If you’re like most marketers, your goal is to reach the largest percentage of your demographic possible. Doing so gives you the best chance of generating leads, making conversions, and hopefully establishing long-term relationships. Although there are numerous ways to accomplish this, perhaps one of the best is by repurposing content.
We work hard and invest a lot of resources in creating content. But it often dies on the platform and the day we publish it. Why? Because content marketing strategies don’t stop after you hit publish. With the right strategy, it can live on for years, producing a valuable ROI.
Repurposing refers to the process of taking a piece of content from one platform, reworking it, and reusing it on an entirely new platform.
For example, let’s say you normally post an article on your blog and do nothing afterward. That could be a future email, Instagram post, tweet, Facebook post, LinkedIn post, etc. It's not just sharing the article. It's creating a new piece of content designed within that platform and its audience.
In this article, we'll dig deeper into what it means to repurpose content and how you can use it in your marketing campaign.
Reposting vs. Repurposing
First of all, it’s important to explain the difference between these two marketing techniques because it’s easy to get them confused.
Reposting involves taking one piece of content and posting it on multiple platforms. For example, you might post an original article on your blog, and then repost the same article on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
This is a valid strategy and in certain cases should be practiced. But this isn’t the end of your content. You’ll also find that people consume information differently per platform and just re-posting will cost you engagement and potential leads.
Repurposing differs because you might create a podcast, whitepaper, or YouTube video that covers the same material but is in a totally different format. You can think of it as recycling an existing piece of content so that it's accessible on a variety of platforms.
For example, you publish an article. You could create Instagram slides (graphics) that have your main points and then include a small blurb in the description. Now a visual audience on a different platform benefits from your original content. You just expanded your reach!
How to Repurpose Content
To begin, you should find an article or blog post you have created that has been successful and received plenty of positive feedback. Use data to fully optimize your campaign. You don’t want to repurpose content that hasn’t resonated with your audience. Use native tools within the platforms to gather data or other tools available online.
If you wowed your audience once on one platform, odds are you can do it again on another.
You will then need to decide which platforms you want to use for repurposing the original piece of content. Remember, don’t force a platform if your audience doesn’t use it. Just like in the physical world, meet people where they are. Would you try to sell fiction books at a sporting event? Probably not. But maybe a park, college campus, or commuter trains. The same goes for social media and online platforms.
As mentioned earlier, podcasts, whitepapers, and videos are great places to start. You could also use email newsletters, infographics, webinars, slideshows, and presentations. With so many possibilities, you have plenty of options to choose from. Just make sure that a reasonable percentage of your audience engages with the platform you choose.
What you want to do is deliver the same core message from your original piece of content, but rework it so it can be easily understood on the new platform. If you are using two platforms that involve written text, try to not copy any content verbatim, but spin it so that it comes across as being unique.
Essentially, one piece of content can turn into dozens or more. All it takes is an intentional strategy, a little knowledge of each platform, the tools to do it, and some creativity.
The Benefits
While Repurposing content is a relatively simple process, it comes with some significant benefits.
One of which is the ability you have to reach more people. Since everyone has their preference when it comes to how they absorb content, you can increase your presence by adapting to those preferences. For instance, one person may love reading blog posts and another would rather listen to podcasts. Think of it as you are providing more accessibility for different styles to consume media. The more you can repurpose, the bigger reach you get. And if you reach more people, you’ll likely get more sales and engagement.
Additionally, repurposing is a natural catalyst for branding. When it comes to online marketing, the companies that succeed tend to be the ones who are in the most places. By spreading your message out across several platforms, it makes it easier for customers to identify you and recognize your company as a unique brand.
Repurposing content is a powerful way to grow your brand and company. In fact, we’ll go even further and say it is necessary.
A company needs to meet customers where they are. That includes many places and in different styles. A great marketing campaign plans for this and develops great content for everyone, everywhere.
You can start repurposing content today. Review what you already have. Ask yourself where your customers like to hang out. Is there a platform you can introduce yourself to? Or do you find that your content is all over the place but isn’t repurposed for all platforms? Create a plan with your existing content.
