Marketing is definitely not an easy job. In some roles, it may even require you to be a social media manager, content marketer, blogger, video editor, and graphic designer, all in one. Creating unique content for social, email, digital, and traditional campaigns can be exhausting, and it's easy to feel stuck and overwhelmed.
Luckily, you don't have to burn yourself out trying to create high-quality content across channels every single day. Content repurposing can help you optimize your content and make your job immensely easier.
What is content repurposing?
Content repurposing is when you use existing content in a new way, on a new platform, or in a new format to get the most use out of it. When you're creating unique content, you can even think ahead to the different ways you'd like to repurpose one piece of content.
However, some people may feel like content repurposing is lazy or too repetitive. This is actually not the case, if you have the right strategy. For example, if you're writing a blog post, it doesn't just have to live on your blog. You can take the same content idea and design some social media graphics or you could expand on your ideas and create a thorough Ebook. You could even use your blog as a script to make a YouTube video! The opportunities are truly endless, and these days if you aren't repurposing your content, you're putting yourself at a disadvantage.
As long as you're using a strategic approach, content repurposing can completely revitalize your marketing strategy. But let's make one thing clear - content repurposing is not just copying blog content and posting it in your Instagram caption. That is a little lazy, and doesn't make sense for the different type of platform.
Why is it useful to repurpose content?
The number one reason to repurpose content is to save yourself time. By repurposing content, you also have the luxury of data and analytics that can help you figure out what content is engaging, and what content isn't.
It can also help your SEO and help you rank higher on Google. Having multiple pieces of content based on similar keywords will result in search engines recognizing you as a source of authority.
Think of it this way, would you trust a blog post about inbound marketing from a marketing company when that is their only piece of content? Or, would you trust advice from a blog post about inbound marketing, that is linked to a YouTube video, an Instagram post, and an Ebook? It's a no brainer. It also proves that you are not just creating content for the sake of doing it, you're providing value to your audience.
Repurposing content also helps you scale your reach. Again, it's very hard for a search engine to find a one-off blog about inbound marketing on a website that has no other content. On the other hand, when you turn your blog post into a YouTube video, an email blast, and social media campaign, it's much easier for people to find your content and engage with it.
Now that you know the benefits of repurposing content and what it is, let's discuss how you can get started.
How can I get started repurposing content?
Start by taking a look at your existing content and its metrics. Take special notice to what has performed well, and what has performed not so well. Then, brainstorm other channels to pursue that would resonate with your audience. For example, if they are receptive to YouTube videos, maybe they would enjoy IGTV videos as well. Here are specific ideas of what content you can repurpose.
Blog Content
Blog content is one of the best pieces of content to repurpose, because it can easily be transferred to a long form video, or even short form copy for social media.
1. YouTube Videos
High-quality blog content is easily repurposed into YouTube videos. You already wrote the script! Now, don't try to just read off your blog post word for word, but you can at least explain the bigger points in the video and then say, "If you'd like to learn more, check out my blog post." and you already have one backlink.
2. SlideShare
This is an incredibly easy way to repurpose content, because it's just repurposing the blog into a presentation. SlideShares are easily shareable, and it can be useful to attach supporting visuals to your blog content. It's also just more palatable for some people, for example, your long form 4 page blog post can be repurposed into a 16 slide SlideShare. And now, it appeals to two different types of people, those who enjoy long form written content, and those who enjoy snippets of content in a visual way.
3. Infographics
If your blog has a lot of statistics or numbers, an infographic is a great way to repurpose it. Numbers are much more appealing in a visual infographic, than a text-heavy blog post. They also provide a quick summary of the ideas in the blog post, and your audience can go back to your blog post for more detail. Infographics are also a great starting point for campaigns. To learn how to use an infographic to create a marketing campaign, click here.
4. Ebooks
Ebooks are a great way to expand upon long form blog content and they are extremely valuable to your audience. Again, you can link your Ebook in your blog post and create a backlink to boost your SEO. Another great benefit of Ebooks is that they are evergreen, if written about the right topics. As long as the topic is not too seasonal or niche, you can use an Ebook as a content offer forever! Ebooks are well worth the time put into them, as they will funnel inbound leads into your audience without any required maintenance.
5. Thought Leadership
If your blogs include any quotes from industry leaders or prominent people in your business, take those quotes and turn them into social media posts. Or, you could compile all of your quotes and turn them into an infographic or email newsletter. People love inspiring quotes, so they will naturally be more inquisitive and want to know more by reading your blog.
6. Podcasts
Podcasts are becoming more and more popular as a content medium. Similar to a YouTube video, you already have the blog to use as a script for the podcast. Podcasts are even less effort than YouTube videos, because they only use audio, rather than visuals and audio. They're also a great opportunity to collaborate with other industry professionals and extend your reach to their audience.
Now that you have 6 ideas to repurpose blog content, here are some ideas to repurpose content for your social media channels.
Social Media
1. Use Old Photos to Create Social Media Graphics
Do you have tons of high-quality visuals that you've already posted on your Instagram? Use them as backgrounds for social media graphics and add quotes or content snippets from blogs on top of them. You'll get double usage out of your images and spice up your social media feed.
2. Repurpose Long Videos into Snippets
Short form videos are exploding in popularity, whether it's on TikTok, Instagram Reels, or Snapchat's Spotlight. If you have a 10 minute YouTube video, you've got five two-minute videos for TikTok! It probably won't work out perfectly to just chop the video and directly post, there will be some editing involved, but you can get a lot of content from even just a 10 minute YouTube video.
3. User-Generated Content
User-generated content includes anything that has come directly from your audience. This could include product reviews, company reviews, or even tweets. Reviews can be particularly effective on social media, because it shows that you're grateful for your customer's reviews and how much you appreciate it. For example, one of our reviews is shown below that we shared across social media.
4. Use Cross-channel Content
We aren't talking about creating a social media post and posting it across Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, because that's just sharing content across channels. Instead, try sharing a screenshot of a Tweet on your Instagram story, or sharing your YouTube video on your Facebook account.
5. Create New Infographics
Again, infographics are an incredibly engaging way to share content to your audience. Presenting data in a visual way is infinitely more engaging than in a text-heavy medium. Check out our Shiny vs. Sticky infographic for an example by clicking here.
6. Take Quotes from Existing Content
Again, quotes are perfect for social media. In particular, Instagram and Twitter are the most effective for sharing quotes across a wide audience.
Webinars and Videos
Video content is the most unique form of content. They allow your users to engage with the content, however, they are not the most accessible. On the other hand, there are ways to easily repurpose videos into other mediums so everyone can enjoy your content.
1. Transcripts
This is an easy way to make your videos accessible to a wider audience, especially for those who use Assistive Technology. In addition to creating transcripts, you can caption your videos.
2. Turn Transcripts into Blog Posts
Now that you've done the work of creating a transcript for your video, you can easily turn it into a blog post. As long as your video was structured, the transcript will probably be easily turned into a blog post without much editing.
3. Create a Podcast
It's incredibly easy to turn a video into a podcast episode, you already have the audio! It may require some light editing, but then all you have to do is post it to your podcasting platform.
Audio and Podcasts
Podcasts have exploded in popularity in the past few years, and podcast episodes allow creators to connect with their followers in a personal way. They also serve as a great way to reach Millennials and Gen Z audiences. Here are some ideas to repurpose your podcast episodes into other forms of content:
1. Record Your Podcast Sessions
People love podcasts because it feels like an engaging conversation. If you take the time to record the video portion of your podcast, you can cut snippets of the conversation and share them across social media. This can be a great way to introduce your podcast to new viewers in an engaging way. You can also post the full-length recording on YouTube so people can enjoy it in long form as well.
2. Pull Quotes
This has already been mentioned a few times, but that only shows how effective quotes are on multiple platforms. Especially if you get guests to come on your podcast, you've got an entire repository of quotes to choose from. You can share these on social media graphics, or even in blog posts.
3. Transcripts
In the same way you can write transcripts for videos, you can do the same thing for videos and webinars, and turn them into blog posts. It's important to remember that when transcribing podcasts into blog posts, you may need to watch out for shifts in tone and writing style, as podcasts tend to be more conversational in nature.
4. Embed Your Podcasts into Blog Posts
There are so many things you can embed these days, which is useful for sharing content and providing additional value for your users. For example, HubSpot has a feature that allows you to directly embed your podcasts into blog posts.
Repurposing Older Content by Refreshing
Sometimes your older content just needs a refresh. If 2020 taught us anything, it's that things can change at any moment. New developments and advice are coming up constantly, and instead of creating brand new content every time, refreshing old related content can be just as useful.
You are also not limited to just updating the written content, you can update your call to action or add new CTAs to increase lead generation potential.
Remember when we said Ebooks can be evergreen? It's absolutely true, but that doesn't mean you can't make any changes to an Ebook. Once you've made your changes to it, you can re-promote it and write a new blog post related to the Ebook. This will give you all of the benefits of launching an Ebook, such as social media reach and engagement, without having to write an entire new one.
Utilizing Existing Content
If you create any type of content, no matter what it is, you know how much work goes into it. And putting out more isn't always better. Identify your most high-quality pieces of content and repurpose them into all of the different ideas we provided, and you will save yourself so much time.
Repurposing your content also does not serve as a replacement for creating new content. Eventually, you'll run out of content. But it is a powerful supplementary strategy to level up your entire content strategy and provide your audience with the most value.
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