Feature
While massive social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter capture the attention of nearly every digital marketing team, there’s one platform that often slips under the radar: SlideShare. In fact, SlideShare has been called the “Quiet Giant of Content Marketing” because despite having over 60 million visitors per month — most of whom are business professionals — B2B marketers have mostly left the platform underutilized.
With this in mind, we’ve asked marketers how and why they’re posting SlideShare presentations on LinkedIn. Here are some of the main ways that LinkedIn’s SlideShare can benefit nearly any content marketing campaign.
Generate More Traffic
“The great thing about SlideShare,” said Bob Bentz, president of Purplegator, “is that you can generate leads when re-posting on LinkedIn, long after the presentation was first published.” Re-posting many other forms of content would be penalized by Google or other platforms, but the same presentation can be used on both SlideShare and LinkedIn to reach a larger audience. That means evergreen SlideShare presentations can have a long-lasting effect and generate more traffic over the long run.
Rank Higher on Search Engines
In addition, there’s the potential for SlideShare presentations to rank well on Google. “SlideShare has really powerful SEO, and the presentations we load on it seem to immediately get traction,” Bentz said, “It's not unusual to get 100 views in the first half hour.” And when presentations are posted on both SlideShare and LinkedIn, the traffic generated is invaluable for B2B brands.
Much of this traffic comes from the fact that SlideShare presentations can often rank higher than other forms of content, but that means marketers need to be careful not to cannibalize their other valuable content.
Related Article: 10 Tips to Maximize Your LinkedIn Organic Reach
Boost Viewer Engagement
“Using SlideShare is a great way to boost engagement on LinkedIn,” said Chris Fitzner, creative marketing strategist at Appian, “I view it as LinkedIn's most overlooked secret.” He believes it’s the most engaging content he’s seen, with a large number of clicks, comments, likes and shares. That means SlideShare can not only drive highly qualified traffic, but lead to greater conversions as well.
Reach Unique Audiences
“It offers a new way for our consumers to interact with our services that bridges the gap for people who aren't fans of video or long texts,” said Michael Lowe, CEO of CarPassionate.com. SlideShare presentations have a unique mix of visuals and text that some viewers may enjoy more than other forms of content. “Here we have the opportunity to make something that is visually exciting while still getting the relevant information across with less text.”
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Tips for Leveraging SlideShare
For those brands interested in SlideShare here are some tips from marketers that have seen success with Slideshare.
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Timing Is Everything
Bentz believes the timing of SlideShare posts is crucial. “It takes a while to read a 30+ slide PowerPoint presentation,” he explained, “that's why we've found better success posting our LinkedIn SlideShare presentations in the evening and on weekends.” As the primary audience of SlideShare is business professionals, there may be a greater opportunity for engagement during non-business hours.
Republishing Presentations Is Crucial
Fitzner has seen some campaigns reach over a thousand clicks from a single SlideShare presentation. “The trick here is to recreate the SlideShare into pdf format and then upload to your company page via ‘Document,’” he said. Fitzner thinks many companies haven’t caught on to this yet, but HubSpot has been getting good results by doing it consistently.
Anything Can Be Repurposed
“Any piece of content can be recreated into a slideshare,” Fitzner said, “so tap into what your product offers, customer testimonials or editorial content you may have.” SlideShare is another powerful way to get a greater ROI from your content marketing efforts. “I would also suggest including quotes from influencers or mentioning companies that you can tag for extra visibility.” Along with these, most well-known LinkedIn marketing tactics can help SlideShare presentations generate more traffic as well.
Simplicity Is Essential
Lowe believes it’s essential that the information is presented in a simple and visually stimulating way. “Find the balance between keeping interest and making the information confusing,” he suggested. That means always summarizing each section of the presentation so that people can view it in separate sittings. “Finally, make sure each slide is branded so the consumer remembers who you are throughout the presentation.”
