An often overlooked strategy for generating leads and building brand presence is digital conversational leadership and community leadership. Websites such as Quora, Yahoo Answers, Reddit, and other community-focused forums provide valuable opportunities for people to share opinions and find answers to challenges across various industries. These community-driven topics can help businesses and individuals build their brand reputation online. Here are three reasons why:

1. Creating a community is harder than finding one that already exists. The first step is to find an existing community that unites a passionate group of people in your industry. Become a member of that community and engage in multiple conversations, and position yourself as a thought-leader. Customers care about brands when they feel like they are a part of a bigger group, and people are more likely to follow your brand if they see value in being an active contributor, supporter, and beneficiary of a community. Engaging with existing social media groups, forums, and niche communities allows you to identify your target audience and build brand engagement through small interactions. These communities also offer an opportunity to conduct customer research, gaining insight into changing trends and mentalities in your industry.
2. Community-driven forums and discussion boards are a valuable research tool. Diving into conversations, questions, and concerns that your target audience cares about is an excellent way to conduct free research about these individuals, their concerns, and questions. It helps identify market gaps overlooked by your competitors and tailor your business strategy and branding goals.
3. Be the leader you want to see and engage with. Launching a brand is not just about tailoring your brand messages and business strategy, but also engaging and becoming the leading voice in your industry. Becoming a top-rated answerer on sites such as Quora and Yahoo Answers helps people and provides an authentic way to promote yourself and your company. It builds trust, and helps your answers to be ranked higher in Google search results. Even better, attach a link to your blog post on a relevant topic and increase your website traffic. Publishing useful articles and cross-referencing them between your blog/news section and digital communities will help Google identify your website as a trusted source, providing answers to frequently asked questions. Be the leader you want to see and engage with in your industry, and watch your brand grow.