• In terms of social media Slideshare is often overlooked, however Slideshare is the largest online community for viewing and sharing presentations. You can view, upload, embed and easily share yourbusiness presentation across the web.

Although the volume of viewers is a fraction of the larger social networks, Slideshare commands a much more high-end, business-orientated clientele and ties in nicely with professional networks such as Linkedin. Slideshare is widely used by business decision makers, B2Bs, public companies and industry experts.

Creating even a simple presentation using PowerPoint or Keynote can be a time consuming process, by taking on board the tips below we hope you will maximize the return on your investment.

1.    Choose a username that represents your business or your objectives well. eg your company nameshould be used to build your brand, however if you are not building a brandname then a more search engine friendly name may be more appropriate.

eg compare slideshare.net/hilton to slideshare.net/hotels or slideshare.net/warrenbuffett toslideshare.net/investmentconsultant

Your decision will be based on your company objectives – keyword rich  names will be better for quick rankings whilst company names or brand names are better for slower, longer term growth.

2.    Fully complete your profile. Ensure you have a branded image and your description contains relevant information and keywords -include your website url.

3.    Include your business name, web address and contact details within the first few slides – many people will not watch until the end.

4.    Also ensure your business name, web address and contact details are on the final slide.

5.    Keep presentations short – this means there is more chance of the viewer watching to the end…and more chance of them wanting to see more (ie go to your website!). Around 10-15 slides is a good number.

6.    Ensure presentations are highly visual with minimal plain text. You need to keep your viewers attention – rows & rows of text will not do it!!!

7.    Include a “call to action” at the end – encourage viewers to visit your website or phone you. Entice them with a free download – a report or whitepaper.

8.    Leave a good amount of space around your presentation – remember Slideshare will add navigation areas to left and right. Make sure important information is not too close to the edge!

9.    If you find yourself using Slideshare a lot it may be worth looking at a “pro” account. They start at $19 per month and will allow you “30 leads per month” with a built in “lead capture” form. Details here: slideshare pro account

10.    Add the presentations to your other social networks such as Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin

11.     Ensure your Title is captivating and contains relevant keywords

12.     Utilise tags for relevant keywords and keyphrases (separate with a comma)

13.     The description should be compelling and contain relevant keywords. You can also add your website address (unfortunately this will not be clickable) and your full business address and telephone number (ideally exactly as Google have it in your Google Places account).

View more presentations from Carley Morrow

14.     Embed your presentation on your blog & newsletter.

15.     If you use Linkedin connect using the Linkedin Slideshare app (get it here! )

16.    Think about uploading a pdf version of your presentation rather than the raw presentation – export from Powerpoint or Keynote as a pdf. This will ensure it is easy for people to download and will display properly on Slideshare

17.     Submit your pdf to document sharing sites such as scribd.com or docshare.com

18.     If embedding on your website click on “customize” (its a small link which appears when you click on “Embed”) and choose “Without related content” (unless you are happy to display related content – possibly competitors – alongside your presentation!).

19.     Remember Slideshare default presentation is displayed at only 425px wide (small!). This is another reason to keep slides big, bold and with large text.

20.     Those who are good with Powerpoint / Keynote should embed clickable links within the presentation and export as pdf. Before uploading to Slideshare check the links work – if they work on your pdf they should most likely work on Slideshare!

21.     Make your links trackable using your service of choice (a url shortening service should do the trick!)

22.     Keep an eye out for comments and respond! respond! respond!

23.     Follow other users (there are some really clever people out there freely sharing information) and set your notifications to update you when a new presentation is added!

24.     Turn your presentation into a youtube video & gain more exposure

25.     To maximize exposure carry out keyword research first and ensure the title of all submissions (eg to Slideshare, Youtube, Scribd etc) utilize the best phrases

Hopefully you found that list useful – why not bookmark it and use it as a checklist? (PC users: CTRL+D / Mac users: Apple-Shift-D – works for most keyboards/browsers!). We estimate spending an extra 30mins working though some of these points will have a great impact on the return you receive on you presentation.

Oh! And we always appreciate a re-tweet or Facebook like 

Source : http://www.spiderhousepr.com/blog/25-slideshare-marketing-tips-maximise-roi/