Nearly anyone in the marketing field will agree that creating compelling and useful content is a major challenge. Even more importantly, your stream of content must be consistent. Unfortunately, you will have to dedicate a considerable amount of time and effort to consistently generating high-quality blog posts.
No matter how many great ideas you have or how hard you work to churn out authentic blog posts, content marketing is a never-ending process…which means that your well of inspiration needs to be nearly bottomless. And that doesn’t really make for a sustainable approach.
That’s where repurposing content comes in to save the day. You’d be hard pressed to formulate a sustainable and effective content marketing strategy without it.
The core principle of repurposing is to avoid regurgitating or duplicating old content at all costs. By using a range of mediums to reach your target audiences, you will be able to better convey your message from different angles and in front of a higher volume of prospects and influencers.
You will find great value in accommodating the various ways people like to access information. Repurposing is also crucial to preventing your evergreen content from turning “stale.” When done right, it’s a very effective content strategy for improving SEO.
So without further ado, let’s look at five effective techniques to help you repurpose like a pro.
1. Create Content with Repurposing in Mind
Some advanced planning will make the whole process of repurposing more efficient. But don’t get overwhelmed by this suggestion. Just ask yourself these two questions each time you choose a topic you want to write about:
Would this topic work well in another format – e.g. video, audio, Infographic?
Sometimes you’ll be able to do this right from the start. But sometimes you might find yourself realizing halfway through writing that the post would work great in other formats.
Either way, try to think ahead as much as possible. It’s best to use the first outline of your post to get an idea of how it can work in another medium.
Does this topic contain information and facts that can be expanded on and updated in the future?
For example, if you write a post about social media marketing practices, you’ll be able to update it with time and add value to it, considering the ever-evolving nature of the topic.
2. Make Good Use of Social Proof
Your evergreen posts are a gold mine for repurposing. This has a lot to do with that second question you need to ask yourself that I mentioned previously.
When you revisit your most widely viewed and shared posts, you’ll often be able to freshen them up with cutting-edge information, current statistics, relevant images, and more recent examples. Prioritize updates on evergreen content — it is crucial if you’re running a blog for your business, because it will help you maintain authority as an expert in your industry.
In the long run, this will help you boost organic traffic. Your audience loves these content pieces already, so take the opportunity to keep it on their radar from other places and in other media formats.
Most importantly, announce your updates. Don’t by shy about notifying your audience that your most popular post is now improved and expanded. Be sure to also use the exact same URL so that you maintain your links and high ranking on that popular post or page.
3. Adjust for Each Specific Medium
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, you can capitalize on repurposing old content to reach a wider audience using different mediums. You can turn your old blog posts into a number of new content items, including the following and more:
- Videos
- Infographics
- An e-book (as a compilation of several blog posts centered around one core topic)
- Slideshow presentations
- An email newsletter
- Podcast episodes
Whichever you opt for, your chances of success will increase if you work to ensure that your content is modified and adapted to each specific medium.
For example, if you want to convert your blog post into a video, you need to make use of both the audio and visual angle. Your message can now take a conversational tone, or you can use animation to convey your points more effectively.
A podcast episode will have an entirely conversational tone, using only the key points and the outline of your blog post. Slideshows should have the majority of the text cut down, and so on.
This all takes work. You’ll need help from qualified people, but it’s a highly effective way to spread the word and appeal to your audience.
4. Update for a Niche Audience
Speaking of appealing to audiences – why not tweak your content to make it more specific and relevant to a certain niche? This is a great little trick. You already have the majority of the work completed for all audiences, but you can create something completely new from it.
Food and fitness bloggers often use this approach, and they do it very well. For example, a post about the best core fitness exercises can be repurposed into a post about the best postnatal core fitness exercises by adding some specific adjustments and notes.
Depending on your industry and your topics, you can take almost any general topic and channel it into something slightly more specific.
5. Create Social Media Snippets
Social media is now an inherent part of content marketing, and it’s one of the most valuable tools for directing audiences to your blog or website. But, being an entire chapter of its own, maintaining a relevant and engaging presence on social media undoubtedly takes a lot of work as well.
So why not kill two birds with one stone?
By repurposing your blog content for social media, you’re both:
- Directing your audience to your website, where the bulk of information is
- Providing them with something valuable right on the platform
The best way to repurpose content for social media is by creating a series of snippets, conveying the key points of your article in a numerical order in posts. This works best in combination with a background image on most networks, or you can write an effective short series on the topic on Twitter.
You can also use Live video or Stories on Facebook and Instagram to communicate with your audience directly, talking about the topic in a casual manner.
Overall, some repurposing strategies take more effort, while others are easier. Bottom line: repurposing old content lets you extend the value of your posts beyond the time it took you to create them.
It’s not only important for maintaining consistency. Repurposing also plays a key role in your overall content strategy. As the saying goes – you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Just add new spikes.
Feature Image Credit: CC 0; Public Domain. All images sourced from freepik.com.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions stated in this post are that of the author, and Return On Now may or may not agree with any or all of the commentary.
Catherine Palmer
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