How can SlideShare be used as a business leads tool? Inspire others? Tell a story? I feel as though SlideShare is often overlooked as a community platform where people can connect about their interests and share information. Although it can be a great place to simply upload web content, doing so doesn’t allow SlideShare to fully flex its community muscles. Below are a few tips on how to optimize the platform as part of a larger marketing plan:

Create Dynamic Content:  Create presentations that are dynamic and include links to related sites within the presentation. This can help drive traffic to your website, other online content (such as Youtube videos), or give others credit if you use a quote or other content that can be linked to online.

Become Involved with SlideShare Community: Once you have set up your profile, search for other users with similar interests and “favorite” their presentations. Also, make comments on people’s work you like or have an opinion about. By doing this you can start conversations within the SlideShare community and strengthen your online network.

Spread the Love: Other social networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook are very SlideShare friendly and have applications that allow you to share your work. Upload presentations onto other social networking platforms to reach your established community. In addition, other people who don’t use SlideShare can find your information there and find out a little bit more about who you are or what your company does.

Push the Boundaries: Recently I watched a  webinar by Hubspot on “How to Use Online Video for Inbound Marketing.” In the webinar the presenters, Karen Rubin and Mike Vlope, used their usual pod casting format, while users could flip through their SlideShare presentation. It was great! I was able to listen and flip at either my own pace or theirs and even stop the audio and go back later when it was convenient for me. The dynamic use of the platform made the information easily socialized and presentable online.

The point to remember is that SlideShare is more than just a place for content creation. With PowerPoint being such an easy way to share information with others,  the power of using SlideShare to create or expand a community presence increases your online marketing potential.

Are there any unique ways you use SlideShare that you have found useful in your marketing plans?

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