RIP Linked In Answers: What does it mean for Marketers

After looking through some reading on Mashable and hearing from Linked In about them stopping their "answers" portion of their website. At Impulse Creative we're dissapointed in the retirement of this useful tool, but while many marketers may not know about Linked In Answers, there are many that have used the service and use it to create a sense of authority and answer other consumers questions in the B2B space.

Here's a link to Mashable's article: http://1mpul.se/13UnI1C

The company sent an email to LinkedIn users on Thursday explaining the move. A LinkedIn rep sent the following statement:

"As of Jan. 31, LinkedIn Answers will be retired from LinkedIn. We will be focusing our efforts on the development of new and more engaging ways to share and discuss professional topics across LinkedIn. In the meantime, members can still pose questions and facilitate professional discussions through other popular LinkedIn channels including LinkedIn Polls, Groups, or status update."

The apparent reason for the move: It was driving fairly limited engagement.

When we teach Social Media Marketing Seminars here locally, Linked in Answers & Groups are a large portion of how to create a following and show you or your companies knowledge on a product or service in the B2B space. Now the good news is that there is other areas to be able to create the same sort of authority on a product or service. And Many times if you search a question on google you'll find the answers on these sites.

Linked In Answers Alternatives:

• Quora.com: Quora connects you to everything you want to know about. Quora aims to be the easiest place to write new content and share content from the web. We organize people and their interests so you can find, collect and share the information most valuable to you.
• Linked In Groups: Linked in groups still remain a great way to connect with others interested in a similar product or service. Keeping an eye out for opportunities of questions can drive a huge amount of qualified traffic to your website.
• Yahoo! Answers:Yahoo! Answers is a way to find and share information. You can ask questions on any topic, get answers from real people, and share your insights and experience.
• Your Business' Blog: People are asking questions EVERY DAY about your businesses product or service. Utilizing your Blog is a great way to show up in search engines (and generate qualified traffic).

As it mentions in the Mashable Article, Facebook has also tried creating a Questions product in the past, and removed the option due to limited engagement. But this doesn't mean that consumers aren't asking questions. Now, More than ever, answering those questions on your company blog is going to enable you to be in control of the content at all times. Secondly, While using any of the above options, addressing a question on the Q&A Sites and then providing a supplemental link for additional information on the subject on your blog should be best practice.

Remington is the CEO and Inbound Marketing Strategist for Impulse Creative, An Internet Marketing Agency in Fort Myers, Florida. You can connect with him using the following social networks: Google+, Twitter, Linked In & Facebook