2013 was the year of the SlideShare.
Well, at least it was at Simply Stated Business.
- I learned more about the platform
- Bumped up to a paid subscription
- Increased the number of presentations
Since this time of year has many of us reflecting on our past year, I wondered how my mini-SlideShare experiment worked out.
But, first, for those of you who are unfamiliar with SlideShare, the following is a brief summary.
What is SlideShare?
SlideShare defines itself as ~
The world’s largest community for sharing PowerPoint, OpenOffice presentations, Keynote, PDF and infographics
The site claims over 60 million visitors a month and 130 million pageviews. Not a bad day at the office.
You may be surprised to learn the platform has been around since 2006. In 2012, LinkedIn purchased SlideShare for nearly $119 million. Definitely, a good day at the office.
SlideShare has a free version and three paid plan options – Silver, Gold and Platinum.
Objectives
My little experiment had the following three objectives – reader education, increased visibility, and lead generation.
1. Reader Education
Simply Stated Business’ brand is helping you keep business communication simple, clear and uniquely yours.
One of my objectives with SlideShare was educating readers on how to do just that.
On the goal of reader education, SlideShare is a great tool.
- The platform’s visual nature enhances education
- The simple and clear format helps readers remember the message
- The entertainment factor encourages education
I love this form of business communication.
2. Increase visibility
I have always loved PowerPoint.
As a visual person and a storyteller, I appreciate PowerPoint as a vehicle to combine the two.
My second objective was to use my love of PowerPoint as another form of content marketing.
In addition to educating readers, I wanted to increase my online visibility.
It’s difficult to ignore SlideShare’s monthly visitor and pageview statistics.
3. Generate leads
My final objective was generating leads for my business.
As much as I love PowerPoint, I love eating even more.
The paid version of SlideShare offers a lead-capturing tool, which I did not use this year.
I’m on the fence about using it.
Basically, it’s like a commercial before, during or after your presentation.
- A screen pops up with a lead capture form
- Paid SlideShare accounts offer various limits on the number of leads per month
- You can target leads (e.g., by country, company or message)
The Assessment
For my assessment, I borrowed a tool from SlideShare presentation, Your Business Review Made Simple, and answered the following questions.
- What went well?
- What needs improvement?
- What’s next?
What went well?
There were a number of positives in using SlideShare this year.
- 3 of my 28 presentations were featured on SlideShare’s home page
- My top 5 presentations have 1,000 or more views – so far
- I received personal thank-yous for sharing simple business communication tips (that sure doesn’t happen much)
- Two readers asked if they could share my original presentations with their respective’ teams
- Every presentation had some form of action taken on it – e.g., Comments, downloads, shares, etc.
In a time when I watched Comments on blogs go way down, it is gratifying to receive this feedback.
But, paraphrasing my good friend, Jennifer Mattern, what matters most is if my investment in SlideShate is paying off.
What needs improvement?
I think two of my three objectives were met in my SlideShare experiment – reader education and increased visibility.
Keyword search of certain topics produced my SlideShare presentation on page 1 of Google. That resulted in inquiries about my services and produced three smaller projects.
Where I could improve is in lead generation. I think it is worth the effort to continue with SlideShare, but I need to refine my plan of attack.
What’s next?
The following are a few areas I plan on tweaking for better results.
- Decrease the number of presentations
- Develop more targeted lead generation
- Improve networking on the platform
I haven’t quite figured out the networking on SlideShare. I’d like to have more interaction with followers.
If anyone has suggestions, please share them in Comments.
- How about you?
- Do you use SlideShare?
- If so, what has your experience been?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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Helping you Keep it simple, clear & uniquely yours – contact me for help with your business writing needs.
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Cathy, I’ve been following your SlideShare experiment over the last year. I’m very impressed with the quality of your presentations, and you have me considering creating one or more of my own. (I confess that it’s a little daunting because I don’t have your level of skill with PowerPoint.)
I’d do it primarily to increase sales of my ebooks and courses.
Thanks, John. I appreciate the kind words. I think a targeted approach is a smart idea. As I said in the post, I think that’s a needs improvement area for me.
I look forward to hearing how you think it goes, John. Continued success.
I’m so glad you shared this post, Cathy!
I’m very built up on the idea of using SlideShare myself, for it would be perfect for conveying my message too (“telling stories with words and media”). In fact, I’ve written a script for an SS presentation which I’d also like to embed on my blog Home page. Loved the process of writing it, now comes the hard part (manufacture).
Nice breakdown of factors to consider when embarking on a SlideShare journey, and I’ll let you know how it develops in 2014.
Can’t wait to hear how it works out for you, Helene. Be sure to share it when it’s ready.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your plan, Helene.
would be really curious to see if their lead generation tool worked. Thanks for the info, Cathy, and John’s right – you’ve done a great job with these.
Me, too, Anne. I need to explore it to see if I can avoid requests for contact info from becoming annoying sales tactics.
Thanks for the kudos. 🙂
Hi Cathy,
A very interesting article. I am interested in your reasoning for decreasing your number of presentations in the future, can you tell me why?
Thank you for sharing your experiment. I will have a look at your presentations 🙂
Good question, Jacqui. While I love making the presentations, they can be time-consuming. As my friend, Jennifer suggested, I want to ensure my investment of time is paying off as well as it could.
This year I mostly repurposed some blog posts and free content material. In 2014, I want to get more targeted in my marketing efforts and make sure my time is well-spent, while continuing to deliver something relevant and of value to my readers.
Thanks for stopping by Jacqui.
Enjoyed your article Cathy. I’ve been straddling the fence about diving into SlideShare for some time now, so it’s really helpful to read about your experience. I think it’s time to get off the fence and give it a serious try in 2014. Thanks!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Marquita. Let me know if you do hop on and we’ll hook up. Like I said, I am still trying to figure out the networking on SlideShare.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by. 🙂