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Why SlideShare, YouTube and Google+ Should Be a Part of Your Social Media Strategy


In 2003, MySpace was created by everyone’s good friend Tom. One year later “The Facebook” went live, but only for Mark Zuckerberg's fellow students at Harvard. While many may argue that sites like LiveJournal & Wikipedia were the social media platform pioneers, I am a firm believer that the title goes to MySpace and Facebook.

MySpace slowly died out and everyone stopped caring about who your top 8 friends were, but that wasn’t the case for Facebook. The platform still remains successful to this day along with its Goliath counterparts, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and even Snapchat…Snap...sorry what is the platform even called?

These platforms continue to update, grow, and dominate the social media marketing playing field – and is anyone reading this shocked? No, because each is an incredible platform that helps different types of companies drive brand awareness and make some serious $$$.

But what about the social media platforms that sit in the shadows of these Goliaths? Not many social media marketers jump at the opportunity to exclaim, “YES my company is on Google+, YouTube, and Slideshare!!!” and even worse, many don’t jump at the opportunity to utilize these platforms at all.

This simply needs to change and I will tell you why.

 

SlideShare

Yes people, SlideShare IS a social media platform - are you guilty of forgetting this? When someone asks “What platforms does you biz use?” I guarantee at least half of all social media managers forget to say SlideShare (if they have one, of course.) This is definitely a problem, as I view SlideShare as one of the top platforms on social game.

Oh, and did you also forget that LinkedIn owns it? Even its own parent is a powerhouse.

About a year back, I did a POV for my marketing team that defined the platform’s power and made the case that we needed more content there quarterly. Heads were nodding when I presented because:

  1. SlideShare has 80 million users and generates >60 million visitors a month. This platform is a great information center for B2B professionals.

  2. Built-in analytics. Of course in 2018 all platforms have analytics for social teams to analyze, but SlideShare takes it a step further when it comes to “views.” You know who is liking/retweeting your other social posts and when, but do you know every single person who viewed it? And geographical location, work organization, date viewed, and referral source? SS gives you just that.

  3. Help out your SEO team and their efforts! SlideShare can strengthen your off page SEO.

  4. It is strictly used for visual content and it makes other platforms stand out. Cross-promotions are a main part of any social strategy and SlideShare cross-promos stand out and look visually compelling. For example: on Twitter, users don’t even have to leave the platform, they can click through the SS right in their Twitter feeds - this is conveinent for your followers and can help boost engagement. Those analytics also get directly transferred to SlideShare.

Moving on…

YouTube

Video is HOT in social media marketing and according to Buffer, over 8 billion videos are watched on Facebook daily. Video is everywhere and anyone can be a videographer with Periscope, Facebook LIVE, Snapchat, Instagram and both story features on SC & IG.

It is all of these fresh, quick video platforms that make us forget about the OG, YouTube. We cannot forget about YouTube, and the experts agree. Digital marketing expert & influencer, Sam Hurley, feels as if now is the best time to sync your digital campaign to the expanding video trend.

“If anybody says there’s no value in using YouTube for business...I’d say they may want to re-consider,” Hurley told me. YUP! I agree!

Still forgetting about or pushing aside YouTube? Consider these stats:

  1. Videos on YT reach more 18-34 & 18-49 year-olds than any other cable network in the US

  2. Just like SlideShare, YT can help optimize SEO to boost your organization’s relevance on Google – video performing well for you? Watch it organically float to page 1 of Google.

  3. Short and to the point videos may be a part of the video trend, but when it comes to lengthier videos, these new platforms simply do not offer that capability. YouTube can get your 5-10 minute long videos up across all your social platforms & boost traffic with ease.

“If anybody says there’s no value in using YouTube for business...I’d say they may want to re-consider” ~Sam Hurley

Last but not least…

Google+

Someone literally laughed at me one time when I said my company was on Google+. Funny enough, it really isn't that funny...

In Simply Measured's "Social Network Stat Sheets: What You Need to Know" they start the Google+ section by saying “Google+ may be the most powerful social network you never use.” Key words here: most powerful and never use. The Google+ audience is in the billions and only 212 million profiles are active. Don't let this steer your opinion, though!

B2B marketers and top brandsare active on the platform, but why would marketers and brands have a presence on a platform not all users use? Here’s why:

  1. Google owns it, therefore it is integrated with Google, Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps. Want your business to be Googled and found without any issues? Have an update business profile on Google+ and let your business be seen.

  2. Content can be separated and easy to find with Communities and Collections. Create communities and file your content into specific collections to make sure you are hitting your target audience.

  3. And again for the millionth time, much like YT & SS, Google+ can boost your SEO efforts! Combine all 3 and I’d say you have a nice organic SEO reach already.

 

I definitely understand that Google+, SlideShare and YouTube aren’t going to top Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn tomorrow or even in the years to come, but I also understand each platform’s importance to a solid social media strategy. It is time social media marketers take pride in being on these platforms (or get on all ASAP if not!) and start using each to its full potential.

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