Advertising on Quora — What You Need to Know
Lisa Hirst Carnes | February 2018
People use Quora, a question-and-answer site, to research topics and post questions. For a long time there was no method for monetization. Now, advertising on Quora came out of beta. Lisa, ArcStone’s Co-Founder and Marketing VP, talks about the benefits of advertising on Quora and goes through the simple process of setting up a campaign.
Nearly a decade ago, the question-and-answer site Quora came on to the scene and has thrived since its inception. According to its founder and CEO, Adam D’Angelo, Quora gets about 200 million monthly unique visitors. If you use Google to research topics, you’ve most likely seen Quora. The site has a vast organic presence and SEO appears to be a cornerstone strategy for the company.
In short, it’s a knowledge-sharing platform. People use it to research topics and post questions, and answers get upvoted by its community of users on the site. For a while now, Quora didn’t have a method for monetization. But since last summer, advertising on Quora came out of beta and companies are able to position themselves as experts for relevant topics.
Promoted Ads on Quora
Compared to other digital platforms, the targeting options in Quora are limited. But, with its large unique visits, many advertisers were positive about campaign results.
So, what makes Quora a good opportunity for advertisers? Since the site is a question-and-answer board, you can establish yourself as a thought leader on specific topics. Notice the Promoted ad below. Granular is able to position themselves as an expert, simply by advertising, and appear in the middle of a relevant topic.
Screenshot of a Quora question-and-answer and an example of a promoted ad by Granular.
Setting up an advertising campaign on Quora is easy.
- Simply go to www.quora.com/business and click the blue Start Now button.
- From there, follow the steps to create your account and add payment information.
- Quora ads are based on a cost per click (CPC) model, which means you only pay if someone clicks on your ad. Similar to AdWords, your ads compete against other ads for positions. The higher you bid, the more likely you’ll get clicks.
- You can have many different campaigns with different objectives and budgets within an account.
- After you setup your first campaign, you’ll be ready to create your ad sets. Quora recently expanding its targeting options to include: topic targeting, question targeting, audience targeting, and interest targeting.
The example below targets topics:
Here are the components to an ad on Quora:
- Business or brand name — 40 characters
- Headline sentence — 65 characters
- Body text — 105 characters
- Landing page URL — 30 characters
Measuring Results
Tracking your Quora campaign activity is similar to other digital platforms. Simply install the conversion pixel or if you’re using Google Tag Manager, create a new Quora tag.
Is Quora a fit for you?
This may depend on what product or service you provide. Here are some questions to consider:
- Does your audience use the site?
- Are there conversations that relate to your product or service? Look for relevant topics and check to see how active the discussion is.
- Are you looking for a new, untapped way to build your audience?
If you need help getting set up here, we’d love to chat. Just reach out with questions!
