Quora and Reddit: Dos and Don’ts for Ecommerce Marketers

Quora and Reddit provide opportunities for merchants to engage with prospects while demonstrating expertise. I’ll offer tips for using both platforms in this post.

Quora

Quora is a user-generated question-and-answer site. Merchants can respond to queries relevant to their niche, which can raise awareness and show competence.

Marketing on Quora comes from replying to the questions. But first, complete your profile to establish credibility and trustworthiness.

Profile. The “About Me” section is your chance to communicate your occupation, business, and anything noteworthy. Space is limited to a few short paragraphs. Most folks go heavy on credibility and accolades.

Note the example below from Philip Hofmacher, a trainer and entrepreneur. He introduces himself and his expertise, and links to his tools and resources.

In this profile, Philip Hofmacher, a trainer and entrepreneur, introduces himself and his expertise, and links to his tools and resources.

After completing your profile, search for questions to answer. Type in related terms in the upper search bar and click “Follow” on the ones you can address.

Reply to questions. Quora “collapses” (hides) irrelevant answers. To avoid this, read Quora’s policies and guidelines to ensure your comments align with what’s allowed.

Quora users “upvote” or “downvote” replies. Only detailed, helpful answers appear in the feed. The more authority your answer contains, the better chance it has at being upvoted. Include examples, statistics, photos, and references.

The reply to the question below — “What is not good about being smart?” — starts with a photo and a quote. Neither directly answers the question, but both entice readers.

The reply to the question below — “What is not good about being smart?” — starts with a photo and a quote.

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The reply then addresses the question directly, but only after it caught the reader’s eye. It has won more than 10,000 upvotes.

The complete reply has won more than 10,000 upvotes.

The reply doesn’t contain links, but it could have if they enhance the answer naturally. Avoid “visit my site” requests and always provide original responses. Plagiarism can get you banned from Quora.

Reddit

Reddit is among the 10 most popular websites in the U.S. The site is part community dialogue and part news. It hosts more than 130,000 niche discussion branches, called subreddits.

Reddit contains all sorts of content and quality, unlike Quora, which is in-depth expertise.

Like Quora, Reddit users “upvote” or “downvote” posts and comments, depending on their appeal. Downvoted submissions are buried while upvotes are moved to the top — the very top goes to the front page of Reddit!

How does your company get upvoted and garner attention on Reddit? By understanding the “Karma” system.

Karma is Reddit’s term for your score as a user. It’s the ratio of upvotes against downvotes on your posts and comments, reflecting your trustworthiness. A good Karma score is vital.

Reddit has lots of niche communities built-in. Each has its own rules. Join those related to your company’s products and services. Watch and observe. Then start by commenting on posts rather than creating your own.

A high Karma score comes from posting engaging content with no self-promotion. Reddit has a firm stance on promotion, noting, “It’s perfectly fine to be a Redditor with a website; it’s not okay to be a website with a Reddit account.”

Be helpful. The key here is to be a part of the conversation. Think of it as a party: Get to know everyone, compliment the host, and have a look around. Then offer suggestions or solutions that likely do not include your company.

In the example below, the Original Poster (or “OP”) on a thread for “Dog Training” (r/Dogtraining) posted a video of his dog playing with his bowl rather than eating. Concerned, the poster turned to Reddit for answers.

We can see meaningful replies, eventually leading to one helpful Redditor (“satis”) inserting a link. A merchant selling pet items, for example, could follow such threads and suggest products only after being helpful and genuine.

The Original Poster included a video of his dog playing with his dog bowl rather than eating. It garnered meaningful replies, eventually leading to one helpful Redditor (“satis”) inserting a link.

Quora vs. Reddit

Becoming prominent on one platform is better than occasionally participating in both. Thus choose one and devote time to it rather than stretching yourself thin.