Recurring client work
Forum and brand-mention research
Alongside backlink research, I searched online discussions for places where a client could be mentioned in a way that helped the person asking. Answers resulting from this work were posted on Quora.
Sections on this page
Scope
What the work involved
My part was to find online discussions where a client could be mentioned in a way that helped the person asking, and to assess whether contributing to them was a realistic opportunity.
The unit of work was a single discussion. For each one I recorded where it was, what the person was asking, whether the thread was still active and whether a mention of the client would answer the question that had been asked.
Method
Finding the discussions
Discovery was search-led. I looked for the questions a potential customer would type and followed them into the places where other people had answered them.
- 01
Start from the question
Search the way a customer would, using the wording someone uses when they are undecided.
- 02
Check thread recency
Look at the date of the last substantive reply and judge whether the discussion is still active.
- 03
Read what is being asked
Establish whether the person wants a recommendation or something a brand mention would not answer.
- 04
Check the community context
Read the rules and the existing replies to see how commercial contributions are treated.
- 05
Record the decision
Log the discussion as suitable or unsuitable with the reason attached to it.
Judgement
Filtering for realistic opportunities
Candidate discussions were filtered on whether they represented a realistic opportunity for the client. Relevance was quickly established and settled little on its own, so the filtering turned on recency, the community context and the promotional risk of posting there.
| Check | What I looked at | What would rule it out |
|---|---|---|
| Recency | Date of the last substantive reply | A thread with no recent activity |
| Intent | What the original poster asked for | A question a product recommendation does not answer |
| Community context | Stated rules and how similar posts were received | A space where promotional replies are removed or unwelcome |
| Promotional risk | How a brand mention would read to the participants | A contribution that would read as advertising |
| Fit | Whether the client genuinely suits the need described | A mismatch between the request and what the client offers |
Two discussions can pass identical checks and still differ in whether a mention would be welcome, because that depends on what the participants are asking for. The checks narrowed the field and each thread still had to be read.
Where the filtering stopped
Where I could not establish that a contribution would be appropriate, the discussion was recorded as unsuitable. Promotional risk and the moderation position of the community formed part of that assessment.
Output
Answers posted on Quora
Answers resulting from this research were posted on Quora. Writing them was a separate skill from finding the question, since each answer had to address what was asked and mention the client only where it genuinely belonged.
Outcome
Value and limitations
Value to the company
The work produced a documented set of discussions with a recorded assessment for each, including those judged unsuitable, and answers posted on Quora in discussions where people were asking for recommendations.
I did not track how those answers performed, so I cannot report reach or referral figures. The same research discipline is described on the backlink research page.