HIRE ME TO SPEAK
HIRE ME TO SPEAK

The power of SlideShare for social sharing

I write about strategies to turn fans into customers and customers into fans. I also share ways to use real-time strategies to spread ideas, influence minds, and build business.

Thought Leadership  |  New Rules of Sales & Service  |  Marketing  |  Brand Journalism  |  Best Practices

Less than a month ago, I released a presentation on SlideShare titled The New Rules of Selling.  Because many of you viewed the presentation and shared it on social networks, the presentation has been viewed more than 107,000 views as I write this. Thank you

slideshare_data

In this article, I’ll provide some thoughts on why I think the SlideShare has been viewed so often in such a short time, and provide lessons learned so you can achieve similar results for your business.

I’m stunned by this result (so far), the fastest sharing of any of my content in more than a decade of sharing free stuff on the web. The SlideShare has spread my work way beyond my own network to reach many people who have never been exposed to my ideas.

Link to The New Rules of Selling on SlideShare.

The power of social sharing

As I write this, the SlideShare has been shared more than 1,800 times on LinkedIn, and racked up some 500 Facebook likes and 700 Tweets.

Interestingly, a little less than half of the total views have come from 164 embeds of the SlideShare on people’s blogs and sites with the remainder coming from directly the SlideShare site.

Not a book launch. A SlideShare launch.

I created the SlideShare to showcase the ideas in my new book The New Rules of Sales and Service: How to Use Agile Selling, Real-Time Customer Engagement, Big Data, Content, and Storytelling to Grow Your Business. The SlideShare release was timed to the release of the book in early September.

LESSON 1: Focus on what you are giving away for free on the web rather than the product you are selling.

Rather than talk about my new book in social networks and media interviews, I chose instead to talk up and promote the SlideShare. However, in the vast majority of book launches I see, the author and publisher focus too much on trying to sell books. The same is true of any product launch – most marketers focus too much on the product or service.

Recall the recent Apple iPhone 6 launch where much of the talk was of the free U2 album being given away.

For those skeptics out there, I’ve definitely found that putting the focus on the free content certainly does drive book sales. The New Rules of Sales and Service was the top sales book on Amazon during the week of launch.

LESSON 2: Put your best work out there for free.

I chose not to hold anything back in the SlideShare. I shared my best ideas (for free). Sure, some people may choose to use the free content rather than the paid book. But many more will want to dig into more details and be eager to purchase the book.

LESSON 3: SlideShare is an amazing platform.

Stan Phelps calls SlideShare “YouTube for PowerPoint” – it’s a place to share content that typically is delivered as Keynote or PowerPoint slides.

Because SlideShare is owned by LinkedIn, content sharing on LinkedIn is made very easy making this a great way to reach senior people. This is only my second SlideShare, but I will defiantly use the platform again.

LESSON 4: People are looking for content to showcase on their sites. 

Because so many of the views come from SlideShare embeds on other people’s content sites, I conclude that many people are looking for valuable content to share with their readers. If you create something that publishers like, they will help you to reach new audiences.

LESSON 5: You need a great design.

SlideShare is a visual medium. The power comes from people’s instant processing of the ideas and a great design is essential. Sure, I can create serviceable PowerPoint and Keynote slides, but I’m certainly not a designer. So I used Doug Eymer to help me create the SlideShare. It cost me money and it took more time but many people commented on the design so I am sure it helped to spread the ideas. (Thank you Doug).

LESSON 6: One idea per slide.

There are 158 slides in my SlideShare(!!) Everyone I’ve spoke to prior to launch said it was way, way too many. Many SlideShare presentations are only 20 or so slides.

I chose to have one idea per slide.  I’m not a fan of cramming a bunch of ideas onto each slide.

If you end up creating a SlideShare for your business, please send me a link.