SlideShare is the most powerful and popular platform for slide presentations. It has become even more valuable since it was acquired by LinkedIn. The reason for this is that every SlideShare member can automatically share their presentations on the LinkedIn page, reaching all their network of contacts.
Presentations are a very versatile medium for sharing information and promoting your business. They are especially effective in B2B marketing. For many buyers and managers, presentations are time-saving and useful in making a buying decision. They can go through them faster or slower, looking over the main headlines, or reading the entire material in detail, according to how much time they have available.
This is why you should be an ace at making and sharing slide presentations if you work as a B2B marketer. Today we will share with you a few helpful tips to make the most of SlideShare and its potential audience for your presentations and, ultimately, your business.
- Make Your Presentations Stand out with Great Graphics
SlideShare is now overflowing with content. Since it became 100% free for all types of accounts (previously, there were premium paid accounts for businesses), small and large companies alike have started taking advantage of its features and benefits.
This means that your slide presentations really need to stand out, to offer your readers a perfect mix between content, graphic presentation and interaction. In fact, a survey conducted by DemandGen among B2B buyers found out that 86% of them prefer visual or interactive content over any other type of content.
- Get the Most out of Analytics
SlideShare analytics are very well organized and in-depth and, as we mentioned before, free. The analytics are extremely useful for you to gain insights about who read your presentations, how much time they spent doing this, and what is the level of the click through rate for your calls to action embedded in the presentations.
B2B marketing is difficult because other analytics platforms do not offer you relevant information regarding the professional status, the job position and the company your readers work for. Since SlideShare is now a part of LinkedIn, all this valuable data is available to you when readers access your presentations through their LinkedIn account.
- Be Educational, Not Just Promotional
The first and foremost use of slide presentations is to teach something. Slides are used in school, they are used in office meetings and client presentations. For this reason, you should build your content carefully to create a fair balance between valuable information, actionable advice, and promoting your products and services.
One thing is certain: if your readers feel that you are a professional and you are truly experienced at what you do from browsing your presentations, they will try your products. There are far too many inflated promises out there, so be different and give them solid proof of your expertise instead of slogans.
- Embed Your SlideShare Presentations
SlideShare presentations are very easy to embed in your website, in blog articles and in guest posts you share on other forums and blogs. This means that your content can reach out to more prospects, bringing them first to your SlideShare page and then to your website and, ultimately, to your store.
This is one of the simplest and smartest ways of getting the most out of the content you create and you should really take advantage of the opportunity. A slide presentation will add more dynamics and a level of interaction to articles and online white papers, and provides the user with something they can learn at their own pace in a visually attractive manner.
- Do Not Forget about the Call to Action
We have alluded to calls to action above, at item 2. Just like any other type of content you share, it should prompt the readers to take action and learn more about your business, products and services.
Calls to action at the end of SlideShare presentations usually have a high CTR compared to other types of content. For B2B businesses, SlideShare CTR are even more valuable because they come from qualified leads: buyers, managers and decision makers who are authorized to decide on purchasing products and services for their companies.