I may be a late bloomer, but I just discovered Scribd. I found it when I was doing research for my webinar series, Social Media KISS (Keep it Simple and Serene) for Authors.

It is the most popular document sharing site available, with over 50,000 uploads each day. Yes, that number is correct. This is key for those of us that use content marketing online to get found, get known and get clients. Pay attention to what I’m going to tell you…

Scribd clearly has established its authority and web presence. The high online activity makes Scribd ideal for content marketing purposes.

OK, here’s the question: why would you want to market through a site that is based on sharing documents? Document sharing is a great way to promote brand awareness, bring eyeballs to your content & marketing collateral and increase link building (and we love link building.)

Most of my clients have flyers, press releases, articles, etc. and why not share this content as I did with this Mother’s Day brunch menu and and for another client’s article on hospital safety for Alzheimer patients.

If you have all of your marketing materials just sitting on your computer and not getting out into internet land, then you are just wasting space. Today, most of us operate our business and personal life online. Using Scribd makes uploading all of your documents a simple task.

Reasons to love Scribd:

• IT’S FREE
• Gain exposure to search engines
• Track reads and downloads
• Build business relationships
• Document sharing available via direct link or embed
• Unlimited uploads of most file types
• Bulk upload tool for desktop
• Social networking with Twitter opportunity
• Page fragment caching

The point of Scribd is the ease of access to documents. Scribd allows us to simply browse and click opposed to download. Uploading is extremely manageable. When a document is uploaded, you have the option of choosing a category, a subcategory, and numerous tags in addition to title and description. One of my favorite features of Scribd is the bulk uploading tool for your desktop. It is free and downloads quickly. The desktop tool allows people to upload as many documents as necessary without ever having to go to the Scribd website.

Keep branding in mind when creating titles and description. Once you are done uploading and editing, the documents will become available for viewing on Scribd immediately. All documents can be saved for editing and published at a later date. You can also add file subsets for organizational purposes within Scribd.

Sharing is simple too. Take any document off of Scribd and insert it into any website without worrying about the file type. If you have a blog, embedding documents is something that could be very beneficial. When you are looking at a document in Scribd, you will notice the embed option in the upper left-hand corner.

After you click that, you will be given the embed code.

Copy the code provided and paste it into your website or blog or you can share it from within as well.

It will then be published and appear the same way it does on Scribd.

I created a new Scribd account for a client and it’s still too early to know the reads and downloads, but you can follow your stats very easily. Basic stats appear on the homepage but if you click on them, you will be provided with a more detailed description in both bar graph and line graph charts including favorites, downloads, comments, and reads.

It is important to comment on documents within your niche. The goal is to encourage people to review your documents and possibly respond back. Scribd is a great place to stay connected through networking with the intentions of increasing viewership and brand awareness. Scribd has recently gone social. Like Facebook, there is a section for updating your recent activity.

Recently, Scribd created an E-book store for those interested in selling their documents.

So, if you’re looking to share your documents, get noticed, I recommend Scribd. You can also use this on your business page on Facebook tabs to share content as well.

Let me know if you have any document sharing sites by commenting below.