The Rationale for Creating a Repurpose Strategy
Many content creators are focused on churning out post after post or video after video. It takes a lot of time to create this new content, and a repurpose strategy will help you revive your old content in a fraction of the time.
Remember, if you’ve been blogging and developing videos for years, like me, you’ve got plenty of great content you’ve already produced. You likely have tons of helpful content on your blog, podcast, or YouTube Channel, that you could turn into a lead magnet or reuse in other ways. Let me teach you how to take your available content and reuse it to save time, reach a new audience, and squeeze the most value out of your quality content.
Your repurpose strategy should give your content additional shelf life. Why not take something you’ve created, put a new spin on it, and give it new life? You don’t have to make content day in and day out. You just have to get the content you already have in the hands of more people.
3 Benefits of Repurposing Content
Creating and executing a repurpose strategy has multiple benefits for your business.
1. It saves time.
Creating quality content is time-consuming. You may need to conduct keyword research, brainstorm article ideas and blog titles, interview other experts, write a draft or script, figure out when you have time for hair and make-up to record; the list goes on and on. Instead of always focusing on the next piece of content, take a look at your archives. If you regularly post evergreen content, you are likely sitting on a goldmine. By repurposing content, you can cut down on the time it takes to produce new assets and even outsource the refreshes to someone else.
2. It expands your reach.
Some people like to read while others want to watch or listen. You never know how your audience will consume content, so make it available in multiple formats. For example, we always record my podcast as a live video show for YouTube, then later, the podcast team strips down the audio and creates three different podcast interviews from one show. Then the social media team creates clips from the show to promote it to watchers and listeners.
If you only publish written content, you could be missing an entire group of potential customers. By reformatting content, you can reach different groups of people.
3. It allows you to get the most out of your content
Lastly, you invest time and money to create quality content. By breaking your content into multiple formats and then circulating each piece 2-3 times, you’ll get a more significant return on investment for your hard work.
How to Choose Content for Repurposing
To get started with a repurpose strategy, you have to decide what content is best for repurposing. Begin by looking at what has performed well on your blog and think about what can be done to deliver a new twist on it. If you have been developing content for years and its evergreen content, you can likely dig into your archives to find content that would benefit from being refreshed. Previous successes and relevant topics are two indicators that, if the content were repurposed, it would be well received.
Evergreen content is always relevant. For example, if you focused on a pain point for your target customer in past content, chances are it’s still a problem for them today. When deciding which content to repurpose, you should use only your evergreen content.
Another way to find content worth repurposing is by looking at your Google Analytics.
- What posts resonated with your audience the most (as determined by pageviews or time on the page)?
- Which piece was most shared on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, or Twitter?
- Which piece receives the most monthly traffic?
- Which of your videos has received the most views on YouTube?
Any piece with a high number in these areas is an excellent place to start.
Here are a few additional ideas to include in your repurpose strategy:
- Turn blog posts into solo podcasts
- Turn internal success stories into case studies
- Use blog content for video content
- Use long-form video content as a podcast
- Gather your best blog posts on a topic and create an eBook or lead magnet
- Use testimonials for social media content
- Update old blog posts with new information
- Use book content to develop short-form videos
- Use statistics for social media content
- Use popular blog content to create online courses
- Write guest posts from your most successful content
- Create a webinar based on your most popular content
6 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Blog Posts
The internet has opened up a whole new field of dreams for aspiring writers trying to make a personal connection with interested readers; only the “if you build it, they will come” mantra doesn’t necessarily apply on the blogging circuit.
To hit a home run with a blog post, your blog article must attract and engage readers. Your posts will undoubtedly strike out if your strategy only includes writing compelling content and not promoting it. That’s because penning a piece is only half the job — a great content developer can’t become a successful blogger without regular, responsive readers who comment and share.
To help you out, here are six tips that every content developer should follow to build an audience for your content, whether you’re creating new content or following a repurpose strategy.
1. Know your target audience.
There are two types of desirable online readers: those who follow you already and those who don’t know you but are actively on the hunt for your type of content. The key is to make sure that both groups find you. To stay in touch with the first group of readers, share new content on social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, etc.) each time you publish content.
2. Use SEO to attract new fans.
Give some thought to search engine optimization (SEO) when developing content. By using commonly sought-out keywords and search terms within your posts and understanding search intent, you can gain a higher spot in organic search results, putting you ahead of the competition. Tools like UBERSuggest.com and Google Adwords allow you to research the search volume of specific terms to help you select valuable keywords for your post.
3. Use metadata titles and descriptions for your content.
Brainstorm 10 to 20 broad keywords that describe your industry and blog, then strive to include a handful of those in your posts, including the title. Embedded links can raise your search engine position, so incorporate crosslinks to your own content and third-party sites. Write a 150-character summary (meta description) that appears under your page’s link in search engine results for every blog post you write.
4. Engage people who love your content.
Use catchy headlines to draw people to your content. Titles with numbers and checklists are often successful because they provide visitors with tangible action items.
And vary the types of content you produce. For more than ten years, all I did was write content, then short-form videos became a thing, and I started doing that, and it’s amazing the response that I’ve gotten. Now 75 percent of my audience is 18-44, which is magic for potential brand partners.
Try podcasts, videos, bulleted lists, expert roundups, product reviews, and guest posts. You want your content to feel fresh, not predictable, to your loyal fans. Beautiful artwork is also a must, and be sure to include alt tags with your images to allow them to be indexed. This furthers your SEO efforts and will enable you to build a following on Pinterest.
5. Engage your loyal fans.
A dynamic blog can only be achieved with an engaged audience, so encourage your readers to leave comments and share your content. Then make sure to respond to their posts. Engaging in a conversation with a fan is priceless. Always end your posts or video with a call to action like an open-ended question or a direct appeal, like please share this post, or follow for more.
6. Make it easy to share.
Word of mouth is one of the best marketing tools available. Include social media share buttons on all your posts so that interested readers can pass the content along to their friends and colleagues. The more your content is shared, the more credit it earns with search engines. Include a “Pin It” button with your entries so that folks can pin content from your blog on their boards (just remember that your post must have an image to be pinned).
I hope this article has inspired you to visit your archive of content to pull out some gems that you can use to create new blogs, infographics, eBooks, or videos. If you have always focused on serving your audience, there’s no doubt you have great content to share. Your repurpose strategy will save you time and effort while putting your excellent content in front of more viewers.
Do you follow a repurpose strategy with your content? Share your tips in the comments below!