The irony of this blog post is that it's probably a question best asked on Quora itself - the social Q&A site that has very much been the buzz word of social media circles, and seems to have seen incredible growth in the past couple of weeks (read various articles about it on mashable, here). "I have to blog about this," I tell myself for the past week. But I strongly resisted the urge, not wanting to be seen to be jumping on the bandwagon of all of the rest of the buzz out there about it, and not sure I could add anything unique or special to the conversation. But, I can resist no more. So, with some use of the site under my belt, I thought I would reflect for a moment on how marketing and communications professionals in the education sector might use Quora (some of what I'll say here translates to other sectors too, of course).
In a nutshell, though, here is a summary of what Quora is. Essentially it is a site for people to ask questions and provide answers. Like Twitter, you 'follow' other users, but you also follow topics (questions are 'tagged' so that they can be easily categorised and searched, and so that people can follow just the questions that interest them). On first signing up you can connect to Facebook and Twitter to start following your existing contacts, so you can see what they are all up to. You can then ask questions of the entire community (not just your followers) and answer questions on topics that you feel confident answering (for each topic you follow, you can specify your knowledge and experience in that particular field/topic).
So, here are my thoughts about the use of this in university marketing and communications:
Listening to chat about your school, college or university
Do a search on Quora for your organisation's brand name. It will probably (possibly) already be there as a topic. I've already done a fair bit of searching for college and university brand names as topics and many are there. Find it and follow it. This means that every time someone asks a question that is then 'tagged' with your brand name (the topic) you will be able to see that. This is a great way to see the types of questions that people are asking and, more interestingly, the answers that others are giving. This will become part of your overall social media monitoring that you should already be doing for your organisation to understand your online reputation (if you're not, give us a shout and we can help you with this).
Helping prospective students
There are already prospective students asking questions about which universities to go to. For example, a brief glance at the 'Universities in the UK' topic reveals one question asking 'Where's a good university to study computer science in the UK?' Responding on behalf of your organisation in a 'me, me, me' (wave arm frantically in the air) type approach isn't going to do you any favors, but if you really are great at computer science and have the stats to back it up, then say so (or get an alum to say so for you). Another question in the topic asks 'Which universities in Europe have a Ph.D programme in music technology?' If you have one, then say so - you might recruit a new PhD student in return for your 30 seconds of effort.
Following people that are interested in your school, college or university
By following questions about your brand you can also then identify people who are interested in your organisation - prospective students or staff, for example, parents of prospective students, alumni... by spotting them on Quora through the questions they ask you can then begin to build a connection and a relationship with them (follow them on Twitter, for example, or just on Quora, and start developing that relationship).
Professional development
There is a lot that you learn from other people online. If you are looking to try something new (a new product, service, or campaign idea) then Quora is a great place to crowd source the views and opinions of a large community. This can help with research for work projects but also for your own professional development.
Demonstrate expertise
People on Quora are looking for experts to come along and answer their questions. This could be a place (like LinkedIn Questions) where your academics and other staff could contribute to the community discussions as a means of demonstrating their expertise in given subjects. You never know when a funder or business partner might ask a question that your academics respond to and subsequently a new relationship is born.
Spot PR opportunities
There are many journalists already on Quora. The answer to this question already helps to reveal many journalists on there. Follow them to see the kind of questions that they are asking. They might be looking for experts to talk about a given subject that they are writing about and here you could pick up a great PR opportunity for your organisation.
So, those are my brief initial thoughts. I'm sure you, my dear readers, have many more to add so please feel free to do so in the comments section below - although you're probably already doing so on Quora!
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