Quora: The Growing Conversation Hub

If you haven’t already heard about this site, let me introduce you to Quora. What’s it all about? Well, I’ll let their “about us” page do the talking:

“…One way you can think of it is as a cache for the research that people do looking things up on the web and asking other people. Eventually, when you see a link to a question page on Quora, your feeling should be: “Oh, great! That’s going to have all the information I want about that.” It’s also a place where new stuff–that no one has written about yet–can get pulled onto the web.”

I have found this site absolutely addictive and spend a lot of my free time answering questions about SEO. But, it’s not all about technical stuff here. Take a look at a sample of just some of the multifamily-related topics I found:

Apartments – http://www.quora.com/Apartments
Apartments in Denver – http://www.quora.com/Apartments-in-Denver?q=apartments
Multifamily – http://www.quora.com/Multifamily?q=multifam

“What is the best way to apartment hunt in Chicago, especially in River North, Wicker Park and Bucktown?” – http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-way-to-apartment-hunt-in-Chicago-especially-in-River-North-Wicker-Park-and-Bucktown?q=apartments+in+ch

How do I use this to promote my community?

If you start overtly using the site as a marketing tool and answering every question with a link to your community’s lead form, you’ll get banned from the site. Remember, use this site to provide thoughtful and helpful answers.  However, that doesn’t mean you can’t inject some subtle cues to the readers.

1. You can use your Name/Bio to let people know about your community. For example, mine clearly states that I work for Apartments.com as the SEO Manager:
   
   
   
   You can use something like “Jane Doe, XYZ Apartments” to get your apartment name in front of the people asking and answering the questions.
   
   
2. Use your profile page to include contact information about your community. Often times, a thoughtful answer elicits a click to the profile of who provided that answer. Make sure you provide a way for visitors to learn more about you and your community.
3. If you’re answering a question about rental housing in your area, you can say something like “If I can help any further, please feel free to get in touch. I’ve got some contact info on my Quora profile page. Let’s connect!” Couple of rules though:
   
   Don’t use this like a signature line in each of your posts. The moderators will notice this immediately.
   
   This text might not be applicable to ALL questions. Use this only when it seems right. Remember, you don’t want to get banned from the site and the moderators are VERY active here.
   
   
4. Contact someone directly. You can use the sort of copy in #3 above by contacting someone directly. Simply click on their name and then “Ask them a question.” Remember, to only do this if you feel someone might be open to it. Once again, the key is not to come off as pushy or intrusive.

I hope you all enjoy this site as much as I do! Use it wisely and don’t get pushy about getting your community’s name in front of people…just be smart about it.

Feel free to follow me and my SEO advice on Quora at: http://www.quora.com/Kenny-Shafer.

(originally post at the Apartments.com Blog: Quora: The conversations are happening)