It’s an old problem: How to create new and fresh content. It’s also a constant effort to try and get more mileage from old content. Let me walk you through a few suggestions that may solve some of these issues:

**Update 1/24/10 8am – Placing this content on the sites described below has resulted in 381 additional views over the last 3 days.

Remember yesterday? I made a nifty crowd sourced (I didn’t even create the content; I simply asked for it and captured it!) PowerPoint presentation and uploaded it to Slideshare.net. I then embedded it here to share with the world. So is that the end then? It doesn’t have to be. Changing the way something looks or performs is a great way to increase your mileage from an older but still valuable document or presentation.

The Frustration

How many businesses want to break into certain social sites like YouTube but can’t?  They feel that they don’t have the capabilities and/or resources to create videos. The content that is produced may not seem to lend itself to video at all…and so they simply skip video as an option. Not acceptable? I want to suggest an option today.

Ugly, Or Have No Spiffy Cam? – Let’s Break Into Video!

I may need to leave explaining this to the professionals. Everything I needed to know and use to create and upload a video of my PowerPoint presentation to YouTube is contained in the two links below the video. I used the free service at authorSTREAM.com (for $2.00 you can convert your presentation WITHOUT their watermark, etc.) *Note – if you don’t already have a free account at YouTube, get one set up before you begin converting and uploading video. Having a branded channel on YouTube is an excellent way to expand your brand’s exposure and engage a very large audience.

How to Convert PowerPoint Presentations to Video Files (with Sound)

Some how-to and do/do not info from authorSTREAM.com

*I did edit my presentation after reading the authorSTREAM.com info page above. I changed my font to something more web friendly, and moved my logo to the left so “YouTube” logo didn’t steal my thunder. The AS watermark stole it instead. Doh!

Changing The Look By Changing The File Type

Perhaps you are already using Slideshare.net or another service to embed PowerPoint presentations on the Internet. Have you considered using .pdf files on the web? Using programs like Microsoft Word or Publisher, amazing documents can be created. Many programs allow you to “Save As” a .pdf file.

If this option is not offered, simply download a free program like CutePDF. This program allows you to save almost anything as a .pdf file. It’s a little awkward, because CutePDF installs as if it were a printer, and (it downloads with the additional and needed converter) you must “Print” the file to save it. When “Print” is clicked, select “CutePDF” as if it were a printer –  a dialog box opens asking you where to “Print” to…don’t worry, it won’t print but instead saves the file to your selected location as a .pdf file. Save the .pdf.

Why PDF?

We need to be seen and shareable ONLINE! Online services like Scribd.com can make sharing .pdf files online easy! Your .pdf file will be easily shared or embedded and have a deeper visual impact. You may be able to refresh or re-use some old content by giving it a facelift. Scroll my Scribd version of yesterday’s presentation below. I saved a .pdf version from PowerPoint and uploaded it to Scribd and then used the embed code provided to put it here. Now, my own personal favorite service is Issuu.com!  This is a site where .pdf files can be uploaded and converted into a flipping page book format. All one needs to do is upload a document. Once uploaded, you can style the presentation with background colors, music, and more! Use the embed feature to generate an embed code, and you’re all set. Check out yesterday’s PowerPoint (saved as a .pdf first!) using Issuu:

Social Media is…Social Media is Not

I hope this has given you a few ideas. If you have some other tips or advice for regenerating or sharing content, please leave me a comment.