Author: Val Powell

Quora is a popular Q&A website. Digital marketers have discovered it as an excellent avenue for positioning a brand or company as a thought leader or industry expert. It’s not surprising that many have included Quora in their marketing strategy mix.  

If you want to build a following on the platform, understand that it won’t happen overnight. In an attempt to get quick results, some newbies make the mistake of trying to answer as many questions as possible within the shortest time on Quora. But, achieving massive growth—millions of answer views, thousands of upvotes, and hundreds of shares—is a combination of hard work and a few practical tips. Below are some to get you started.

5 Ways to Make Your Answers Go Viral on Quora

1. Find Your Niche

Quora thrives on well-written, carefully thought out answers. That’s a given. But if you want to go viral, you can’t achieve such a feat when you’re a Jack-of-all-trades. Instead, focus on your interests first to identify your target audience and cater to them.

When you answer questions that you are passionate about or interested in, the entire process becomes effortless. That’s because you enjoy writing about the subject, so the flow of thought is easier.

On the contrary, penning an answer for a topic you barely understand may not give you upvotes and views. Readers would rather skip yours and look for answers somewhere else. If you spend too much time researching for a response, you're probably not an expert on the topic.

Determine your niche or so-called sweet spot, which is the intersection of your passion and competency. Don’t worry if your areas of interest already have countless experts—there’s always room for one more. Moreover, you can improve or add to their answers with your actual experiences, life lessons, and unique insights.  

2. Choose Questions That Matter      

There are millions of questions on Quora and multiple variations of the same or similar inquiries. A quick keyword search may be overwhelming, especially if you don’t know where to begin.

Start by following popular topics, thought leaders, and like-minded individuals in your niche. Doing so allows you to have a gist of questions likely to gain traction or have a steady audience. It also lets you take a page out of other writers’ books.

Go through every question on your feed—clicking on it opens a new tab. Look at its number of followers and answers to see if it’s ripe for traction. A question with more followers vis-à-vis answers suggests that many Quora users are interested. They receive an alert when you reply, increasing the likelihood of views on your answer.

Skip new questions or ones with less than ten followers because of their low impact. Assess the top answers—do they appear poorly written or more promotional than helpful? You’re likely to gain views and upvotes if you contribute something of value to the discussion.

It also doesn’t hurt to pick questions already answered by highly followed Quora users or industry experts. When you post a response, make sure it isn’t merely a rehash of popular answers to gain a few views. A unique, well-written reply catches more attention and generate more traffic to your Quora profile and answers.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to write an answer right away. Instead, save the questions for another time by clicking on “Answer Later” to build a library of sorts. You can also organize them in a spreadsheet—include the URL, topic, and follower-to-answer ratio for faster monitoring.

3. Create Interesting Content

Even on Quora, content is king, so always do your best to produce creative and interesting answers. Some of the platform’s best responses often have personal stories, different insights, life advice, and a touch of humor. Not only do they evoke powerful emotions relatable to the readers, but they also entertain.

Many Quora writers can attest to how talking about life experiences gives their response an edge over others. Some writers try to spark their readers’ imagination through storytelling, short dialogue, or colorful narrative. 

However, it doesn’t mean you should steer clear of technical topics—you might find it challenging to insert a touching anecdote to maintain your readers’ interest. It will also look out of place. What you can do instead is make your post easy to understand. If there’s a previous answer but it appears too difficult to digest, you can add a different take or simplify the topic with analogies.

Before crafting an answer, read the other replies to have a sense of what’s already written. Ask yourself if you can contribute something valuable to the thread, such as your experience or a fact they missed mentioning. 

4. Answer with Flair

Your great Quora answer won’t pick up steam if it looks hard to read. Generally, a paragraph with several long sentences tends to bore readers quickly. It doesn’t matter if it is highly informative; readers are likely to shy away from yours and move on to the next.

Here’s an essential tip—make your post easy on the eyes through formatting. Keep your paragraphs short by limiting them up to two sentences or four lines; anything longer makes it less mobile-friendly.

Many top-rated Quora answers often have one-sentence paragraphs—a wall of text is difficult to absorb in one go. Instead, divide your post into different subheadings. Create a bulleted or numbered list where applicable to keep yours engaging.   

Take advantage of bold fonts and italicizations to emphasize key concepts, takeaways, and essential information. It also pays to insert images to break up the monotony and grab the reader’s attention. Relevant photos, graphics, screenshots, and other imagery also make it easier to understand the topic. 

5. Keep on Writing

If you want your Quora answers to generate traffic, aim to write them in 300 words or more. Anything shorter hints at the lack of preparation or thought into crafting a reply. Readers tend to avoid such replies because they think there’s nothing valuable in these.

Push yourself to write long answers as often as possible, and publish at least one every day—it slowly builds your social footprint as well. You have to be diligent in producing content, even if there are uninspiring days. Moreover, constant writing hones the skills necessary for coming up with creative, interesting answers that drive traffic in the long run.

All of these tips will help you grow steadily on Quora—only if you practice them regularly. Bear in mind that being an overnight success on the platform is rare, and nothing trumps putting in the necessary work.