Why Quora Is the Answer to ALL of Your Small Business Questions

I often find myself typing complex questions into Google’s search box. Many times, this leads me to complex answers or a variety of pages with a little bit of the answer on each one. In my opinion, both are unhelpful. The best pages are usually the pages where the question is stated explicitly, and real people create a response based on that question (as opposed to an article out there that was written on something similar). The only problem: who knows who is answering the question? For all I know, it could be a ten year old kid who thinks it’s funny to make up answers to things online. If you find this as frustrating as I do, you’re now in luck because I have discovered the answer to our frustration—Quora.
Quora is a place where you can ask absolutely anything you wish, and highly reliable people will provide the answer. This site was created by Adam D’Angelo, the former CTO of Facebook. Many compare Quora to Wikipedia (another website I love to visit, but content I never entirely believe); however the main difference between the two is the content quality and social networking opportunities. Quora is a website you must sign up for, much like Twitter or Facebook, and you have the ability to follow people, topics, and/or questions that interest you. There is also a voting system in place that allows the highest quality answers to a question to be pushed to the top. In other words, Quora is another great opportunity to start developing that brand. Consider some of the features of this website, and I guarantee you will be blown away!
Where Do the Answers Come From?
When trying to find an answer to a question, especially one that involves your small business, it is extremely important to know that the answer you are getting is valid and credible. Quora makes this happen in a few different ways:

• Anyone can answer a question on Quora; however users have the ability to vote answers up or down so that the answers can be ranked from the most useful (or most correct) to the least useful.

• All answers are connected to a person so you know exactly who is answering your question. Although answers are rated based on accuracy by users, you may want to know for yourself where the answers are coming from and make your own judgments about credibility.

• Now for the interesting part: Anyone can make revisions to the text of questions and the details that surround that question. In general, this helps the site become more accurate. However, all revisions are tracked and available for a user to see. Not only will you be able to track the person who wrote the original question, but you will be able to see each and every person who had ever made a revision to it.

• There are obviously many topics and questions that are related, so you will find not only answers to your question, but other, related questions that you may not have even considered.

The answers to questions will be available in Quora forever, so Quora may someday become the database with the answers to any question a person may have. All you have to do to find the answer to your question is use the search box at the top of the site and type in your question.
You may think that this sounds too much like Wikipedia, but the answers to questions on Quora have been answered by some of the brightest minds in the industry—and Quora lets you know! Some of the people providing answers on the website include Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, Marc Andreessen, VC in Silicon Valley, and Fred Wilson, VC in New York. After all, the creater of Quora was good friends with Zuckerberg in high school.
How to Use Quora to Help Build Your Brand
Quora is yet another great way to accumulate followers and start building your brand. You will be able to add links to sites in your profile, so if you set your profile to public all of your answers will be indexed on search engines. This site also works as a social networking platform, so your small business should treat it the same way you treat Twitter and StumbleUpon—get as many followers as possible and continue to post great content. If people are interested in what you have to say, and you can offer quality answers that get you to the top of the “answer” list, your company’s reputation will only improve.
By:  Amanda DiSilvestro

The End of Business as Usual: #AdaptorDie to Connected Marketing

Every once in a while, something shows up on the Internet that creates a game-changing shift in the way we view the world. In the context of online business, this happened to me in the fall of 2008 when I first saw the Conversation Prism developed by Brian Solis.
As a social media evangelist, the Conversation Prism became a disruptive tool that inspired both fear and opportunity. I leveraged it as the star slide of every presentation I gave over the next year – and also came to recognize a new thought leader in Solis, one who was articulating the future as well as the client experiences unfolding right in front of me.
I caught up with Solis this week to talk about his new book, “The End of Business as Usual: Rewire The Way You Work to Succeed in the Customer Revolution.” The following are highlights from our conversation.
Jason Cormier: Was there any feedback or key learning’s you established from your last book, “Engage”, as a foundation for this new book?
Brian Solis: Yes. "Engage" was aimed at the social strategist, marketing and communications team, and progressive management teams that were ready to… just as the title instructs, engage.
Between the release of version 1 in March of 2010 and version 2 in March of 2011, I learned quite a bit about how organizations were or were not changing to adapt to market opportunities.
”The End of Business as Usual” is written for change agents and those fighting to compete for attention and relevance. This time, I’m also pursuing the executives who are responsible for leading their business to what’s next. And, this book makes the case for leadership teams to look beyond social media to see the impact of the connected customer on their business.
This isn’t a book about case studies on how to use Facebook or Twitter. Executives don’t use these networks so making the argument, while necessary, really was the role of “Engage”. This time, I make the case from a business level to demonstrate how running a rigid business, business as usual, will open the doors to digital Darwinism where companies that fail to adapt will become victims of natural selection.
JC: I saw Peter Guber called your new book “the map” to win the hearts and minds of customers with “new media experiences.” Do you dig into any of the practical and tactical here or would you say it’s more of a map as opposed to a set of directions?
BS: Interesting question. The book is broken into two halves. First, I make the case for the future of decision-making and how connected consumers are influencing and influenced by interest graphs (those individuals connected by keywords, shared relationships, and expressed interests).
The second half of the book focuses on how to build an adaptive organization that’s optimized to learn, engage, adapt, and lead. It’s part map and part step-by-step directions.
JC: I caught your interview with Radian6 CEO, Marcel Lebrun, last week. In the context of “what’s next,” I like how he talked about the shift of how we must line up for our customers instead of the traditional mindset of how they line up for us.
He was using the idea of waiting on the phone in a support queue as an example, but was obviously referring to much more of an encompassing business concept – one he believes we’ll spend “the next 10 years” trying to figure out. What’s your take on his statements, and how might your book address them?
BS: The entire book is based upon the premise that businesses are stuck either reacting to customers or developing products or services in a vacuum that may or may not deliver against needs or aspirations. That’s business as usual and perhaps it will suffice for traditional consumers.
But for connected consumers, businesses have to focus beyond “figuring it out” to getting in front of customer experiences in order to shape and steer them. “The End of Business as Usual” looks at the “why” and also the “how” to help businesses rethink the infrastructure of the organization, the culture, processes, systems, methodologies, and decision trees to improve the internal collaboration needed to promote external collaboration.
You can’t engage externally if you can’t engage within. Employees, like customers, are stakeholders – and their support, input, and passion are critical ingredients in the recipe of tomorrow’s relevance.
JC: Over the years, you’ve referred to the “uh-oh” moment or “a-ha” moment as one that will ultimately lead companies into social media. What are the most common uh-oh moments you are seeing at this point in time?
BS: It’s amazing. Still today, businesses are thrust into social networks because of the “uh oh” moment. What’s even more amazing is that many businesses that are currently engaged in social media are also vulnerable to unsuspecting moments that blindside them into the new reality.
Businesses are not in control of customer experiences because they’re wrestling with the idea of what control really is. Broadcast marketing, screaming louder than consumers, buying media that tells people what to think, again, that’s business as usual.
Facebook currently houses 800 million active residents – that’s the size of the entire Internet in 2004. There’s no going back. Yet businesses today believe that they don’t need a social presence because that “might” invite negative interaction or operate social media in a silo while they wonder why they’re getting service related questions or complaints on a Facebook page dedicated to CSR activity.
JC: Earlier this year, Shiv Singh said, "When it comes to digital marketing I believe marketers need to be more strategists & research minded than idea evaluators and implementers." What’s the first thing that comes to mind regarding how your new book might help marketers (inside of brands or within agencies) best address the ever growing demand for strategy in social media?
BS: Shiv is right. If we examine many successful social media initiatives today, we’ll learn that great ideas connected with consumers to spark word of mouth, interaction, and desirable outcomes.
But in reality, this is yet another example of implementation. And, when you really think about it, there’s very little that’s truly social in everyday corporate social media campaigns. Sometimes I jokingly refer to social media as a great oxymoron.
One of the greatest advantages of social media is to listen to conversations to learn about mentions, context, sentiment, and reach. But when we really hear what people are saying and why, we start to peel back the layers of significance to research, learn, and adapt to new opportunities.
The insights that we extract simply by listening, hearing, and feeling what’s transpiring in social networks helps us translate empathy into action. The result is campaigns, service strategies, products, and so much more. By default, relevance is earned simply by reflecting customer behavior, wants, and opportunities. #AdaptorDie!
By: Jason Cormier,

9 Characteristics of an In-House SEO

One question I get asked a lot is “Are you more of a ‘technical SEO’ or a ‘marketing SEO’?” This question used to puzzle me a bit in the beginning as in my head the answer was pretty clear: I’m a marketer with a technical bent of mind.
This question then led me to think about some of the common characteristics that make a good in-house SEO. This helped me a lot too when making hiring decisions on what characteristics I should look for in an in-house SEO.
The other fact is SEO as an industry has matured over the years. As a result, what is expected out of an in-house SEO has changed as well. Companies don’t want to hire someone who can get them top rankings or create some monthly reports – that is a given now.
Increasingly, in-house SEOs are required to be more analytical and ROI focused. This evolution of SEO clearly demands SEO’s to have a good left brain and right brain combination. That said, there are definitely some peculiar characteristics of an in-house SEO, so let’s go over few of them.

1. SEO as a Thought Leader

Many times people outside the SEO world may not be able to visualize the business benefits you can drive from a successful in-house SEO program. An in-houser can open many new opportunities for a business and generate new streams of revenues.
Simply put: an in-houser can help people understand what SEO can do for their business. So in every conversation, in every meeting a SEO has the opportunity to display their thought leadership in search.

2. SEO as an Influencer

As an SEO you have to be an influencer. Influencer of new ideas, new ways of generating traffic, new set of processes, and so on.
In every organization, big or small, there are certain sets of processes that people follow. To integrate SEO into that process, you need influence many stakeholders.
Remember, when you add something new like SEO to an existing process you will encounter resistance. What you need to do: communicate and influence many stakeholders. After all, you’re inserting SEO for the greater good of the business and those convictions can drive you to become an influencer of people or ideas.

3. SEO as a Salesman

Gosh, aren’t we always selling something? Moreso with SEO as you are selling ideas, ROI projections, tools, projects, or even agency partners or consultants. Most of the times in order for SEO to get a seat at the table you have to be that salesman and build your case why SEO is integral to your overall business objectives.

4. SEO as a Collaborator

Over the years I have realized that SEO is baked as part of a bigger project with tens or hundreds of stakeholders and you need a team to climb those big mountains. An in-house SEO works with different sets of teams, stakeholders, and business objectives.
In a typical day you could end up collaborating with tens of different groups – collaboration becomes the key. A classic example is collaborating with your IT team. Another example is baking your SEO part into an agenda of a larger meeting. Sometimes to get those 10 minutes in a meeting you need to collaborate closely with the product or project managers so that you can give your SEO “update.”

5. SEO as an Educator

So much of SEO is viewed as a black magic in the outside world that the onus is on SEOs to bring transparency to the process. Once what we as SEOs do is transparent and stakeholders understand why you recommend the type of changes that you do, it creates a lot of buy-in as well.
SEO education is essential to getting buy-in. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself doing multiple rounds of SEO training across the organization.

6. Analytical SEO

Marketing is analytical in nature and as marketers we base our decisions after looking at analytics reports and then optimize our targets. SEOs have to do forecasting, look at product or keyword level ROI, work with finance, do budgeting, and most importantly also work with your analytics group (if you’re at a large org). As with many things, you need to be clear when working with analytics on not just what reports you want but how to extract the data that will help you in optimizing your campaigns.

7. SEO as a Logic Builder

This is where the power of your left brain comes in and that is logic. Software developers and programmers use their strong logic skills to create software flows and endless loops of if and then statements as an example.
SEOs need to have a logical mind as you would be dealing with programmers and also working through the code yourself. Plus, if you aren’t from programming background, then start learning languages as you need to understand codes. Once you understand code, then you will start forming logic.

8. SEO with Patience

You definitely need boatloads of patience. Depending on the size of the organization, there would be times where a straightforward title tag change could take weeks if not months!
Then you have designers, IT, business partners, and all other elements that your SEO recommendations won’t just move at the speed you desire. In situations like these, you have to exercise patience and push through to ensure that even after few months your recommended changes are done. If there are some bigger projects, then multiply that number by 4!

9. SEO as a Synthesizer

SEOs make many recommendations (e.g., changing URLs, replacing graphics and Flash with text, adding new content, pagination), but not all of your recommendations will be implemented. There could be business or other (political) issues that could come in the way and your job is to synthesize different viewpoints in order to get SEO requests accomplished. This makes SEO a synthesizer of ideas and different viewpoints.

In Summary

The above reads like a long list, but SEOs do wear many hats both in an agency and in-house role. These were just some of my insights into characteristics (or qualities) of an in-house SEO. What would you add to the above list?
By: Bob