Producing new content on a daily, weekly or monthly basis can be a daunting prospect. The good news is that it’s not necessary to put out brand new content everytime you click publish. With the right strategy, you can repurpose content on different platforms, publications and social media channels to extend the life of those great articles you’ve spent time developing.
Are you feeling under pressure to come up with new content, new ways to reach and connect with your clients and ultimately become an authority in the world of digital marketing?
It may come as music to your ears to hear that the world of marketing has evolved from long campaigns and constantly developing new copy to a more streamlined and more efficient approach. Repurposing your content will help you get your content in front or more people, get more traffic and engagement, extend the shellfire of your hard work, and get you the best “bang for your dollars”. Far more than just the act of copying and pasting, the material can be reworked in a new and timeless way to drive customers to your brand or service.
With all the obvious benefits of re-using content, only 29% of leading marketers systematically reuse content, according to a 2016 study by Curata. Reusing older material for a new purpose can be incredibly successful. It’s crucial that you join these marketers and start repurposing and reusing your content going forward. Remember, your exisitng content is valuable, it’s what will keep your clients coming back and is what will bring new customers to your business. Also, repurposing gives you an unprecedented opportunity to improve ROI when it comes to the content you are putting out.
Let’s take a look at some straightforward, actionable ways that you can repurpose your content, improve your ROI and build an engaged customer base.
How to Select Content and Topics to Repurpose
Certain topics have a timeless, or in marketing lingo “evergreen,” quality. Maybe just a little of a previous blog post has mentions of, now, defunct technologies or websites, but overall the general message is still very valid. (If the blog post is all about Y2K, that one is definitely not one to reuse.) There may be topics that are very useful to your type of business or how-to guides that are helpful to customers, or a high-quality post that gained a lot of traction the first time around. These are the topics to rework and share again.
To find content that is worthy of repurposing you need to find your evergreen material. The two most important things to consider when it comes to deciding what content is evergreen are the timelessness of the copy and the quality. You want to find content which will remain relevant and will be of high-qulaity, offering value to the reader.
You could start by conducting a quick audit of your content and use Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or your social media platform insights to find the content that has generated most engagement. Look at the Behavior/Overview section and Page History of your Google Analytics, evaluate impressions an views, and find the content that is popular and has generated the most engagement. It’s important to build on what has already proved to be popular with your readers.
For the long run, you’ll need a reliable content maintenance process to find out which posts are worth keeping around and what actions will help you keep them useful for years to come. Content maintenance should be as important as content creation if you want your good content to stay evergreen.
Best Strategies to Repurpose Content
The first thing to consider is to update the technical elements of your post such as title tags, alt-text, meta descriptions, url structure, broken links, media format and quality, css, etc. and assure your blog stays fresh and in line with the latest search engine algorithm changes.
The following snapshot of a plan used by Neil Patel is a great example of a plan to help keep the basic elements of your posts in top condition.
Source: Content Maintenance: How to Ensure That Your Old Blog Posts Remain Evergreen
With the confidence that your content is technically sound, here are a few repurposing and recycling strategies that take into consideration the original format of the content and are proven and likely to work for you right away.
Change the Format
Think about the original format of the content. With written formats, try changing to a video, podcast, or infographic or reworking it and adding more engaging visuals or a story. For a video, perhaps it would work well reworked as a transcript or typed into a blog.
Turn One Blog Into Many
Look through old posts to see if you cut a topic short. Perhaps you have more to say on a particular topic.
For blogs in list form, take the list and turn each number into its own blog post. Or maybe you’ve written about several related topics. Turn those five separate short blogs into one longer blog with a list.
Create Long Form Articles
To rework a short blog post, make it a longer post with more detail and value to the customer. Long form blog posts generate more than 9 times more leads than short form ones. Look at some of your shorter, popular blog posts and see if you can add more information and ideas that might add more value for the reader. Research other firms that have similar topics and make your post more relevant, more engaging, and more informative. This will set your blog apart from the competition. Add value with high-quality photos, an infographic, or a video to complement the text.
Maybe you’ve written about several related topics. Turn those five separate short blogs into one longer blog with a list. Those related topics may work well in an e-book or as a PDF to send to customers.
According to the Content Marketing Institute, some of the top content marketing tactics used to repurpose content are social media postings; blogs; e-newsletters; in-person events; slideshows, and case studies.
It’s All About the Media
Once you’ve decided which topics to revisit, think about the best media choice for the repurposed content. Compare and contrast the original with a new possible version. For example, infographic vs. text; podcast vs. video; blog posts vs. e-book; blog vs. slideshow; webinar vs. video. The possibilities really are endless with all the available ways to market and repurpose valuable content.
After selecting which media to use, then it is a matter of adapting the format and where it will be found by a new audience. Social media is constantly evolving, so take advantage of the varied customers and demographics on each platform. Repetition is also a good way to keep your message clear and precise.
Here are few media options to re-work your content:
- Use an email introduction from an e-newsletter as the introduction to the Youtube video
- Post the Youtube video to your other platforms
- Turn a webinar into an instructional Youtube video
- Take a blog post and turn it into a slideshow with a more visual element
- Rework blog posts into an e-newsletter of helpful tips sent out regularly
- Turn a blog post from a regular post into a definitive guide on a particular topic and make it a downloadable or “lead magnet”
- Connect with similar businesses and post as a guest on another site. This will bring traffic back to your business and reach a different audience
- Another interesting way to repurpose content is to create an online course. This gives your message even more relevance as customers will see you are an authority on the topic of choice
Perhaps in your business, you have a stash of valuable information that you’d like to give to customers as an added bonus. A collection of blog posts could turn into a great ebook that can be passed on to customers. Another option is to promote your materials with free PDF downloads that require customers to give you their email. You can then curate e-newsletter lists from this data. Offer bonus materials on your website with an opt-in email sign up.
Never Underestimate the Power of Repetition
There is a basic and classic rule for marketing, the “rule of seven.” The customer must hear your message and digest information about your product seven (7) times before they commit. In this fast-paced world of consumerism, it still holds true. The good news is, there are plenty of ways to get the rule of 7 to work for you with so many social media platforms, SEO, Google Analytics data, and your website all at your fingertips. Repurposing content is a must for businesses in today’s marketplace.
Learn how to work the best of what you already have in order to save time and keep high-quality content flowing through your chosen media platforms. With so many versatile options, you’ll be wondering why you didn’t start reworking old content sooner.
The ideas we shared in this blog are proven and easy enough to implement by you or your team. Get in touch with us if you need digital marketing experts to help give your old content a new life and maximize your exposure and results.
