2 0 1 8 E D I T I O N DRIVE MORE B2B LEADS WITH QUORA B A Y L E A F D I G I T A L F E R T I L E G R O U N D F O R B 2 B S A A S M A R K E T E R S Quora is a little known secret in B2B SaaS Marketing, especially for startups trying to get their name in front new audiences searching for a solution to address modern day challenges. B A Y L E A F D I G I T A L B A Y L E A F D I G I T A L 03 Google feeds never-ending curiosity. From pulling up the history of your favorite rock star to seeing what people think of artificial intelligence to pondering how much money Elon Musk is worth. Chances are you found a Quora result in the top three of the gazillion search results listed before you. You’re not alone. Since 2009, Quora has become an open forum rich with S questions and answers of all shapes, colors and sizes. It’s an R E online platform built around unique content where the T E K Average Joe can quickly chime in to questions like "What R A Was Mark Zuckerberg Like in High School?" and carefully M S craft a well-thought-out answer that can be upvoted and re- A A shared by random strangers. S B 2 B Google built their business model on serving the most R O relevant and timely content to its millions of searchers. We F D couldn’t help but notice how much Quora’s crowd-sourced N U “relevant and timely” content has been quenching Google’s O R G thirst lately. E L I T R B2B marketers on top of their game are constantly on the E F lookout for creative (yet ethical) ways of drawing more relevant traffic to the site in hopes of generating leads that will turn into happy customers. Quora is now considered a viable organic channel that savvy B2B companies (especially those in SaaS) are taking seriously in 2018. Quora’s interest from past five years. Source: Google Trends, June 26, 2018 T H E F R U I T S T H A T Q U O R A P R O V I D E S B 2 B S A A S C O M P A N I E S How does Quora benefit B2B SaaS businesses and marketers trying to stand out? Let us count the ways... B A Y L E A F D I G I T A L B A Y L E A F D I G I T A L 05 The Quora platform offers a myriad of benefits for the B2B marketer. Quora enables you to: • Drive free, organic traffic to your SaaS company’s website S E • Build an online community that is interested in hearing I N A what you have to say P M O C • Build an opted-in B2B email list S A A S B • Become a thought leader and influencer in your industry 2 B S E • Grow your personal brand and your company’s brand in a D I V particular field O R P A R • Spread your awareness by attracting more followers of O U your content Q T A H T S T I U R F E H T B A Y L E A F D I G I T A L 06 BECOME AN AUTHORITY Quora makes it easy to get started as an authority. S When you start to fill out your profile, Quora asks what E I N topics you know about. Your answers will feed into their A P algorithm so you can not only be presented answers in those M O C topics, but you can also get a daily feed of new questions S A that are being asked in those topics that you may be able to A S provide a solid answer on. B 2 B S E By specifying the topics in which you’re an expert (self- D I proclaimed experts are OK too), you’re able to “cut through V O R the noise” - and there’s a lot of noise given the size of how P A many Q&As are published on Quora today. R O U Q T A H T S T I U R F E H T List of topics our internal Quora expert knows a thing or two about. B A Y L E A F D I G I T A L 07 Consider yourself a jack of all trades with expertise in a variety of fields? Quora lets you wear as many hats as you wish. Each topic that you’re a subject matter expert in can have it’s own tagline (up to 50 characters). S E This comes in handy if you have a side job as a gigging I N A musician but you want to chime in on a topic about AI P M software. O C S A You want your credentials to show that you’re a developer in A S AI software, not that you play bass in a rock cover band. B 2 B S E D I V O R P A R O U Q T A H T S T I U R F E H T B A Y L E A F D I G I T A L 08 QUORA DIGEST: BECOME THE POPULAR KID AT SCHOOL S E I N A P The more you write, the more often your posts will receive M O C views. S A A S The more eyeballs, the better the odds for you to receive an B 2 “upvote.” More upvotes leads to your answer floating to the B S top of all the answers. E D I V O R Quora does an outstanding job emailing their users topics of P A interest in an effort to draw more traffic back to the site. R O It’s not uncommon to see your answer be in a digest sent to U Q 10,000+ Quora readers. T A H T S Soon, you’ll see some of your answers added to the Quora T I U Digest, which can give your posts even more visibility. R F E H T Even if you don’t consider yourself a strong writer, we recommend starting out on topics you’re knowledgeable about where you can think freely, requiring very little effort. This will make your posts appear more realistic and free up time for additional research and embedding the perfect image, stat, quote, etc. Quora often includes your answers as part of their digest sent to thousands of readers at their discretion S T A R T D I G G I N G I N T O Q U O R A The top Quora writers (a.k.a. “Quorans”) have a method to their madness. They’re the rock stars performing live on the Quora stage. They know how to captivate their audience and use humor, personal stories and solid advice on a variety of topics. B A Y L E A F D I G I T A L B A Y L E A F D I G I T A L 10 Some of them are serial entrepreneurs while others started off as Average Joes. Throughout the years they’ve accumulated millions of views, 100k+ followers, and their content is well written and well received. Some of the Quora heavy hitters include: - Jason Lemkin – Founder of SaaStr (largest conference and community for SaaS/B2B entrepreneurs). Very active on Quora (to date, over 40 million answer views and a Top Writer for past 5 consecutive years). - Noah Kagan – Serial entrepreneur who founded sumo.com and worked at Facebook and Mint.com in the early days. A R - Josh Fechter – Passionate Quoran who is one of the top O U resources for squeezing every drop out of Quora to generate Q O leads (and was the inspiration for this ebook). T N I G N I - Neil Patel – Experienced B2B digital marketer, prolific G G writer with non-stop exceptional tips and best practices. I D T R A - Sean Kernan – OK, not really a B2B influencer, but he’s a T S great model to follow due to the quality and time he puts into his answers. He even calls himself “Son of Quora.” B A Y L E A F D I G I T A L 11 SET YOURSELF APART FROM THE CROWD Regardless of how skilled your writing abilities are, make sure your bio is well optimized so your work is not done in vain. Position yourself as a subject matter expert in whatever field you’re trying to make a splash in. A Four elements to include in your bio to make yourself stand R O out include: U Q O T N 1. A relevant offer (e.g. Download Ebook: How to Drive More I G B2B Leads with Quora). N I G G I D 2. A clear, professional yet memorable headshot. T R A T S 3. Links to your own content. 4. Social street cred (provide links to your LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter profiles). Q U O R A R E S P O N S E S T H A T F L O U R I S H Did you know studies show a 90+ percent increase in viewership whenever an article includes an image or infographic compared to those without one? B A Y L E A F D I G I T A L B A Y L E A F D I G I T A L 13 Most of us are visual creatures and images help your story come to life and can draw an emotional response from your readers.