I’m a bit of a black sheep at Lush because I am not an early adopter; I’m more the bandwagon type.

I wasn’t in the line for the first iPhone and I was not the first of my friends to join Facebook. I don’t have the patience to be there first, sitting through repairs, bug fixes and updates. My strategy is to wait until it has a solid following before joining the hype. When other people have integrated the technology or platform into their lives, then I know it’s time to get on board.

My latest bandwagon is SlideShare.

What is SlideShare?

SlideShare is a free slide hosting service that allows users to upload existing PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, Keynote files and more. They can be shared and embedded in multiple mediums. It’s a great option when creating new content for a blog or social accounts. It can be likened to a YouTube for presentations where you can browse huge libraries of slideshows and also make your own presentations public or just share them between a select group of employees.

Back in 2013 Forbes described SlideShare as the “quiet giant of content marketing”. In 2016 SlideShare is far from quiet. After it was purchased by LinkedIn in 2012 its user numbers skyrocketed to 70 million people worldwide.

SlideShare was developed for businesses and some of the most used tags on SlideShare are business, market, trends, research, social media and statistics. B2B companies make up a large portion of its membership. DMR reported that 41 per cent of all North American B2B marketers were using SlideShare to distribute content.

But, why do you need it?

You’re probably asking yourself “but why does this service deserve our time? Social platforms come and go; what make this one different?”

Well, several things actually.

1. You’re Already Late

First, if you are not using it yet, you’re already late to the game. On top of its 70 million users — including the likes of Rand Fishkin, TrackMaven and Mark Schaefer — SlideShare has tallied 40 million uploads and claims to be amongst the top 100 most visited websites in the world. You are no longer an early adopter; the platform well and truly has a following.

2. It’s Easy to Use

There is not much that scares me more than the technical side of web pages. Coding will always send me running. SlideShare is not that. LinkedIn purchased SlideShare in 2012 and the two platforms integrate seamlessly. It’s also easy to embed your presentations into WordPress and Facebook.

Online tools such as Canva also allow you to create attractive presentations to upload to your SlideShare account. If done well, these presentations can also improve SEO.

3. Great for SEO

It is no secret that effective SEO is integral to any online strategy. SlideShare offers a ‘discoverability’ measure that assesses SEO. Factors including keywords, descriptions and alt-tags will affect this rating. SlideShare also transcribes your slides to make optimization more effective.

You can also use presentations to direct traffic to your website, which will boost the Google ranking for that webpage. You can do this by adding related keywords and organic links into your presentations throughout the content and in your call to action.

4. Perfect for Repurposing Content

Here at Lush, we are big believers in up-cycling content to maximize its potential. We see content as a valuable asset and by reformatting and repurposing older pieces, you add value to it. It increases the lifespan of that content and allows you to reach a different target market. SlideShare offers a great opportunity to businesses to do just that. By altering the format of older podcasts, blogs, or even vlogs, into a familiar, attractive and user-friendly presentation, you increase your reach and add life to existing assets. SlideShare also allows users to embed video into a slide, so it can be a great way to redistribute a webinar or video production.

But, what good are all these features unless you can prove it?

5. In-Built Measures

Even a free SlideShare account incorporates in-built analytics that allow your business to keep track of the geographical distribution of your viewers, who is sending them and what times they are coming. As you upgrade to a silver, gold or platinum account you have access to more detailed analytics that show who is accessing presentations, which presentations are reaching your target market and more.

So the next time you’re looking to repurpose your existing content, amplify a webinar or distribute new content on a different platform, consider SlideShare.  It’s a bandwagon that’s worth joining.

If you want to build an effective content strategy that uses tools like SlideShare, have a chat with the team at Lush Digital Media; we’re always keen to discover new ways to tell your story.