Learn how to use SlideShare to generate traffic and leads with this detailed, informative show and tell tutorial by Barry Feldman. The article was originally created for Social Media Examiner.

1. How to
Generate Leadswith SlideShare

2. socialmediaexaminer.com http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-generate-leads-with-slideshare/
How to Generate Leads With SlideShare
By Barry Feldman
Published January 10, 2013
Are you using SlideShare?
Would you like more leads?
In this article I’ll reveal how to use SlideShare to generate quality leads.
SlideShare for Leads?
SlideShare is the world’s largest content-sharing community f or prof essionals.
Data collected by ComScore and presented in an inf ographic by Column Five
Media, SlideShare: The Quiet Giant of Content Marketing, reveals SlideShare
has 5 times more traffic from business owners than Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn (which now owns
SlideShare).
SlideShare traf f ic is driven

3. SlideShare is a good traffic source for many businesses.
SlideShare traf f ic is driven
largely by search and social
networks. Visitors are mostly
conducting research at work,
so if you’re using the website
and its services as a strategic
marketing tool, you can make
it a substantial weapon in
your lead generation arsenal.
How Businesses Can Use
SlideShare
The f ollowing 3 points will
help you generate leads
with SlideShare.
#1: Make a Compelling
Presentation
SlideShare accepts videos
and various types of
documents; however,
slideshows tend to perf orm
best and earn more views. To
increase the effectiveness
of your presentation:
Compose with
SlideShare in mind.
Slide decks created f or
live presentations may
f ail on SlideShare. Your
slides should “speak
f or themselves.”
Revisit and revise
slides that are likely to require explanations.

4. Slide decks that "speak for themselves" work best on SlideShare.
Communicate your point with simple, arresting design.
Design with care.
Highly viewed
presentations tend to
f eature attractive
graphics. Your
presentation should
include powerful
images and quality
fonts that are easy to
read on small screens
and maintain a high
degree of
professionalism on
every slide.
Keep it simple.
Presentations may be
viewed quickly and in
small spaces, so it’s
wise to create a deck
with a laser-focused
message and present
your ideas in small
bites using as f ew
words as possible.
Tell a story. Employ
classic storytelling
practices with a logical
sequence and an
obvious beginning,
middle and end. Break
longer works into
chapters.
Employ content
marketing best
practices. Your
presentation will be
valued most when its
content ref lects that
you understand your
market’s challenges
and deliver helpful
advice f or overcoming
them. It won’t hurt to be
entertaining too.
Take risks.
Presentations stand

5. Present data in small, easily understood bites.
Use storytelling conventions and tactics such as chapter markers to deliver a lesson.
Presentations stand
out f rom the crowd
when they are
provocative, f unny or
bold. Don’t shy away
from edgy ideas with
the rationale that you’re
trying to conduct
serious business. A
playf ul sense of humor
helped make “The
eBook is the Stud in
Your Content Marketing
Stable” an extremely
popular presentation.
Understand the
capabilities of
SlideShare. Your
uploaded content will be
converted f or
presentation.
Animations will not
convert. The best way
to ensure the integrity
of your work is to save
it as a PDF for
uploads to SlideShare.
Invest in talent and
quality. If you lack
writing or design talent,
outsource the work.
Plan to spend the time
or money it takes to
secure the rights to
strong photography
and illustration.
You’ll f ind rich libraries of f ree
design templates built into
PowerPoint and Keynote. For
even more templates, search
f or “f ree PowerPoint (or
Keynote) templates” to locate
sites such as f ppt and
DezineGuide.
Also, services such as
SlideRocket and PhotoSnack
of f er f ree online slideshow

6. Slide decks that blend education and entertainment perform best on SlideShare.
Have fun and employ a sense of humor to make your story stand out.
of f er f ree online slideshow
creation tools.
#2: Capitalize on
SlideShare Features
On the site’s SlideShare 101
page, the company points out:
SlideShare f eatures a
prof essional and
educational community
that regularly
comments, f avorites
and downloads content.
Content spreads
virally through blogs
and social networks
such as LinkedIn,
Facebook and Twitter.
Individuals and
organizations use
SlideShare documents
to share ideas, conduct
research, connect with
others and generate
leads f or their
businesses.
Consider using features
such as:
Sharing—you can
edit the settings for
any uploaded
presentation to make
it available publicly or
privately per your
project’s objectives.
Embedding—code is
provided, which makes
it very simple to embed
your SlideShare
assets on your
website and blog.
Users can also embed
your work, which of ten
exponentially expands
the exposure of your
presentations.

7. Increase your impact with professional design featuring quality photography and illustration.
Privacy options enable you to make your presentations public or private.
presentations.
Video and audio—you
can embed YouTube
videos in your
presentations or
“slidecast,” meaning
you can sync an MP3
soundtrack. Upload
wizards are provided in
your My Uploads menu.
Social sharing—it’s
easy to share content
or promote the
sharing of your
content on Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn,
Google+ and Pinterest.
In f act, a LinkedIn app
allows you to have your
SlideShare content f ed
to your LinkedIn prof ile
page. You might
consider targeting a
specific social
medium because the
SlideShare home page
f eatures documents
that are hot on Twitter,

8. SlideShare gives you (and viewers) HTML code to easily embed your presentation on your
site or blog.
User settings offer options for adding audio or YouTube video to presentations.
that are hot on Twitter,
Facebook and LinkedIn.
Go “pro”—a trio of
paid Pro plans are
specif ically designed to
enable you to include
customizable lead
capture forms, create
company branded
channels, and collect
detailed analytics
including perf ormance
metrics, user identities
and interaction details.
Following—you can
follow other users,
mark presentations
as a favorite, email
content and
comment. So, like
other social media, you
are of f ered tools to
build a community,
interact and
recognize others.
SEO—the content of
your slides is
automatically made into
transcripts, which
accompany your
presentations. When
you understand and
smartly apply
keywords, your
SlideShare material can
do very well on search
engines. (By recent
measures, SlideShare

9. A LinkedIn app makes it easy to embed your presentations on your LinkedIn profile page.
Go pro with a paid account to include lead capture forms and functionality.
measures, SlideShare
amassed 3 billion slide
views per month.)
#3: Make Lead
Generation Your
Objective
Remember, SlideShare may
get f iled under “social media,”
but you’re taking it seriously
because its users are serious
about research and discovery.
Remind yourself of this while
creating content f or
SlideShare and be deliberate
about generating leads.
Consider these additional
tips for generating leads:
Repurpose with
purpose—if you’ve
been active in content
marketing and social
media and have a
strong grasp of what
works f or your
business and its
objectives, reuse and
repurpose your most
engaging content f or
the SlideShare site.
Examples and
testimonials—don’t
f orget opportunities to
deliver proof of
concept. That is,
highlight real-world
success stories and
feature testimonials
in a f air and objective
way when you can.
Leverage authority—if

10. Paid account holders have news feeds with updates including follower activity and
presentations marked as favorites.
SlideShare automatically transcribes presentations to improve search engine
results.
Include case studies to increase credibility.
Leverage authority—if
you’re on a mission to
establish authority,
draw from the ideas
of thought leaders.
Cite their work. Endorse
their ideas and they
might just return the
f avor.
Share—SlideShare is
a social medium. Follow
the content creators
you admire and share
their work.
Provide contact
inf ormation and links—
your presentations can include
links throughout to generate
traf f ic to your site, media outlets
and landing pages. At the end of
your presentation, provide the
relevant contact information
and make it easy to continue
the conversation.
Call to action—if a viewer has
made it to your f inal slide, he or
she is interested in
what you have to say
and is likely to have
questions, want more
inf ormation or want to
do business. Don’t be
coy. Provide the call
to action you seek.
Marketers are increasingly
f olding SlideShare into their
content marketing strategy
because the website has
proven ef f ective f or building
brands and generating leads.
Apply the tips provided
here to create a compelling
presentation, take full
advantage of SlideShare’s
rich features and generate
leads for your business.

11. Include case studies to increase credibility.
Leverage ideas from established leaders to increase authority.
SlideShare promotes sharing and reports what's "hot" on social networks.
What do you think? Are you
using SlideShare? Are you
generating leads? Leave
your ideas, questions and
comments in the box below.
Tags: barry f eldman, build brand, call
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co nt ent market ing st rat egy, lead,
leverage aut ho rit y, slideshare,
slideshare f eat ure, slideshare
market ing

12. Embed links to make it easy for viewers to contact your company.
Offering additional information on your presentation's topic is an effective call to action.