Having a beautiful Slideshare presentation is awesome.
When you know what goes into a great Slideshare presentation you have the ability to get an entire industry talking. You have to embrace the idea of creating beautiful slides. You have to recognize the importance of delivering value throughout your deck. And you have to also know the right way to distribute your Slideshare deck to your target audience.
And when you add great copywriting to the mix?
…Let’s just say, that’s when the real magic happens.
You see, the combination of great design and copy is a craft that has yet to go away.
It’s still just as important in the digital world as it was during the Mad Men era. On Slideshare in particular, copywriting is one of the most underrated aspects of a great Slideshare deck.
Today, I’m going to share some of the best copywriting strategies being used on Slideshare to create decks that are sticky, memorable and worth sharing. I’ve used these tips to create Slideshare presentations that have been seen by millions of people and are still shared by thousands of people every single month.
Let’s get to it…
Create A Headline Slide That Captures Attention
If your first slide doesn’t capture your audience’s attention, it fails.
Both the images and text must be captivating. Otherwise, the readers will never read your deck. And if your readers don’t read your deck – they’re not actually readers are they?
This is why a title like “20 Ways To Stoke Your Self Confidence” is a captivating and click worthy.
The same can be said with the headline above from Hubspot: 20 Email Acronyms to Learn Now: So We Don’t Feel Dumb Later.
This headline is compelling because it plays on our insecurities while leveraging the popular “Doh!” expression of Homer Simpson.
Marketing psychology studies have shown that headlines with positive superlatives performed 29% worse and headlines with negative superlatives performed 30% better that those without either. Even more interesting was the fact that the study found that the average click-through rate on headlines with negative superlatives were 63% higher than headlines containing positive ones.
So, why are we so attracted to the negative headline?
Negative words tap into our insecurities.
And we all want to get over our insecurities.
Keep The Slideshare Moving With Broken Text
When you move through these slides, you can’t help but keep clicking.
Because the words are broken out on separate slides, it makes the deck more engaging.
Hubspot is also leveraging a tactic known as the bucket brigade or internal cliff hangers.
Basically, the copy is intended to keep you reading the next sentence.
On slide seven, this happens with the line “But each of them is changing …” The three dots (also known as an ellipsis) are an indication that there’s more to read. Other phrases for using the Bucket Brigade include:
- Let me explain…
- Here’s why…
- Well:
- Here’s what I mean:
It gives you a reason to keep clicking.
It gives you a reason to read more. And..
This is the exact flow your deck should have to keep them wanting more.
Ask Questions Throughout Your Slideshare
Similar to bucket brigades, asking questions can lure your reader to click further into your deck.
It lures them by capitalizing on our personal curioisity. While curiousity may have killed the cat, not capitalizing on it when creating a Slideshare deck is a one way street to killing your presentation.
Questions like:
- What does this mean for you?
- Are you ready?
- Do you want to XYZ?
Are all great questions to keep readers engaged and scrolling.
Of course, questions that are customized to your audience and content are always the best option.
Keep Your Slideshare Language Simple
I’d never suggest that write like you speak.
Why?
Well, no one wants to read a deck filled with “likes” and “ums”.
But they do want to read a deck that is straight forward and uses simple language.
One of the best insights on copywriting came from Advertising grandfather, David Ogilvy:
I don’t know the rules of grammar… If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular.
When crafting your Slideshare presentations, it’s important that you don’t let your copy get in the way. Use simple language, check grammar, and avoid jargon as much as possible.
Always Combine Your Compelling Copy With Value
Now that you know how to convince people that you have something of value to deliver them…
It’s time to do it.
People crave information that is backed by research and information they’ve never encountered before. On Slideshare, resources that are filled with stats, research, studies and charts are shared frequently.
Some of the most popular decks like the Mary Meeker Report or this deck from A16z on Mobile Eating The World have reached hundreds of thousands of people because their insight is so valuable.
People want to share. People bookmark it for future reference. People crave information that can make an impact.
Arm them with it.
Offer A Big Promise At The Beginning Of The Deck
The three slides above are from my deck,
The promise is simple:
If you read this deck, you will learn how to stand out from the crowd and attract an audience.
Because the promise is aligned with the motivations of a content marketer, they’re lured deeper into the deck and will continue to read. Telling the reader to “Fear Not” is a way to solidify trust by arming them with a guarantee.
Conclusion
Alright, so now you know some of my tried and tested techniques.
I’ve used these strategies to create slide decks with hundreds of thousands of views on Slideshare.
Now it’s time for you to put them into use.
How?
Start by downloading my Slideshare copywriting checklist so you can take your content to the next level.
