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Posts Tagged ‘quora’

5 Ways Smartphone Shopping and Social Media Are Changing Retail Marketing

November 14th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

With holiday shopping moving from in-person to desktop to smartphone and offline word of mouth moving to review sites and social sharing, retail marketing has entered a whole new era. HubSpot recently produced a fantastic (and very long) infographic called The Meaning of Like, which I went through and analyzed for insights all retailers should know.

There are my 5 favorite takeaways:

1. Shopping via smartphone is huge

If you don’t have a mobile site, you are missing out on the 64 percent of smartphone users who shop online with their devices. It is estimated that 167 million people will shop online this year and spend an average of $1,800 per person. You do the math.

2. Online shoppers are very social

Retailers who are active on social media have a distinct marketing advantage, as social media users are big shoppers: 40 percent of Twitter users search for products via Twitter, 51 percent of online shoppers conduct research on social sites, and 60 percent of Facebook users will discuss a product or service in exchange for a discount or deal.

3. Online shoppers check reviews

As I mentioned above, online shoppers do a lot of research, so it is worthwhile to ask customers for online reviews and spend time on Q&A sites like Quora to answer questions specific to your industry, product or service. Consider these numbers: 59 percent of online shoppers check customer reviews, 42 percent check question and answer tools, and 26 percent look up Internet forums.

4. Online shoppers do more than just shop on their smartphone

A third of online shoppers use their smartphones to look for sales and specials, check store info, look at product reviews and compare prices. Make sure all of that information is easily findable on your mobile site!

5. Online shoppers use Pinterest

Do you have a Pinterest account yet? Half of consumers check for coupons and deals on Pinterest, 43 percent look for product information (which strikes me as odd, since Pinterest is a visual platform), 36 percent read or post comments, and 34 percent look for event information.

In my next post, I’ll share all the ways retailers are changing to accommodate this new shopping and sharing behavior.

Image courtesy of bigfrey.com

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Tags: Facebook, Marketing, online shopping, Pinterest, quora, retail marketing, smartphones, social media, The Meaning of Like, Twitter
Posted in Generational Marketing, Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

4 Easy Ways to Generate Leads on Forums

August 29th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

LinkedIn Groups, Quora and HighTable are all great Q&A forums that allow you to demonstrate your expertise – and demonstrating your expertise and thought leadership is a great way to generate leads and find new clients.

Here’s how:

1. Answer questions

Yes, this is probably obvious, but if you want to really make an impression, you have to go beyond a simple, one-sentence answer. You should back up your answer with statistics or examples of how you’ve successfully done x for clients. Offer tips on how they can do x, along with alternatives they may not have considered.

2. Comment on other answers

If you agree, explain why. If you don’t, be polite and civil while you explain why it might be better to do x this way instead of that way. As above, if you can offer tips on how to do x, all the better.

3. Look for questions on related topics

In business, there is a lot of crossover from one topic and area of expertise to another. Take marketing. Though I am a copywriter and editor, and I know a great deal about social media, branding and marketing strategy. Look for questions on topics that are related to your area of expertise to broaden your reach.

4. Visit forums routinely

As with any part of your marketing strategy, consistency wins the day. Just as you make time to check email and post on your business’s social media accounts every day, visit forums and answer questions on a regular basis, whether it’s once a day or once a week.

If you want to delve into forums deeper, you could start your own forum. However, this is a bit of time commitment that requires continual marketing and engagement. If there are no forums on your topic of expertise, though, it might be worth trying out.

Have you successfully used forums to generate leads? What tactics did you find worked best?

Image courtesy of valdosta.edu

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Tags: forums, HighTable, lead generation, LinkedIn, Marketing, quora, Thought Leadership
Posted in Marketing, Thought Leadership | No Comments »

How Using Q&A Sites Can Boost Your Business

September 21st, 2011 :: Rieva Lesonsky

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you using questions and answers to grow your small business? If not, you’re missing out on a profitable opportunity. New data from Compete, reported by eMarketer, recently took a look at three popular Q&A sites and what kinds of users each attracts.

Compete looked at Ask.com, Answers.com and Quora.com, an expert-oriented site Quora that answers questions posted by users with information from trusted specialists. Quora also has a social component that helped it garner a lot of buzz on launch. According to the Compete data, although it has less traffic than the other two, the users are more engaged. Quora’s users are younger (18- to 34-year-olds accounted for 50 percent of its users) and also affluent, with 27 percent making more than $100K annually.

Compete found that most Quora users got there via search, which suggests that users start off using Google and then click on Quora as the most trusted result because of its focus on expert answers.

What does this research mean to you? If you’re looking to get known as an expert, consider checking out Quora to see whether it can be useful to you—especially if you’re targeting younger and affluent customers.

But Quora isn’t the only game in town. LinkedIn is an even better-known resource for engaging in questions and answers. Make sure you’re taking advantage of LinkedIn’s Answers feature by answering questions related to your field of expertise or your business.

Really want to get known as an expert? If you’ve got a little more time to invest, consider approaching bloggers in your industry and offering to write guest posts where you answer questions posed by their readers have or common questions that many readers ask.

There are many ways question and answer sites can help boost your reputation, give you credibility and improve your business’s sales. All you have to do is ask.

Image by Flickr user Marco Bellucci (Creative Commons)

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Tags: LinkedIn, quora, small business marketing, social media
Posted in Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, social media, Thought Leadership | 1 Comment »