Did you write an awesome blog post that just didn’t get the traffic it deserved? Or maybe you wrote a piece that was a big hit on social media and deserves a second debut?
Repurposing content is a great way to make sure your ideas get the love they deserve and that you reach every potential corner of your target audience.
This isn’t simply writing another social media post for your recent blog post - repurposing content generally means taking your content and reposting on a different medium.
Utilizing previously written content can help you when you struggle to publish as many blog posts as you'd like. It's the perfect solution for writer's block.
It can also help you ingrain your ideas in the minds of your readers. Not everyone grasps an idea the same way - some people are auditory learners, some are visual. Presenting similar content in different formats gives all your readers a chance to get what they need from your content.
Here’s what the experts have to say about getting the most out of your content.
Write a Blog Post Series
Brad Smith - Partner at Codeless Interactive
If a lot of your blog posts are bulleted or numbered lists, take advantage of this bite sized content. If you have a list-style blog post with 5 main points, turn that post into 5 new posts.
By briefly expanding on each topic, you get a chance to show your expertise and explain a concept a little more in-depth for your readers.
Brad notes that the one topic series works in reverse as well. You can condense a handful of related blog posts into one listed blog post. This gives you a quick way to summarize a complex topic and a chance to link to each post for added visibility.
Make it Visual
Kevan Lee - Content Crafter at Buffer
Kevan offers a slew of ways to easily turn a text blog post into a fresh, visual piece of content. Here’s two ideas for creating visual content out of an old post -
- Presentations - Sites like Canva can help you put together attractive slides, then host them on SlideShare. Presentations force you to determine what the most important aspects of your article are, so the slides don’t get too text-heavy.
- Infographics - Pull out the important statistics from your blog post and explain them in an infographic. Even if you’re not a designer, sites like Piktochart make it easy to put together an appealing infographic.
Let them Listen
QuickSprout
QuickSprout suggests getting an audio recording of a professional voice speaking your post using a site like Fiverr. Once you have the audio content, you can host a podcast for your listeners on the go.
If you want to do it yourself, set yourself up in an area with good lighting and record yourself talking about the blog post. It might take a couple of tries to get the tone right, but once complete and hosted on Youtube, promote it on your blog and on social media.
Freshen It Up
Kevin Barber - President of Lean Labs
Kevin recommends adding something fresh to the repurposed content so it doesn’t feel like you're feeding your reader leftovers.
Whether you’re turning your old blog post into a new YouTube video or ebook, add something fresh to entice your readers to take a look again. Revitalize up the content with an added takeaway or a new visual aspect to help them grasp the topic in a different way.
Look Ahead
If you craft content the first time with repurposing in mind, it may make it a bit easier to morph into different types of content.
While writing a new blog post, put some thought into how you can repurpose it throughout the year. Could you easily turn it into an infographic a week after initial posting? In three months should you work on turning it into a video? Could you make a few changes and post it on LinkedIn's content publishing format?
Schedule repurposing blog posts into into your content calendar as a reminder, and you may end up making the process flow a bit easier.
