Double Your SlideShare Views in Just 5 Minutes a Day

If you’ve worked in a typical office before, the words “PowerPoint presentation” just might prompt an involuntary shudder.

Most of us have memories of sitting through those boring presentations at the office, watching endless bullet points on familiar templates, reading business strategies in Comic Sans, and cringing at the liberal use of cliche clip art.

How did these presentations get to be so ubiquitous?

The answer lies in the power of visual communication. Research reveals that we remember only about 10% of what we hear, but 80% of what we see and do. Adding visuals to a spoken presentation should greatly increase your audience’s ability to understand and remember the information you present.

But that doesn’t work if your presentation is boring your audience to tears. Presentations are often used poorly and ineffectively, leading us to groan inwardly whenever the projector’s turned on.

The growing popularity of SlideShare, however, is changing all that. Nicknamed the “Youtube of Slideshows,” it’s become one of the most popular social media platforms of business owners and executives, prompting LinkedIn to acquire it in 2012 for over $100 million.

SlideShare’s user base has skyrocketed into the millions, and its content boasts not only presentations but documents, PDFs, videos, and webinars on every topic you can imagine. One of the top education and learning websites in the world, its users include Hewlett Packard, IBM, even the White House and the NASA.

SlideShare is a great tool for sharing information and showcasing your expertise. But how can you avoid the common pitfalls of cliched presentations, and create an informative and entertaining slideshow?

And creating a great presentation is just the beginning. How do you get your presentation more attention among the millions of uploads? Use the quick and easy tips below to double your clicks, and maybe even get featured on the front page!

Double Your Slideshare Views in Just 5 Minutes a Day

Getting your content noticed on the web can seem daunting. However, with the right tools and knowledge at your fingertips, you can get your SlideShare audience growing. Spend a little time each day and you will be on your way to more views in no time.

Why Use SlideShare?

• Founded to share information through presentation slides, PDFs, documents, infographics, webinars, and videos.
• Started in 2006 and bought by LinkedIn in 2012.
• Has more than 15 million uploads.
  • Topics include education, business, travel, technology, and many more.
• By the end of 2013, it averaged about 15 million unique visitors weekly and had over 53 million page views per week.
• One of the top 120 websites with the most visitors worldwide.
• Executives and business owners use SlideShare 5 times more than other social networks.
• SlideShare uploads are easily accessed.
  • Options for public or private sharing.
  • Can be embedded into websites, blogs, and social media profiles.
  • Keywords attached to SlideShare presentations are found by Google searches.
    • If someone searches “build Facebook audience” for marketing tips, the SlideShare presentation “How to Build Your Facebook Audience” is among the top results.

Get Prepared

• Whether or not you’re new to SlideShare, get to know the content.
  • Look at presentations both in and out of your field.
  • See who has many views and followers to figure out what they’re doing right.
    • Keep up with trends across SlideShare and your field so you know who you’re competing with.
  • Make use of the SlideShare network by watching the feed, commenting, and sharing your favorite content.

Create Great Content

• Know the content you wish to publish.
  • Make sure it’s interesting, clear, and accurate.
  • Share information that is useful, shocks, and/or evokes emotion.
  • You should be an expert in your field, sharing what your audience needs to know.
• Organize your content logically to tell your story.
  • Your slides should enhance and emphasize, not duplicate your spoken presentation.
• Some of the top SlideShare presentations of 2013 have these design characteristics in common.
  • Clean look without many frills.
    • Empty space on a page is a visual break and can help viewers concentrate on your point.
    • Get rid of animations that may be in your original presentation, as they don’t translate into SlideShare.
  • Titles are generally concise, direct, and even include numbers when appropriate, i.e. “7 Trends in Marketing” and “Grow Your Client Base in 10 Steps.”
  • Text
    • Use very little text that quickly gets to the point.
    • Fonts should be clean, easy to read on the background, and contemporary.
      • Larger font sizes are easier to read from the back of a room.
      • Mix and match the fonts on a given slide for emphasis and interest, but keep it to about three throughout your presentation.
    • Include clickable links throughout for further resources and/or to link back to your website.
  • Graphics and Colors
    • Be consistent in style throughout your presentation.
    • Use imagery to enhance your information.
      • Use large, striking graphics that embody your presentation style.
      • Draw viewers’ eyes to your point with visual cues such as variations on arrows.
    • Graphics should be original to you, under creative commons, or purchased by you.
    • Contrast helps the eye read text and images more easily.
      • High contrast makes words more readable from a distance.
      • Do not use red text if at all possible, as red is difficult to read on a screen.

Be Accessible

• When you give presentations, always include your SlideShare URLs so attendees know where to find your content.
  • Use a tool like bit.ly to keep it short.
  • Have the URL near the beginning and at the end.
  • Encourage people to share your slides.
  • Linger a bit so people can write down the web address.
• Upload to SlideShare intelligently.
  • Save yourself a headache and upload your presentations to SlideShare as PDFs.
    • Other forms work, but quality suffers.
    • PDFs will transfer graphics and fonts without losing resolution.
  • Use keywords to name the files you upload to help searchers find your content more easily.
    • Longer keywords will narrow down searches to your content.
      • Since short keywords like “marketing tips” are used by many businesses, bloggers, and other sites, longer phrases will reduce the competition to help your presentation stand out.
      • Using “how to market your business on Twitter” rather than simply “Twitter marketing” leaves you with a strong showing in search results. You might even end up at the top!
  • Use presentation tags to move up the results ladder on Google searches.
    • Presentation tags are similar to keywords that follow your presentation, similar to a hashtag on Twitter.
      • #MarketYourBrand, #MarketingBestPractices, #TrackingConversions
    • Slideshare allows up to 20 tags per presentation.
    • Tags can help your presentation reach the top of Google search results.
• Get featured on SlideShare’s homepage.
  • What does SlideShare look for in a homepage-worthy presentation?
    • Innovative and current.
    • Great headline and cover slide.
    • Effective design.
    • Info that engages viewers and is presented in an eye-catching way.
    • A message that is concise and easy to comprehend.
• Include a call to action.
  • At the end of your presentation, encourage viewers to:
    • Subscribe to a newsletter.
    • Comment on the presentation.
    • Like or follow your social media pages.
• Embed your content on other sites.
  • Embed your content on your own site and social networks where more people can see and share it.
    • Expand your audience by sharing presentations on Facebook and Twitter.
    • LinkedIn is useful for sharing your content with colleagues in your field, including professional groups.
    • Pinterest features great images, so it’s a powerful place for imagery to get noticed and shared.
  • Encourage others to share it when you give presentations.
  • Encourage others to share your presentation when you are presenting it.

“There will always be a market for people who tell good stories.” -Jonathon Colman

Sources

• About SlideShare – slideshare.net
• How to Get One Million Views on SlideShare – jonathoncolman.org
• The 25 Best Slideshare Presentations Of 2013 – b2bmarketinginsider.com
• The Marketer’s Guide To SlideShare – blog.kissmetrics.com
• 7 Tips to Beautiful PowerPoint – slideshare.net
• Speaker Resources – iasbo.org
• 9 Insanely Helpful SlideShare Presentations on Mastering SlideShare – marketeer.kapost.com
• Slideshare Presentation How To, 5 Tips – socialfresh.com
• The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Slide Decks: 10 Actionable SlideShare Tips for Maximum Results – blog.bufferapp.com
• How to Use Slideshare to Market your Business – slideshare.net
• 9 Ways to Use SlideShare for Your Business – business2community.com