Guest post contributor: Nate Ginsburg | Founder, SellerPlex
To get eyes on your startup and build credibility, you need to make sure you have a strong online presence. The most important part of developing a strong online presence is to publish high-quality content on a regular basis.
That’s easier said than done, however, as coming up with new content requires a lot of effort. You need to research a topic, develop that idea to creation, and promote that content in order to generate traffic. Often, there are lots of people involved in this process. This includes social media marketers, specialists in SEO, copywriters, and designers.
Repurposing content can make this whole process a little bit easier. So, what is content repurposing?
What Is Content Repurposing?
Content repurposing refers to taking an existing piece of content and turning it into a new one. For example, you may change the format, the angle, or the channel. If you integrate content repurposing into your content marketing strategy, you can shorten the amount of time it takes for you to produce fresh content.
That way, search engines will still rank your site well and visitors will still like the new content you produce. You’ll have engaging content while saving time and resources, which you can put toward other areas of your digital marketing strategy.
What Are the Benefits and Drawbacks of Content Repurposing?
If you decide to take on content repurposing, there are several benefits you will enjoy. A few of the top benefits include:
Increasing the Reach of Your Content Exponentially
You can take one idea and expand it into several content pieces. For example, you can take a blog post that is ranking well and turn it into a whitepaper, a free information guide, slide show, podcast, video, or all of the above. If you repurpose a piece of content that is already doing well, you can expand its footprint exponentially.
Saving Time
Of course, repurposing content helps save a bunch of time on your digital marketing strategy. There are numerous steps in creating a piece of content that you will not have to repeat. You can take your existing content and apply it to new works, reducing the amount of time you spend researching new ideas.
Reaching New Audiences
In addition, you will be able to reach multiple types of audiences at the same time. For example, some people prefer to read a document, which is why they like the whitepaper. Others might be visual learners and could decide to watch the video instead. Still, there are others who may prefer to listen to your content via podcast during their daily commute. Catering to different demographics and content consumption preferences at the same time is a great way to widen your reach.
Cross-Promoting Your Content
You can also promote your content across multiple channels. For example, you may be able to link to a blog post in your YouTube video description and vice-versa. You could even post a summary of your YouTube video as a blog post using a YouTube video summarizer. This is a neat way to generate some extra traffic toward your startup website.
Extending the Life of Your Content
As soon as your content is published, its remaining lifetime starts ticking away. Some people might miss the publication and might not be as interested in checking it out in a few weeks. If you can publish the same information in multiple ways, you can schedule it to post at different times. That way, you can get more out of your content and extend its life.
Clearly, there are countless benefits when it comes to repurposing content. However, there is one drawback you have to keep in mind.
You have to make sure all the content is unique. If your content is not unique, you risk plagiarizing yourself and consequently getting punished by search engines. As long as you go through the content repurposing process properly, you should be able to avoid this issue.
How Can You Repurpose Content?
To repurpose your existing content successfully and maximize your efforts, you’ll need to create a detailed plan first. You’ll need to brainstorm, plan the production, and streamline your content repurposing plan in alignment with your other marketing efforts.
There are several steps to keep in mind. These include:
- First, start by brainstorming an idea that you can use to create multiple content pieces. How can you create one type of content and translate it into other formats?
- Once you have a general topic, consider how you can apply that across multiple content avenues, catering to different audiences.
- Next, you have to research that idea fully. Start with one piece and work with that piece from start to finish. As you produce that piece, think about how you can transform it into other types of content. If you’re writing a blog post, can you transform the images into a slideshow? Can you use them to create an infographic or an email newsletter? Can you write your blog post in a way that translates into a video script?
- Once you’ve finished your first piece of content, repurpose the other elements into other types of content. You might need to do a bit more research along the way; however, it’s still easier than making something from scratch.
Once you’ve gone through this process several times, it will get faster.
Examples of Repurposing Content
There are several examples of repurposing content. These include:
- Farzad Rashidi repurposed the topics of his e-book into multiple webinars. Those who prefer to learn by reading can read the book; however, other people may prefer to learn visually in the form of a webinar.
- Ben Hardy regularly published on a blog. He decided to repurpose his blog posts into posts on his social media platforms and ended up going viral, exponentially increasing his subscriber count with the help of a social media scheduling system.
- You can also repurpose a popular blog post into a paid e-book. If you are someone who regularly publishes content that is easy to read, it may be able to translate naturally into an electronic book.
- Finally, you may even want to turn video lectures into blog posts. As an example, Moz runs a series called Whiteboard Fridays. Then they take these video lectures and put together blog posts with video transcriptions for those who would rather read than watch.
These are just a few of the many ways you can repurpose your content successfully.
Grow Your Content Strategy by Repurposing Content
If you have content that is doing well, why not use it multiple times? Repurposing existing content is an invaluable tactic to help you get more out of your content marketing strategy.
There are countless ways you can transform existing content into fresh new pieces. That way, you can expand your reach, target new people, and grow your audience.
