge is power” and Google and Wikipedia have given us answers to many of life’s greatest questions and seemingly more power and control over our environment and the world.
Built on the back of Yahoo! Answers, the retired Google Answers, Mahalo, LinkedIn Answers and Facebook Questions - Quora is the latest social version of Q&A that has the industry buzzing. The site is “a continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it”. I signed up for Quora when it launched about a year ago to see what all the hype was about and to answer the question “what exactly is Quora and why should I care? Since then I have watched it grow and seen its usefulness increase exponentially. After all a site is only as good as it is useful.
How to Use Quora as a Marketing Tool?
A. The first step for using Quora for Marketing is to establish yourself as an expert. This is easier said than done, but you or your clients must be an expert at something? So make sure you answer questions that are in your comfort zone and you truly are credible. (Quora offers a unique ability to create separate profiles, so you can be Brooklyn expert on one and Photo expert on another) This will help better position you as a thought leader. As of now you must be a person and no brand pages are allowed, but you can be Suzy from brand X.
B. If you are interested in building relationships and generating leads once you start answering questions you can see who reads your answers and then you can reach out to them to see if there is a way to work together.
C. Quora is a market research goldmine. As it expands to all categories there is a wealth of information on your competitors and your industry that could be used in new business pitches, proposals, positioning, whatever the scenario, start here and ask questions if you can’t find what you are looking for.
7 Interesting Quora Links
1. How are physicians using social media? 8 Answers: http://qr.ae/veGX 2. Seven Reasons Why Quora Will Be Bigger Than Foursquare http://bit.ly/eLEyPa 3. Why You Should and Should Not Use Quora: http://dlvr.it/D6Qgm 4. Why Quora will thrive long after the buzz wears off http://bit.ly/hdYzvu 5 ways news orgs - and reporters - can use Quora http://bit.ly/g1oz8Z 6. How to integrate your Amplify blog with Quora http://ow.ly/1aOUwD 7. Why Quora is more than just a fad: http://bit.ly/giPxeA
What are you using Quora for?
