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WebiMax Blog

Digital marketing tips and advice.

The Anatomy of a Successful SlideShare

Brittany Goodwin, March 15, 2016

Successful Slideshare

SlideShare is a global hub for content. It's a powerful marketing tool that enables users to create engaging presentations. Since it’s owned by LinkedIn, its community unsurprisingly consists of professionals and B2B companies. With the combination of valuable information and eye-catching visual content, SlideShare can significantly improve your inbound marketing strategy. So what are the most important elements of a successful SlideShare presentation?

Research

Researching ideas for your presentation’s concept can be challenging because when it comes to SlideShare, it must be informative, engaging and direct. Conducting content research is essential to the creation of your title, as well as the entire body of text in your presentation.

         Google It

With technology constantly evolving, sometimes we overlook the power of a simple Google search. Google is technology’s core of infinite knowledge, so take advantage of it. Sometimes it’s as easy as searching for keywords related to your topic. If you’re stuck, try using search queries such as “keyword” inurl:blog. This search query will show you many popular blogs that are related to your keyword. Explore these existing blogs to brainstorm your own ideas.

          Go Where Great Content Thrives

Utilize content research tools such as Buzzsumo to analyze what content performs best and is shared the most socially. You can also use Buzzsumo to find trending content topics. For example, here’s the most shared content for SlideShare in the past year:

Slideshare

Design

According to SlideShare, visuals are processed 60,000x faster than words and can increase a viewer's comprehension by 89%. Needless to say, it’s important to create a well-designed presentation that will help you stand out from the crowd. A few key things to keep in mind throughout the creation of your presentation are emphasis and consistency.

          Emphasis

Emphasizing the most important elements will help your viewers understand what key points you really want them to take away from your presentation. This all starts with your cover slide. You only have a few seconds to grab and hold the attention of a viewer with your cover slide, so make it count. The key is to have an eye-catching image and/or a bold title that is easy to read.

          Consistency

Your entire presentation needs to be consistent in terms of your visual theme. Limit your color scheme to a few colors and include them in each slide. Similarly, try to use only 2 fonts; one for your headers and one for the body. This keeps your presentation simple, balanced and easy for viewers to read.

Optimization

Once you upload your presentation, SlideShare automatically optimizes it to get traction. However, you’ll need to fill out all the right information to do this effectively. Once you’ve uploaded your presentation, be sure to include keywords and tags to ensure your presentation is found by your target audience and is indexed by Google. SlideShare suggests adding up to 20 keywords because it can increase your discoverability by 30%. It’s also recommended to stay consistent and include similar words in your title, description and tags. For example:

anatomy

Promotion

The whole point of making your presentation is for people to read it. Promoting your SlideShare will greatly increase its potential success and likelihood of going viral. So, how do we get your great content to reach the right audience?

          Embed it on the Web

Embed your presentation in blog posts, social media posts (LinkedIn) and your website. This will help expand your reach and increase the discoverability of your presentation.

          Content Curation

Content curation is an effective way to give your SlideShare the extra push it needs in order to be successful. It has the power to increase traffic, SEO efforts, lead generation, social engagement, credibility and more. The best part about content curation is that the majority of outlets are free and easy to use. Some of the most practical outlets include social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest) and content sharing sites (Storify, Scoop.it).

In the end, there are a lot of elements to a successful SlideShare, but it's well worth taking the time to ensure quality results. Follow my tips above and let me know how you did in the comments!

Need an Expert Contributor?

Ken Wisnefski is a seasoned web entrepreneur and a frequent contributor to news outlets and business publications. Ken’s vast knowledge of how to make online businesses succeed has made him a sought after consultant from businesses wishing to improve their online initiatives. Contact pr@webimax.com to collaborate!

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