In the grand scheme of social media channels, Quora is underrated. It is a channel that is both fun, engaging and can be used to promote.
Many ordinary people with simple day jobs have gone on to become superstars on the platform that has brought massive popularity and traffic that they’ve smartly converted to writing.
But Quora is a no non-sense platform. If you blatantly promote without any creativity or adding value, you will be booted out from the platform. Quora bans users who blatantly self-promote without adding any value to their site.
Users like Sean Kernan, Dushka Zapata have used the platform to grow their Quora reputations and also other channels.
There are numerous ways to build a following on Quora, but one needs to find their style.
In today’s article, we cover the different ways how people use Quora to build their brand and we teach you techniques and strategies on how you can too.
Branding yourself on Quora
Some people are lucky to be in a place of employment that everyday people don’t have access to. This can be working at SpaceX or NASA. It can be working with a top politician or anything else that people don’t have access to.
This position gives you information that nobody has access to and it makes you the messenger.
A perfect example of this is Robert Frost
Robert Frost works at NASA and is one of the most prolific writers in the Outer Space and Space Exploration topics. Space is an interesting topic and has caught the attention of intellects worldwide.
Being in the position of a Instructor and Flight Controller at NASA he has a lot of information that is privy only to him and not outsiders.
He also has access to images that are accessible only to NASA members but is okay’ed for public consumption.
This makes him a monopoly in this segment and there isn’t too much competition.
Although not everybody can be in a special place, think of things that are unique to you. Here are a few examples to help you think of what can be unique to you.
Been to over 100 countries?
Started a $1M work from home business?
Married and divorced more than 4 times?
Started a SAAS business and sold it to Adobe?
Got into a top university like Harvard?
All these are unique situations that not a lot of people fall under and gives a special status to people who have experienced these situations.
#1 – Be highly knowledgeable on Quora
Quora love the geeks. Geeks are kings on Quora and people follow them without thinking twice. So why does Quora love people who are super knowledgeable?
A lot of people on Quora consider it a platform for learning and education. People can get their questions answered, receive advice and so on.
Being a person who has knowledge in a particular field gives you massive advantages and automatically makes you an authority in the field.
There are a lot of examples of this on Quora. One of the examples is Kirubakaran Rajendran .
Kirubakaran Rajendran is an entrepreneur who has a business in the stock market space. He uses his thorough knowledge of the stock markets to write informative answers, give advice and ultimately drive traffic to his website.
The best part about answers in a niche is it might seem like there aren’t that many upvotes or engagement, but people who are serious about your product will definitely visit your website and get in touch.
#2 – Be a gifted writer on Quora
People who like to read are suckers for good writing. They go out of their way to buy quality books and in the same way, they go out of their way to interact with top authors.
Being gifted at storytelling is a HUGE advantage in Quora. The answers that tingle the heart and is engaging get the highest engagement on the platform.
Many authors use this to drive traffic to their Amazon pages, but none better than Dushka Zapata.
Dushka Zapata promotes her books openly on her profile page but doesn’t talk too much about them in her answers. She instead focuses on sharing stories that give a sneak peek into her book.
The topics she mostly writes about involves human emotions, suffering, love and other things that make us human. She shares stories from her personal life in a beautiful way that tugs at the heart of her readers.
I have personally bought two of her books, looking at her writing on Quora.
#3 – Talk about experiences that people can relate to
Relating to people is the quickest way to make people like you and follow you on Quora. Sean Kernan is the perfect example of this.
Sean Kernan does not write highly intellectual topics, he doesn’t write about economics or isn’t necessarily a genius at words like Dushka Zapata. But what he’s very good at is sharing stories from his personal life that people can relate to.
If you look at the topic where he has the most answers, its ‘Survery Question’. Survey Questions are generic questions that expect a personal answer.
Answering questions that let you share your personal stories are perfect questions that can build your following in no time.
Sean Kernan also uses his Quora following to drive traffic to his Instagram page.
#4 – Target and write about popular topics
On Quora, Demographics are very important. As it isn’t that popular a platform, it has a skewed Demographic set with the majority of users being from India and the United States.
Answering questions in popular Indian topics are sure to bring you, immense followers, if you are able to answer properly and legitimately.
Quora’s most followed writer is Balaji Vishwanathan and although he has a wide knowledge in various topics, he is most prolific in the Indian topics that have the most followers.
If you look at Balaji Vishwanathan’s popular topics, it caters to Indians and Americans that comprise the biggest demographics of Quora.
He writes answers that are informative and give a point of view and a he has become an influencer because of his opinions.
Another person who writes about India, is an American, Samantha Ryan, who gives a foreigners perspective of India. This has made her hugely popular on the platform.
#5 – Be a pretty woman
The title of this section may be crude, but you and I know it is true.
Advertising is filled with pretty women and why? Because it works in getting people’s attention. It doesn’t matter if it is male or female attention.
Being a pretty woman on Quora has its advantages, especially with the demographics skewed towards the male side of things.
A perfect example of this is Smita Mishra. She answers questions in all topics and has no preference, but she is able to garner a huge following with her modelling pictures and interesting storytelling combination.
If you look at her topic list, you will notice she writes about everything.
If you’ve noticed in this article, I haven’t spoken about anything marketing related. I haven’t spoken about adding promotional links or modifying descriptions.
Ultimately it’s not about being too promotional.
#6 – Be Authentic
Quora’s readers are a class apart and they can sense a snake oil salesman from a distance. Also, it’s not considered nice to self-promote on Quora. Even if you do, one needs to be apologetic or humorous about it.
Be authentic with your answers. Express yourself to help the user and not to get your way out of it. If you are authentic, people will trust you and most importantly respect you.
#7 – Be Conscious
Many users do the same old things, answer the same topics and try to gain a large following. All you have to do is look at other writers and check out the topics they are writing about and try to answer similar questions.
Trending topics also play a huge role in building a following. Trending topics always garner a huge following, although temporarily, that can establish your presence as a writer to look for.
#8 – Be Data Driven
Most top writers look at their numbers very carefully. They focus on their monthly views, lifetime views, they look at their upvotes to
Here are a few things that top writers keep track of.
- Monthly Views
- Lifetime Views
- Upvotes to views ratio
- Number of followers per month
Apart from the above, they also keep a track of
- Follower to Answers ratio – To take a decision, whether to write an answer or not
- Most popular and trending topics – To figure out what to write about
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