How to Repurpose Content 8 Ways to Recycle What You Already Created

Every marketer should make themselves familiar with how to repurpose content, especially if they’ve been in business for some time. Many of us marketers or small businesses are so focused on churning out piece after piece, that we completely forget about all the great content we’ve already produced. Not to mention, you hit points of burnout throughout the year. The last thing you want to be creating is flat content.

If you’ve been creating content for a while, you likely have lots to choose from. In this post, you’ll learn how you can take what’s already available to you and repurpose content to save time, reach a new audience, and make the most of the hard work you’ve accomplished.

1. Reach Wider Audiences: Some people like to consume content by reading blog posts, others prefer videos, while some like audio-only content like podcasts. If you only publish written content, you could be missing an entire group of people you’re trying to target. By repurposing and then republishing, you are also making content known to more consumers on social media as well as those who haven’t yet seen content come through from your company. New users are hopping online every day!
2. Saves Time: Creating quality content takes time. A lot of time. You may need to conduct research, brainstorm ideas, write a script, gather expert quotes, the list of tasks goes on and on. For most of us, this cycle repeats and repeats, always focusing on the next piece of content. The time it takes to publish new resources adds up. By repurposing content, however, you can draw from past articles, videos, or other assets and cut down on time it takes to produce new assets. You don’t have to create something new every time. Sometimes, you just need to find a way to retell what you’ve already told. And time, my friends, is money.

Evergreen means a piece of content that is always relevant, regardless of how much time goes by. It’s usually on a topic that will continually be searched and receive interest from your audience. It does not include fad topics or time-based information. When deciding which of your content to repurpose, evergreen is a good place to start. Another way to find content that is worth repurposing is by looking at your most popular content.

• Which piece was shared the most on social media?
• Which piece received the most monthly traffic?
• Which of your videos has received the most views?

Narrow down your top performing blog posts and videos by engagement, as this will determine which pieces might be worth dusting off and taking another look at. Any piece with a high number in any of these areas is a good place to start.

Take just one of your suggestions or one of your sections in a piece of content and make it the core of an entire new piece of content. For example, if you previously offered a list of 10 ways to improve your photography skills, then elaborate on one of those tips. Explain the pros and cons of this suggested technique and pull in a testimonial from someone who’s greatly benefited by it. You may even be able to take this same approach with the other nine ideas as well—giving you 10 pieces of new content.

Choosing a new medium to repurpose content is a great way to draw new attention to a piece that may have been sitting there for years. It could mean taking an old blog post and turning it into a guest podcast where an expert comes to speak on the subject. It could also mean taking articles on tips and tricks and turning it into a fun and interactive video. You could also take a blog post with “how to” steps and turn it into a downloadable checklist attached to a form for users to fill out. It’s all about coming up with new ways to engage users so they don’t always have to only read the same thing each time.

You could also write content from a different angle. Sticking with the same exact approach to writing content day in and day out will bore your audiences. Instead of creating 10 ways to do this….or 10 ways to do that, you could share four ways to NOT do this..…or three ways to handle a certain situation with friends. The list goes on. Think outside the box and aim to repurpose content in a way that really peaks your audience’s interest.

An insanely simple way to repurpose your content is to create a round-up or summarized posts. All you do is gather a group of your most popular blogs for the year or articles that fall within a certain topic, and link them in a new round-up post. This post is a fantastic way to grab attention on social media and drive people to the original posts.

We’ve all said or written things at one point in time that are no longer relevant to our audiences or to an industry. Since you wrote your blog on 10 ways to improve photography skills, maybe four new revolutionary ways have been developed. Or maybe you’ve tried the 10th way and found it only ended in disaster. Reference what you said before and provide an update. Give your readers context for what was available before and correct your earlier thoughts. It shows audiences that you are aware and engaged with what is being shared from your business and that you care that they are only receiving the best content.

Even if your content is relevant, it may not be 100% correct. It’s important to regularly run back through old content to ensure dates, times, statistics, spelling, grammar, and tone are all correct. You, like many others, learn and grow over time which means your skills improve. Be sure to go back through old content and update and republish so users aren’t turned off by your incorrect use of “their” (they’re? there?).

One last way to repurpose content is to take your written words and make them visual. Convert it into an infographic that makes it clearer to visual learners or make a video that plainly displays the techniques involved. If you have a blog post or report with content that could be shown visually, creating an infographic is another way to reformat that content. You don’t need to hire a graphic designer to create one either. Tools like Canva, Piktochart, and Venngage all have drag-and-drop builders and templates that enable you to design an infographic on your own.

Content holds a lot of value, but it may hold even more than you think. Take a look at your existing content and think about how you can repurpose it to gain wider engagement from your key audiences. Even better, create new content with these above strategies in mind so that it can be easier for you to repurpose down the line. Repurposing your content can make your life easy, but you can make repurposing even easier by thinking one step ahead.