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Unlock New Possibilities By Repurposing Content

Follow these tips for repurposing content to give new life to old pieces and reach a larger audience. Here are the best practices and benefits to know.

Having the right content that will attract the type of customers you want has long been established as a best practice online. This content can be anything from an article, blog post, landing page, or any other type of content. Traditionally, online content has been written content. If you've had a website for your business for any length of time, you are aware of how much written content you have.

However, like any type of marketing, the content that attracts new business to your website or brick-and-mortar store is changing. Users have more types of content to experience, like image content, video content, audio content, and AI-driven content.

All of these content formats have fans, which is not surprising as people learn in different ways. Each type of content is useful for different situations, such as listening to a podcast while driving or watching a video at a staff meeting.

But that doesn't detract from the value of your written content. And that's because customers still ask the same questions and want to learn more about your products or services before they buy. They need product knowledge and answers to frequently asked questions after they buy.

This supports the old adage that content is king. What has changed is how the content is distributed.

This situation makes repurposing your existing content a key factor in finding and retaining your customer base. You can take your company's blog posts and use them as the basis for new videos, podcast episodes, or social media content.

What is repurposing content?

Content repurposing is taking your old, traditional content and using it as a starting place for content in new formats. That doesn't mean just copying your content from one format to another. In other words, it's not enough to read your blog content out loud to offer audio content.

Instead, you repurpose content by taking the original content and looking for fresh ways to present the concepts using video, audio, or social media to offer the product knowledge to your customers. When you do repurpose your content for new formats, you most likely will have to revise, edit, or add to the blog content to create high-quality content that offers true value.

For new customers, this information is brand new, but existing customers have already seen the content in one format. Instead, repurposed content is another way to engage them and refresh the content in their minds. And all of this is optimized to appear at the top of the SERPs for your keywords.

Why should you repurpose content?

What are the benefits of repurposing your old blog posts? Repurposing offers many benefits for your business and for your audience.

Benefits you should consider:

  • Repurposing your content makes it easier to scale. Every piece of new content you create can be distributed to your audience in several formats.
  • Your content reaches a new audience. Target audience members who don't like to read content may prefer to listen to a podcast or watch a video.
  • Repurposing content reinforces your message. If your audience has read your blog post, and then listens to a podcast episode on the same topic, they retain the information better.
  • Your repurposed content gives your business improved organic visibility.
  • Repurposed content improves your SEO.

Identify your best-performing content

When you get started, the best content to repurpose is your top-performing content. Why should you start there? It's highly likely that high-performing content in written form will translate into high-performing content in other formats. It's not guaranteed, but a good place to start.

To find your best-performing content, look at your metrics. Usually, the best-performing content is evergreen content. But, that is not a hard and fast rule. Your best-performing content may be seasonal.

Understand your target audience

Don't assume that your target audience is exactly the same for each format when you are repurposing content. People learn better in different ways, and younger audiences are more used to newer formats. The range of demographics for each type of format overlaps, but is distinctly different.

To find your best-performing content, look at your blog's analytics. Search for posts that rank for shares, linking structure, organic visibility, and other performance statistics.

Other ways to find content to repurpose are:

  1. Read your recent reviews.
  2. Research competitors' content.
  3. See which content gets more user engagement.
  4. Repurpose all of your new content.

Find more ways to find your target audience here.

Repurposing content tips

Not sure what to do now that you've decided which content to repurpose? Here are some tips to help you get started creating quality content.

Create new formats

Repurposing content works very well when you create new formats. Suggestions of formats include:

  • Social media posts
  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Slide show/presentations
  • FAQ
  • Podcasts
  • Case studies
  • Whitepapers
  • Landing pages
  • Testimonials
  • Online courses

Update old content with new information

Your content is most useful to users if it is up-to-date. Consistently updating your existing content makes it more valuable to customers.

The easiest way to update content is to add new information that's relevant to the topic. This could be information that has been discovered after the initial publish date, or it could be expanding your coverage on the topic to be more in-depth. When repurposing old content, it's best to update the older content.

Turn long-form content into shorter pieces

Long-form blog posts aren't always read by website visitors. People often scan longer content. One way to get more interest in long-form content is to cut it into shorter pieces. This works well with posting content on social media platforms, video sites, or on slide shows.

Create a series of related content

Find or create related content and present it in a series. Think of it like chapters in a book, or a series of videos, or a group of podcasts. Shorter content is better for keeping the audience's attention. By linking the series together, your traffic will flow from one post to the next.

Repurpose social media posts into blog posts

It's easy to picture turning blog posts into social media posts, but what about vice versa? If you have social media posts that get a lot of attention, why not turn them into new types of blog posts. Linking from your social media posts to your blog posts will drive traffic to your blog.

Collaborate with others to create new content

The easiest example of collaboration is an interview. Invite experts to offer their experience to add depth to your content. You can interview them on videos or podcasts on topics that you have blogged about, or you can create new content in conjunction with others.

This format works well with podcasts because you can listen to more than one voice, but you can collaborate with others to create most types of content, from FAQs to demonstration videos.

Distribute and promote your repurposed content

Repurposed content is still content, and while you will get traffic from SEO, you also need to get it out there and promote it. Most businesses commonly create social media posts for every blog post, but you can promote podcasts on videos, videos on social media, and blog posts on podcasts.

Not every type of promotion is online. You can also promote content to customers you meet or talk to in person. This article on promoting blog posts can give you more ideas.

Remain consistent when you repurpose your existing content. Consistency is the best way to retain your audience. Podcasts that come out every Friday can become a habit for your audience to listen to.

The same is true of videos, blog posts, and any content with multiple posts. This concept is used for television shows, streaming content, and new book distribution. Think of how avid fans of a TV show wait for each new episode. This concept of a distribution schedule is a great way to whet your audience's anticipation.

Social media marketing is a tried-and-true method of spreading the word when it comes to anything new. Find the social media sites that are popular with your target audience. Then repurpose your blog content by creating social media posts for your followers. You can increase your reach with relevant ads on social media.

Mailchimp has several services that can help you get the word out. Mailchimp is well-known for its email marketing service, but Mailchimp has other services, such as ecommerce and retail marketing, mobile apps, and websites.

All of these tools and services can help you create and spread the word about your products and services. Starting with email marketing, you have a lot of options in how to both repurpose your content and promote the same content. Use the expertise that Mailchimp can offer to reach out to your target audience, so they can learn what your business can do for them.

When you repurpose your old content, you are offering valuable information for customers that they can choose to read, listen to, watch on video, or another method that they like the best. This gives the customer the opportunity to choose how they want to engage with your business and makes it much more likely that they enjoy engaging with it.

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