When it comes to social media sites, it’s easy to feel a little bit lost. To maintain some kind of presence on all of them would be pretty much a full time task, and it can be difficult to decide, when you are so strapped for time, which ones are worth that time and effort.

Slideshare is one of the more overlooked social media platforms, but with its potential for great returns on your time investment, it is well worth a look. Use of Slideshare is on the rise, with an increasing number of academics discovering its benefits too.

What is Slideshare?
Slideshare is a website which allows you to post content - PDFs, PowerPoint slides, videos, and others - as a presentation. Presentations can then be searched, viewed and shared by anyone. With 60 million monthly visitors, Slideshare is the most popular presentation sharing website in the world. Slideshare is free to use, but it also offers a premium version which includes video uploads, analytics, private sharing and professional branding (starting at $19 per month).

While some sites can be hard to read on handheld devices, Slideshare automatically optimizes content for mobile phones, so you can be sure that your content is visible to all users. Slideshare content also ranks high in Google search results, making it a worthwhile promotional tool. After all, if you are putting in the time and effort, you want your work to be seen by as many people as possible. Presentations are incredibly easy to embed on your own blog or website, thus enhancing the value of your content and giving you a boost in the search engine rankings.

Once you’re all signed up, you can immediately start uploading your content. But, not all content is created equally, so how do you make yours stand out?

1. Take a look at other Slideshare content
Browse on Slideshare to see what others are creating. Some presentations are a lot more effective than others, and you will obviously want to emulate the more successful ones. The presentations that feature on the homepage are a great place to start – these have been handpicked by Slideshare and are likely to be good examples of how to put together a top presentation.

2. Make your presentations recognizable
You want people to become regular viewers and sharers of your presentations, and it helps if you find a consistent style. Slideshare allows you to create custom templates, making your presentations easily recognizable. Find your style, and if it works, stick to it.

3. Make your presentations eye-catching
Presentations with eye-catching images and attractive layouts get more attention than those without. While you don’t want to go overboard with images and visual elements, using a compelling picture on your first slide could make all the difference when it comes to the number of views and shares.

4. Cater your presentations for your online audience
The great thing about Slideshare is that you can repurpose content that you already have - think old presentations you might have sitting on your hard drive or previously written blog posts. However, bear in mind that you won’t be able to talk over your slides- they need to stand on their own, so make sure that you can adapt them for an online audience.

5. Keep things simple
If your slides are too complicated, people won’t read them. Keep things minimalist- a picture and a few bullets per slide should suffice. Use your communication skills to get your points across as efficiently as possible, and don’t forget to include an appropriate call-to-action at the end to drive people to your blog/website/research.

6. Optimize your presentations for searching
You want your content to be as visible as possible, so you’ll want to make it as easy to find as possible. Slideshare allows you to include up to 20 tags or keywords to make your presentation easily searchable. Your title should include words that are relevant to the subject matter, and you should also make sure to include a brief description of the presentation when adding your tags.

7. Share among your communities
As previously mentioned, Slideshare makes it simple to embed your presentations on your own website or blog. You should also share your content via your other social networks. This will help extend the reach of your presentations and will also alert readers to new content.

Most importantly, have fun with it and you shouldn’t have to put in a huge effort to see the advantages of sharing your presentations on Slideshare!

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