5 Tricks to Going Viral on Quora

Several years ago, I was trying to market my books. They weren’t taking off, and I was still a novice in the world of marketing. Someone wanted to guide me and pull me toward directions that might get the word out, ways that were a lot more off the beaten path than I was accustomed to. And I was more than willing to listen and try whatever he advised.

His first step was for me to create a Quora profile and start answering questions. The goals were to grow a following and to have my answers “go viral”, which at the time was for an answer to receive over 1,000 views, basically right away.

So I gave it a shot.

What is Quora Anyway?

I didn’t really know what Quora was. I quickly discovered it was similar to a Google search, but instead of receiving curated sites, on Quora anybody out there could say just about whatever they wanted to answer questions on infinite topics. It was borderline unmonitored. Yes, there were rules. Posts could be removed and people could be banned. But the threshold for what gets something flagged was exceedingly high. And there was definitely no one overseeing if information was accurate or if the person conveying information had any credentials whatsoever.

So basically Quora is the wild, wild west of answering people’s questions. And as crazy as it sounds, their “system” is working and working well. Quora boasts of over 300 million active monthly users, with users from countries all across the world.

I started off by answering questions about things I know, especially things I wrote books about. My answers were long and elaborate, with lots of links, and tons of images as well. It took me a long time to craft these beautiful answers.

And the results?

Not so good.

Not at all.

The Viral Turnaround

I was always hopeful for a breakthrough, but that breakthrough never came. And after several years, I still had fewer than a million views, and not even a thousand followers.

It was kind of depressing, but I was enjoying what I was doing. So I kept on pressing forward.

And then October 7th, 2023, rolled around. A war broke out on multiple fronts. And then it spread even further. The war spread to college campuses in America…

And it spread to the internet.

I wasn’t able to take up arms to defend my country. I could barely figure out if there was any way for me to help at all. And then I saw all these crazy questions on Quora, many coming from a place of ignorance. Others coming from a place of anger and hate. And I decided not to stay silent. Millions were watching these discussions, debates, and arguments. And even though I was not alone, it felt like there weren’t anywhere near enough people out there trying to spread a positive message about Israel.

So I did what I do. I wrote. And then I wrote some more.

And something happened I had no idea would occur. Within just one year, I had more than doubled my followers, and I had over 13 million views to my answers.

Mastering Quora

I started watching very closely, to see if maybe there’s something I could learn from this. Some lesson about how to be a master of a social platform I rarely hear people speak about.

I certainly wouldn’t go as far as to say I’ve conquered Quora. And let’s be honest, someone hopping on Quora to show their cleavage could crush my numbers in weeks. Nevertheless, I’ve picked up a few things along the way, and I’d like to share five “tricks” I’ve learned.

Trick #1: Be Authentic and Original

Artificial intelligence is taking over the written world. We’re going to get to a point probably quicker than most of us would like to admit in which 80% of the content we consume is generated by AI. And that includes responses to content! Which means the internet will basically be one giant chain of generic computer-generated conversations.

It’s scary. But I think it leaves an interesting opportunity.

Whether or not people can explain why, they can feel authenticity when they experience it. AI is simply not able to put real heart into things. (At least not yet!)

When you write a thoughtful and original answer to a question, it gets noticed. People are drawn toward sincerity. They love to see a bit of vulnerability in your writing. When you’re too precise or arrogant about your knowledge, it’s off putting.

And just as off putting is spitting back the same garbage everyone else says.

So say something new. Or present something in a way they’ve never heard before. And do it from a place of sincerely trying to understand the world. People can feel this in your writing. They are drawn to it. They’ll enjoy it and want more of it.

Trick #2: Pick the Right Topics

Topic choices really do matter. Unfortunately. We’d all love everyone in the world to be as passionate as us about the things we love… but they’re not. Almost never.

I can talk all day every day about health and fitness. But most of the world has no patience for this. They’d rather talk about football or politics or Marvel movies or Trump or dating.

So you have to be careful about what you choose to write about. My first book was about education. I thought I could sell my books by answering questions on this topic.

Guess what? No one cares. And no matter how great my writing may have been, no post would ever go viral. It’s not within the nature of the topic. Most people are just not itching to speak about the classroom.

Trick #3: Embrace Controversy

Now once you’ve chosen a topic, you need to not fear being controversial.

Fact is: Controversy sells. A lot. It’s boring to read the same old opinions. And even if it stresses people out and they get all worked up, they seem to thrive on that feeling. It’s like they want to be upset by other people’s thoughts and feelings. Like some sort of mini discomfort that hurts… in a good way. Like eating a spicy pepper.

The combination of a topic that’s interesting and comes chock-full of lots of diverse positions, alongside choosing a perspective some might take issue with, lends itself to getting lots of attention. And the algorithm with take care of the rest.

Fitness is a popular topic. And there are lots of disagreements, but there isn’t passion about those disagreements. So going viral for something fitness related is terribly difficult, as I’ve found out repeatedly. Outside of crapping on Planet Fitness or CrossFit (things people love to do), I haven’t seen anyone get really worked up on any topic.

Telling people you don’t believe in the theory of multiple intelligences or you think people shouldn’t do leg extensions, potentially contentious thoughts in the education and fitness worlds respectively, will simply not get lots of people pumped up enough to care.

Trick #4: Links = Bad

This is something I noticed a long time ago. I don’t have hard data to back it up, but I definitely saw that my posts got far less traction if they included any links.

There are obvious reasons I want to include links. I want to drive attention to my books or this here blog. But there are also obvious reasons why Quora might not like that. My assumption is either they think links make posts seem more “sales-oriented” and less objectively informative, or they know links will drive people away from their site, something no platform wants.

So, if I’m correct, you have to make a decision: Is going viral the goal along with perfecting your presence directly on this platform, or is your goal to drive traffic somewhere else? If it’s the former, it’s probably better to forego links. If it’s the latter, perhaps there are better platforms to accomplish your goals.

Trick #5: Be Reasonable

Finally, be intelligent and reasonable. Unless you’re a celebrity, not every post will go viral. In fact, only a small percentage will, and some might get very few views at all.

So keep on posting. Don’t give up. Follow these rules and you’re very likely to see a whole lot of movement in your account. However, it might take a while, and it might take a whole lot of posts.

For certain you should experiment. There are plenty of things I haven’t figured out yet. When is the best time to post? Is there an ideal length for an answer? How do images and videos affect the success of a post? Does the algorithm detect keywords?

Play around, see what works… and then let’s compare notes. I look forward to seeing you on the other side!