March 7, 2013
In my last post I looked at key characteristics that make Slideshare presentations go viral. They included providing in-depth insight, designing eye-catching experience and, most importantly, telling a great story. (Full article here.) And yet someone may ask, “What’s the point? Why bother with Slideshare?”
The answer is simple – lead generation. There are undoubtedly other good reasons, but today I’m exploring ways businesses can use Slideshare to generate marketing qualified leads that turn into new business opportunities. So where do we start?
1. Embed a form within the presentation
This is the easiest of the options. Add a form as the last slide of your presentation (or anywhere after the 10th slide) to be filled out by individuals who may as well be your potential customers.
This option requires having paid for an account, and, the more you pay, the more leads you can capture every month. (See full pricing plan here)
2. Use the deck as part of a data capture landing page
This requires a little bit more effort in terms of building a unique lead-capture landing page, but it is worth it. Your Slideshare presentation can act as a preview of a full version of a downloadable asset. The presentation need not be too long – you can give away just enough to make people trust your content and be intrigued by it. Intrigued so much so they are happy to fill out their details to gain access to the full version of content (which can be a downloadable e Book, whitepaper, report, infographic etc.)
3. Explore LinkedIn opportunities
Slideshare continues to evolve its statistical tools that allow users to track who’s downloaded and favourited their presentations. Many people have linked their LinkedIn account with their Slideshare profile. Check them out! And if the person qualifies as your target audience, why not move the conversation one step further on LinkedIn?
What next?
After you’ve captured your leads you may want to explore further lead nurturing strategies. Interestingly, Slideshare have recently launched SendTracker, an analytical tool that allows Pro users to see how particular e-mail recipients have engaged with their presentation. It shows how much time a particular person has spent on particular slides, enabling you to gain a better understanding of what kind of content people value more.