Running a business is a constant juggling act. It’s chasing up invoices, racing between client meetings and fielding urgent emails — all day, every day. And for many biz owners, finding time to work on their business rather than in their business can be a challenge. Creating a consistent online presence involves planning and preparation. It means creating regular blog content, sharing meaningful social posts and heck, even jumping in front of the camera for a live Q&A session on IG Stories. That’s a whole lotta content to be creating! But, have you ever considered leveraging content you’ve already created? Instead of racking your brain for new ideas each and every week, repurposing your existing content is a powerful way to maximise your time and energy in resourceful ways. So, what does it mean to repurpose content? How can you repurpose past blogs, videos and marketing material without your content seeming repetitive? And is it possible to reach new audiences with repurposed content? Never fear Plann’rs, this blog has you covered! Discover 21 expert tips to effectively repurpose content like a pro and supercharge your content marketing success.
What is repurposing content?
Before we jump in, let’s nail the basics. Repurposing content is all about breathing new life into old content. It’s about taking existing pieces of content (such as blogs, videos, social posts etc.) and finding creative ways to reshare this information with your audience. The act of repurposing content enables you to save time in the content creation process by leveraging existing posts and finding new ways to present this information. Plus, repurposing content ensures your new followers get the most value from your existing content (regardless of whether you’ve shared it already or not). It’s about working smarter not harder and finding new ways to add value without having to write hundreds of blog posts or filming endless videos. Sounds good? Let’s dive into the easy ways you can get started on repurposing content today!
1. Identify your evergreen content opportunities
The first step to effectively repurposing content is to understand which content has the highest chances of long-term relevance. This means identifying your evergreen content opportunities, or content doesn’t go out of date. Start by reviewing your existing blogs, eBooks, social posts and video content to assess which content is both timeless and high-quality. This will ensure you’re spending your time repurposing content that will be valuable to your audience now and for the years to come.
2. Tap into your most popular content themes or topics
It’s time to head to Plann’s ‘results’ section and dig into your analytics! Before you start repurposing content, it’s a good idea to review your posts to ensure you identify the top-performing themes and topics. The means looking for content that generates the highest clicks, social posts with highest engagement rate and video content with the highest views. This increases your chances of repurposing content that will resonate and perform well with your existing audience.
3. Map out a plan for repurposing content
With your evergreen content and top content themes ready, it’s time to create a plan for repurposing your existing content. Create a simple content calendar that shows what posts you’ll be sharing to your different marketing channels (such as your mailing list, blog and social profiles). By planning out your repurposed content a few weeks in advance, you’ll be able to curate posts around a specific topic to ensure you’re sharing content that’s meaningful, relevant and consistent. Plus, this will help you save time as you can plan, create and schedule these posts in advance to free up for time for you to turn your attention towards growing your business!
4. Clarify the message you want to communicate with repurposed content
This next tip is all about refining your content objectives and content strategy. While repurposing content can be an effective way to boost reach and leverage your most popular posts, it’s important to make sure this repurposed content aligns with your overall business objectives. What key messages are you trying to communicate? Who are you trying to reach and engage with? How does this content meet the needs of your audience? Get clear and specific about what messages you’re trying to communicate and strategically repurpose content that reinforces these brand messages.
5. Turn old blogs into downloadable guides
Alright, now it’s time to start repurposing! One of the best ways to give blog posts a second life is to repurpose this valuable content into downloadable guides. Look for your top performing blog posts and find ways to reimagine this content in a more visual way as a downloaded PDF guide. Use free graphic design software such as Canva to turn this content into visually engaging guides by adding high-quality brand or stock imagery, dynamic colours and fonts as well as infographics and stats. The best bit? You can use the same copy you’ve already created and find new ways to edit and present this information in a guide format.
6. Use past blogs as scripts for video content
Speaking of repurposing blog content, another great strategy for reimagining this content is to use this copy as a script for video content. That’s right, you can turn engaging blog posts into videos by using these posts as a starting point for interviews and conversations in a video format. This tip is fantastic for brands who are unsure about creating video content as it takes the guesswork out of what to create and film, as you already have a complete script ready to go! Plus, the value of video content has never been greater with 80% of consumers stating they would rather watch video content than read a blog from a business.
7. Pull out meaningful stats to create helpful infographics
Your existing content includes a wealth of knowledge ready to be repurposed. In fact, many of your blog posts, email newsletters and videos probably contain meaningful stats that your audiences might have missed. So, why not turn this data into engaging visual infographics? By creating simple graphics you can share these bite-sized pieces of information with your audience easily on social media to build trust and provide value to your followers. Not sure how to create infographics? Try using free online tools such as Visually or PikToChart.
8. Update old content with new, up-to-date information
News, updates and developments are constantly being rolled out across every industry. To help keep your audience up-to-date with the latest information, repurpose your old blogs by updating with the most relevant stats and data. Refreshing old blog posts with the most current information gives new life to old pieces of content plus demonstrates your expertise as a thought leader in your industry all at the same time.
9. Group similar blogs into downloadable guides
Crafting engaging blog content takes time and effort. After pouring so much energy into creating this content, it’s important to get the most value out of it! That’s why we love grouping together similar blogs to create downloadable guides! Not only is this an oh-so-easy way to repurpose your existing content but can also help to increase traffic to your website.
10. Turn your top performing social posts into blog posts
What are your top performing posts on social media? Whether it’s stats about an industry trend or tips about a common customer pain-point, your social media posts are a goldmine of content opportunities just waiting to be repurposed. Head to the ‘results’ tab in Plann and review which posts are performing best with your audience. Jot these posts down and use these to create a bank of potential blog topics to leverage in the weeks and months ahead. Do you receive similar questions from your customers on a regular basis? Whether you have a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ page on your website or a list of common customer pain-points, these questions are an amazing content opportunity. Think about creative ways you can use these questions to produce engaging pieces of content to meet the needs of your followers.
12. Transform testimonials or reviews into social posts
Testimonials are a proven strategy for building trust and brand preference, but you already know that! In fact, the stats show that 72% of customers point to positive reviews as a key factor that increases their trust in a business. Let your customers and clients advocate for your brand in their own words by creating social posts from positive reviews or testimonials. Look at your Google or Facebook Reviews or ask past and current clients to share testimonials to start building this bank of valuable content to share and repurpose across your social channels. How To Get Ahead With Your Social Media Content In Slow Times Learn how to get more intentional with your posting and how to plan out themed and seasonal content
13. Create a bank of social posts based on your post popular blogs
On social media, it’s important to make your point as quickly as possible. According to research, brands should share their core message within the first 10 seconds of a video in order to be remembered by audiences. To get straight to the point, businesses should be repurposing long-form blog content into bite-sized social posts. Start by reviewing your post popular blogs and creating a bank of stats, tips and key quotes that you can repurpose into social graphics and posts to share with your audience. Plus, you can drive traffic back to your website by adding a call to action to the caption of your post telling users to read the full blog via the link in your bio!
14. Produce slide decks or presentations from your top performing content
Want to solidify your place as a thought leader in your industry? Repurposing your top performing posts into slide decks is a powerful strategy to take advantage of. Look at which blog and social posts have achieved the best results with your audience and use these posts as a basis for new pieces of content. Think about creative ways you can transform the content of these blogs into interesting, value-driven presentations and slide decks that can be shared with potential customers and clients. To boost the reach of this content, why not upload these branded presentations to social sites such as SlideShare to help you engage with new pools of potential customers.
15. Repromote refreshed blog posts on social media
Once you’ve taken the time to update or refresh past blog posts, it’s time to share this repurposed content with your audiences on social media. The simple act of sharing this repurposed content via your social channels maximises the reach of these posts and provides new opportunities for audiences to engage with your brand.
16. Turn blog posts into engaging email newsletter series
Looking for new ways to engage with your mailing list? Try producing a bespoke email marketing series based on a selection of similar blog topics. Create 3 to 5 short newsletters based around these blogs and encourage users to head to your website to read the full version of each blog. Not only will this repurpose your existing blog content but helps to re-engage your mailing list and increase website traffic all at the same time.
17. Create an eBook to repurpose popular content
Who doesn’t love a freebie? Give your audience access to free valuable content by repurposing blogs, videos and even social posts into downloadable eBooks. This repurposed content can also serve as a powerful lead magnet for your business. Simply add a sign-up form that asks users to share their name and email address to unlock and access this free repurposed content. This will help you build an engaged mailing list that you can retarget with future promotions, blogs and other pieces of repurposed content.
18. Tweak existing content to create guests blogs
Did you know that nearly 60% of blogs publish up to 5 guest posts every month? For businesses looking to expand their reach online, guest blogging is a powerful strategy to connect with likeminded brands and new pools of potential customers. Do you research and identify a list of blogs aligned with your business that you can reach out to. Next, review your existing blog content and find ways to tweak and edit this copy to create new pieces of repurposed content. Once you’ve been accepted as a guest blogger, you can share this repurposed content with these new audiences to maximise the value of this existing content. Talk about a win-win!
19. Use popular content to create a podcast series
Have you considered launching a podcast? It’s no secret that podcasting has risen dramatically in popularity, with over 30 million podcast episodes published as of April 2020. One of the best ways to launch your very first podcast is to repurpose your popular content into engaging podcast episodes. By using these popular content themes as the basis for podcast episodes you’re guaranteed to capture the attention of audiences in this new format and will save time and energy when producing your first episodes.
20. Host a webinar to share top performing content in a new medium
Showcase your industry expertise with audiences by repurposing your existing content into interactive webinars and training sessions. Try hosting these on social media to leverage your existing social audiences and find new ways to share and repurpose this content in an educational context. Plus make sure to record and repost these live webinars to maximize the reach and value of this repurposed content on your feed for weeks and months to come.
21. Leverage business data to create case studies
The data and insights you’ve collected for your brand resent a powerful opportunity for repurposing content. Consider ways to share and present this information to your audience using engaging case studies. By transforming data and stats into insightful case studies you’ll be able to communicate your success and expertise in new and engaging ways with potential customers online. So, there you have it Plann’rs! When it comes to repurposing content it’s important to understand the most valuable pieces of content to leverage and reshare with your audience. By taking the time to identify your evergreen content and popular content opportunities, you’ll be in the best place to maximize your time and effort by repurposing timeless content that will continue to add value both now and in the years to come.
