Let's Talk About Cause Marketing at Quora

We have a new toy. Let's play. It's the new question and answer site called Quora. Like Twitter, you ask a question, you get an answer, but you don't have to filter out the other noise. You can follow people, but you can also follow topics (e. g. cause marketing) or questions (e. g. Where is cause marketing headed in 2011?). Also, like Twitter, Quora results are showing up in Google.

An added feature is that you can vote up or down people's answers.

I've gone ahead and added cause marketing as a topic and even plugged in some FAQ's for it. But think of all the topics we could add. Point-of-sale, purchase-triggered donations, online contests like Pepsi Refresh, location-based cause marketing.

There are a few great reasons to jump on Quora.

1. I know a lot of you like to comment on cause marketing and other topics but don't have the time to write your own blog. Quora is the place for you. It's like having a blog where you can share your opinion, expertise, build influence and get feedback. Ask a question or answer one to get started.
2. This is place where we can learn in real-time. It's like a wiki where you can share your opinions (something that actually drives me nuts about Wikipedia).
3. You can ask questions and get answers about cause marketing without all the extra chatter. If the responses to some of the other topics are any indication, Quora is attracting a better breed of followers than say Yahoo! Answers. And don't even compare Quora to LinkedIn Groups.

But there are other cause marketing areas for which we could use Quora beyond sharing best practices.

We could create a topic around specific cause marketing campaigns like Product Red. We could even make it more specific and limit it to Product Red - Starbucks. Or more specific still by adding World Aids Day (on which Starbucks donated five cents to Product Red for every beverage sold).

Quora topics could be a resource to cause marketers and, more importantly, consumers that have questions about a program (e. g. what stores are participating, how much is going to Product Red, where in Africa the is money going, etc.). With alerts of real-time answers to their smartphones, Quora can give consumers the answers they need to make informed giving decisions.

I'm already looking forward to creating a Quora topic for my Cause Marketing for Dummies book so I can answer questions readers might have about the book. Quora will keep questions and feedback focused, public and searchable on both on Quora and Google.

But here's the key: you have to get on Quora and start using it. That's the only way it's going to work. Right now social media types and techies. Brrr. Where's the humanity?

Join me at Quora and let's prove Robert Scoble right that Quora may be the biggest blogging innovation in ten years.