Given the sheer amount of time, investment, and effort it takes to create great content, it’s a shame the fireworks don’t last long after you hit publish.
Or could they?
Repurposing content is a crucial way for marketers and business owners to keep their content (and investment) alive and relevant for their audiences and businesses.
But should you invest in it?
What is Repurposed Content?
Repurposed content is any content altered to either offer a fresh new perspective on a topic that was originally presented or to use the content on a different platform.
Why Repurpose Your Content?
There are many great reasons why your business could decide to repurpose your existing content, including:
- Your audience may require content in different formats.
- You want to increase the impact of your existing content.
- Your competitors are doing it.
Your Audiences Digest Information In Different Ways
It is no secret that learning style impacts customer engagement. Repurposing content is a great way to meet your audience where they are, whether they are visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or reading/writing learners. When you repurpose your content for different online platforms or business materials, you are giving your idea a better chance of reaching a wider audience and increasing customer engagement.
Increase the Impact of Your Blog
You may already know about the benefits of having a blog, but did you know that by repurposing your blog content, you can increase your blog's impact?
Consider taking an existing blog post and converting it from text into:
- Audio by recording a podcast.
- Video by delivering it over YouTube or another video channel.
- Images by visualizing it in an infographic.
- Ebooks by transforming multiple curated posts into a comprehensive, downloadable piece of content.
Audio
A podcast episode is digestible for audiences who may not have the time or focus to sit down and read a full blog post. With a podcast, you can broadcast your message in a fresh and engaging way. You can add layers of personality and relatability through your vocal tone and style, making it a more personal experience for your audience.
Video
Video is an essential medium to reach your audience – and you don't even need expensive video equipment and editing software to give more action to your existing content.
At Eternity, we have an easy-to-use video maker called Lumen5. This platform enables you to transform a blog post into a video in no time. Now you can reach visual learners (who might be less inclined to read a whole article) with your essential content. Along with posting the video to your social accounts, you can even embed your video directly in your blog post so that the two formats complement one another.
Images
A graphic image can resonate better with visual learners who might not feel as engaged with text-heavy content. A graphic can break down complex information and present it in a visually appealing and easy-to-understand way, thereby increasing your audience's engagement with the content.
Creating visuals is a great way to summarize the key takeaways from a long blog post, enabling readers to get the main message quickly and efficiently. This can lead to better engagement and more shares on social platforms, which is also a key factor in generating more traffic to your website.
Below is an example of how we repurposed essential takeaways from an existing blog post into a shareable infographic on social media:
Ebooks
Repurposing blog content into an ebook is a winning method for generating leads, providing value-added content, and expanding the lifespan and reach of your existing content. An ebook can present an opportunity to take your content to the next level of professionalism and design, which elevates your brand’s impressions.
Your Competitors are Doing It
It's safe to say you shouldn't do something just because your competitors do it.
For instance, just because your competitors jump into a mysterious swamp riddled with alligators doesn't mean you should, too.
But (we’re happy to report!) repurposing content is not mysterious or swampy, and there are no alligators in sight.
Your competitors are already increasing customer engagement and gaining new leads from repurposing their content. And you can, too!
Even More Benefits of Repurposing Your Content
There are several key benefits that come with repurposing your existing content:
Great for SEO:
Google's E-E-A-T guideline: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) is crucial for determining whether Google deems your content to have value for users.
Repurposing your existing content can be a great way to demonstrate your E-E-A-T.
As we've discussed, repurposing existing content allows you to share your message across different formats and reach a wider audience. This creates more opportunities for backlinks, comments and social shares that can boost your ranking.
Repurposing content assists in building a strong brand identity and establishing your website as a reliable and authoritative source of information, which can further increase your ranking and overall visibility.
Presenting One Idea in Multiple Ways:
Your content marketing doesn’t have to end after you hit publish on that blog post. You can expand and express your research in many other ways that will boost your image as an expert: slideshows, videos, whitepapers, free guides, podcasts, infographics, social media posts and so on—one big idea; many different content formats.
Shorter Content Creation Time Required:
Imagine how long it takes to create a great piece of content. Now imagine having to do that every week. You can avoid all that with repurposing. You don’t have to start from scratch — you simply have to transform.
Serve Multiple Audiences:
Repurposing content allows you to cater to different preferences in your audience by presenting the same idea in different ways. That way, nobody gets left out.
Cross-Promotions:
Repurposing your content into different formats allows you to post and promote it across different channels. For example, turning a blog post into bite-sized chunks allows you to post and promote it to your audience on Twitter. At the same time, you can present the main points as slides over Slideshare. Not only does this increase your reach, but it also enhances your branding and increases conversion rates.
Increase Content Longevity:
The longer you keep your content in circulation, the more you can reap the return on your investment. It makes sense to keep hashing out the main idea in new ways to reach new audiences and delight old ones.
Pro Tip: Repurpose User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC for short) is created by users of a product, service, or brand and shared on social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Repurposing this content can be as simple as sharing it in the form of a retweet or a repost to your feed, or it could involve placing it into a branded template for further emphasis or adding commentary in the form of an engaging caption.
Sharing user-generated content also allows you to showcase your customers’ experiences, thereby building a sense of community and promoting positive brand recognition.
3 Next Steps for Repurposing Your Content
1. Know your purpose and goals
It's important to know your purpose and goals before diving into repurposing your existing content to ensure you get the maximum value from your efforts. Having clear goals in mind helps you focus on the most effective strategies for achieving the desired outcome.
Three example goals might be:
- Increase engagement: You may want to repurpose your existing content to increase engagement with your audience. This could involve creating more visual materials with Infographics or instructional video content, which can be highly engaging and shareable.
- Generate leads: You may already have content that's performing well with your audience, and you want to use that content to generate leads. You might convert high-performing blog posts into "lead magnets" like ebooks or webinars that encourage website visitors to provide their email addresses or sign up for a trial.
- Improve SEO ranking: Repurposed content can help you improve SEO ranking. You may want to repurpose your existing content with fresh, up-to-date information or use different formats such as audio, video or custom graphics that can help your content rank higher in search results.
2. Audit your existing content
Performing a content audit is an essential step in repurposing your content. An audit will give you an accurate picture of what already exists.
Your audit will empower you to:
- Identify which pieces of content are high-performing, and which ones are underperforming or outdated.
- Spot the patterns and topics that consistently resonate with your target audience which will enable you to tailor your content accordingly.
- Ensure you don't mistakenly repurpose outdated or inaccurate information, which could damage your brand reputation.
- Identify gaps in your existing content that you can fill with brand new content, rather than repurposing what's already there.
Auditing your content can ultimately lead to more effective repurposing and a higher return on investment (ROI) for your content creation needs.
3. Select Which Content to Repurpose
After you have identified your goals and completed your audit, you are ready to select which pieces of content to repurpose and which formats you will repurpose them on.
Now comes the real fun part … you can start (re)creating!
Closing Thoughts
Repurposing your content allows you to save time and resources by reusing what you already have at your fingertips. It allows you to extend the lifespan of your original content while reaching a whole new audience in an innovative way.
Repurposing promises high rewards for minimal efforts, and you can start today. If you would like some outside help getting started, reach out to us to learn how we can help you.
