Let’s go marketing with SlideShare! No, you don’t need to be a crazy PowerPoint or Keynote maniac. You just need a basic understanding on how to put together a slide and you’ll be good to go.

SlideShare is a business social media site that lets users share documents, presentations and PDFs. More than 25 million people visit SlideShare each month and that makes it a hot spot to showcase your brand, products and services. Something many people might might not know is that SlideShare is more than just slides. There are a ton of other features that make it a fantastic tool to incorporate into your social media strategy.

By the way, SlideShare can help you build some big time valuable links back to your site. SlideShare permits you to place links in your slideshows that connect back to your website. Excellent (saying that in my best impersonation of a Wayne ‘s World voice).

Links from credible sources give your website lift in the search rankings. This means that you have the potential to appear at the top of Google’s search results and that means more people will see you first and before your competition. Google loves SlideShare and sites that are similar to it (think Squidoo, Wikipedia, etc.) because they share useful information and command influence and that is the gold standard for Google.

Now that we have a little background on SlideShare, let’s explore how we can harness its power and make it your own personal social media and marketing machine.

1. Optimize Your Slides

Time for your daily dose of SEO. The stuff is everywhere, including SlideShare. When you put together your slides/files use keywords in the title and use them in the summary. Just remember that you don’t have much space, so choose your words wisely. On that same note, make sure you tag your slides with plenty of relevant words so that users can find your content during searches.

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2. Get Creative With Content

Maybe you already know what SlideShare is and the only challenge you’re facing is trying to figure out what the heck to put into your slide show. Here’s a sprinkle of creative suggestions to get your juices flowing:

• Put together a how-to tutorial
• Assemble a case study with captivating visuals
• Use your blogs and articles by taking key points and designing a presentation
• Capture images from an event and share
• Take existing presentations and upload them

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3. The Company Slide

Don’t let the blood, sweat and tears you’ve put into your slideshow go to waste. Always include a company slide at the end of each and every presentation and file. A website URL is fine, but try making the slide more personal. Include a few sentences about who you are and what you do. Make sure to leave your contact information so that visitors can get in touch.

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4. Enter the Contest

In 2009, SlideShare partnered up with Adobe and conducted the World’s Best Presentation Contest. A sack of cool prizes like were presented: first place received a MacBook Pro, second place snatched an Amazon Kindle DX and third place nabbed an iPhone 3G. The kind folks at Adobe pushed out copies of Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro to the winners of the category prizes. Sounds pretty sweet, right?

With only 3,721 entries, most folks had a pretty decent chance of winning something, not to mention the publicity and recognition that was generated too. Watch for the 2010 contest and submit your slideshow. Great marketing and fantastic social media exposure!

Here’s the 2009 winner:

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5. Social Media Connections

SlideShare isn’t the only place where you can view SlideShare presentations. Hop on over to LinkedIn and load their SlideShare application into your profile. It integrates your existing presentations into your LinkedIn account and gives you the opportunity to market to a larger audience. Same thing goes for Facebook. Take advantage of the Facebook SlideShare application and sync up your presentations so friends and fans can view.

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6. Widget Your Slides

Use what you have to promote your slideshows. Grab the code for a SlideShare widget and embed it into your website’s homepage or blog.

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7. Social Media Posting

At the bottom of every SlideShare presentation is a social media bar that enables you to share your content with the world. Use the bar and use it often. Every time you upload new files and presentations, make sure to send out a message to alert your social network that you’ve got something fresh to share.

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8. Start A Group

Create a group that’s exclusive to your brand and advertise your product or services. Groups can be used to interact with customers over the web and you can receive instant feedback and commentary from them regarding your presentations.

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9. Promote Through PR

Include a hyperlink and mention to your slideshow on all your press releases and blog posts, even in your email signature. The more exposure you can give to your slideshow, the better chance it has of being viewed.

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10. Add Some Audio

Multimedia that stimulates the sense of sight and sound is much more interesting for any viewer. Integrate some sound into your presentation with Slidecasting. A slideshow with sound can be a better way to touch on key points that might not fit on a single slide.

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11. Launch A Channel

SlideShare offers businesses an option to set-up ‘branded microsites’, or company channels, on SlideShare. Channels are customized projects and can be developed with SlideShare based on budget and preferences. Check out some of the newest channels and contact SlideShare for details on how to get started.

Tags: how to, internet, keywords, Marketing, SEO, slideshare, small business, Social Media, tips

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 at 5:00 am and is filed under How To, Social Media, Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.