Quora unveils new Promoted Answers ad unit

Quora unveiled a new native ad unit Tuesday called Promoted Answers, which offers marketers the opportunity to promote organic content posted on the site by themselves or others. Featuring a question, a portion of an answer and a link that takes the users to the full answer, a Promoted Answers ad can be targeted in all the same ways as other units on the platform.

Though all of Quora’s ad units mimic the look of the site and are referred to as “native,” Promoted Answers is Quora’s first ad format that promotes organic content, similarly to Twitter’s Promoted Tweets or Facebook’s Promoted Posts.

Here’s the ad creation interface for advertisers using Promoted Answers.

Why it matters

In a blog post announcing the launch, Quora said that this ad unit extends the reach that many businesses are already getting through answers organically.

Though brands can promote any answer they want, the format lends itself to answers that show thought leadership. Quora says that advertisers are already seeing success with the new format, adding that client DuckDuckGo’s promoted answers were viewed over 200 times more than their non-promoted content — garnering them millions of views.

“The format provides a flexible canvas to share detailed information about your product or service that goes beyond the characters allowed in normal ad copy and helps to facilitate engagement through upvotes, comments, and follows,” Ryan Browne, director of product management at Quora, said in the blog post. “If Quora users are already discussing your business, Promoted Answers are a great way to join the conversation surrounding your brand.”

What else you should know

• Quora has been steadily rolling out enhancements to its ad platform since launching in 2017.
• Quora claims an audience of more than 300 million monthly unique visitors, rivaling Twitter and Pinterest.
• To promote an answer, get started here.