How to Use Slideshare to Grow Your Business

Recently, we mentioned Slideshare in 19 ways to repurpose your content. Slideshare, which is owned by LinkedIn, is one of the best kept secrets in digital marketing. If you are new to Slideshare, here is a quick primer.

Why You Need Slideshare

Content is a key part of marketing today, especially for service-based businesses. People don’t like to buy what they are sold, they like to educate themselves and make choices. Content like articles, presentations, and videos, help you build credibility and trust while educating your market around what you can do. Sharing your knowledge in turn helps brings potential prospects looking for that knowledge to your doorstep.

Slideshare, unlike most other social communities, is specifically built to share knowledge. The more than 51 million visitors each month are coming to Slideshare to consume content. Success in digital marketing requires visibility. Placing content on your website alone isn’t enough. You need to promote it. Slideshare’s unique community gives you a way to easily get more visibility for your  presentations and video content.

Getting Started with Slideshare

Slideshare has various levels of accounts from free to Pro. To get started on Slideshare, you will need to set up your account. Free accounts are a great way to start if you want to test the waters. Pro accounts are great if you plan to host video or want specific tracking options. You will also need to set-up an account name. Once your account is set up, you can then choose to link your account to other social accounts, like Linkedin or Facebook.

Start by checking out some of the slides posted to Slideshare. Look first at those with the most views.

Once you are comfortable with how it works, give it a go and upload your first presentation.

After a while, tweak your strategy. While you can upload a simple Powerpoint presentation you have already created, the most highly viewed posts are tweaked slightly to communicate more with pictures and key messages than lots of content. Think about telling a story visually.

Using Slideshare to Grow Your Business

Slideshare’s pro account will allow you to track and include forms for viewing content. When matched with a strategic content strategy, Slideshare can be used to develop leads for your business.

There are many other options Slideshare offers, including company wide networks, video, embedding, and much more to grow your business. Start by dipping your toe in the water and see what Slideshare can do for you.