Is it Time for a Quora Web 2.0 Strategy?

If you blinked anytime in the past couple of weeks, you might have missed the uprising of Web 2.0 trendier than trendy Q&A service Quora. What happened? Out of nowhere I was receiving an onslaught of Quora friend requests. Maybe because news outlets such as CNN and TechCrunch decided to flood their feeds with Quora hype, but somehow Quora kind of exploded. It's a good thing. I've been championing the site for months now, have written about it here and at other outlets, and I'm glad it's receiving the attention that it has.

Wait a minute....

Quora is useful. It connects people with questions to people with answers. It's a full blown social networking with profile pages and the ability to follow others and questions that you may be interested in. It's a big time waste (or knowledge base depending on how you look at it), and anyone who is anyone in tech, social media, and other web 2.0 phenomena seem to be gravitating towards it. With any luck, Quora will be snuggling up to LinkedIn and Twitter on the hierarchy of social networks. It could happen sooner than anyone thinks.

Who said anything about strategy? 

Naturally when a social network starts to attract users, it unintentionally begins to attract a bunch of other side effects. This means spammers and those with poor intentions. On the flip side, brands start paying attention. The early adopters want to jump in and gain traction while the site is still brand new and in all fairness you can't blame them. I've already seen several (mostly small) web 2.0 brands with Quora accounts. Before you jump out and try develop a groundbreaking Quora marketing campaign, proceeding with caution is highly recommended. Mega giant social news site Mashable created an account and was blocked by the Quora powers that be. Quora has put its foot down and has said that brands currently can not have accounts. It's interesting enough that Mashable was blocked, but the account wasn't taken down.

What shall we do?

This is still the time to start monitoring conversations on Quora. Brands need to check out what people are saying/asking about them. Many CEO and high level executives have taken the opportunity to answer questions on behalf of their brand. It's not a bad idea. Not only does it paint the company in a positive light, it gives users more incentive to connect with their favorite brands and ask the tough questions. Quora is turning into a customer service mecca and the momentum will surely continue. At the very minimum, brands should be listening to what is being said so they can gauge customer sentiment. With Quora opening up their API, except to see new tools emerge to monitor the service.


http://SocialBusinessToday.net - The Best in Social Business