How Quora Helps Small Businesses Boost Their Audiences

Under the surface of question-and-answer website Quora’s ecosystem is a complex web of interactions between users and content creators. At first Quora's function seems simple and somewhat limited: You post questions and you answer other people’s questions. That's it. But there are real tricks to success that can be learned from a few super users -- which, indirectly, can bolster your business, too.

Interestingly, on Quora your amount of activity does not have a proportional effect on your influence or reach inside the network. Recently, I reached out to one of the fastest growing users, Oliver Emberton, founder of Silktide. Oliver has created a few API’s to help analyze Quora and the users that are most successful.

When you look at Oliver’s analysis it jumps out that the users who have the most followers and interactions are not the users who have the most posts. The top five users ranked by followers are Robert Scoble, Dave McClure, Charlie Cheever, Jimmy Wales, and Keith Rabois. You may not know who they are, but they are pretty big names in the tech and startup industry.

Looking at the top 10 users, taking the two Quora executives off the list, they average 34.38 questions posted since they opened their accounts. When you break down their interactions, you find the super users on Quora are only answering about 4.6 questions per week. Compare that to the most active users, who average about 10 times the posts at 45.5 answers per week, which has not gotten them on the most followed list.

What can a business learn from the top users? Oliver and I discussed at length strategies that are consistent with successful Quora campaigns and they aren’t overly complicated.

You should post about 1 question a week and 2 answers. In your answers you should include an image. Always post from your name and not anonymously. You need to promote your posts with your credits. You earn credits in various ways like answering questions or getting your answers voted up. Create boards that are relevant to your brand and post other people’s content on your boards. If you answer someone else’s question, feel free to make minor edits to the question so it reads better or is more compelling.

The beauty of Quora is it has a built-in audience. When you link your account with your other social media channels you are amplifying your efforts. The process is simple and the reach can be tremendous for a small business.

Jabez LeBret is the author of the Amazon No. 1 bestselling law office marketing book How to Turn Clicks Into Clients. As a partner at Get Noticed Get Found, a legal marketing agency, over the last nine years he has delivered over 800 keynote addresses in six countries. His main area of expertise is managing Gen Y in the workplace, advanced Facebook strategies, LinkedIn strategies, Google+, SEO, local directory optimization, and online marketing. 

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