When planning your content marketing strategy, do you think through multiple ways you can use any single piece of content? If not, you should. By repurposing your content for multiple channels or formats, you can more effectively meet the needs of your audience while also balancing your team’s resource constraints, making it a winning strategy for any content marketer—if approached the right way.
This week, the #ContentChat community discussed the value of reusing content and traded tips on how to effectively recycle content without seeming stale. Read the recap below, and use #ContentChat on Twitter if there is a piece of content you’re trying to repurpose and would like the community to share ideas.
Q1: Is upcycling, recycling, or repurposing content a consistent component of your content strategy? If not, why not—what has been holding you back?
Let’s kick things off with some clarification. For today’s chat, upcycling/recycling/repurposing means taking a piece of content in its original form and then turning it into something else.
Would you mind clarifying upcycling, recycling or repurposing? Do you mean sharing the same content across social platforms, using it for BD purposes, in emails to new prospects, etc – OR taking big chunks of the content and spinning new themes from that into new articles, etc?
— Caroline (@CAZJAMES) April 27, 2020
Excellent question. I mean taking a piece of content in its original form and turning it into something else. Like a blog into a book. Or an infographic into a social media series. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) April 27, 2020
The vast majority (93%) of our poll respondents are content recyclers, with only a handful of folks using a one-and-done method.
Q1: Is upcycling, recycling, or repurposing content a consistent component of your content strategy? If not, why not—what has been holding you back? #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) April 27, 2020
Repurposing content is an efficient use of your team’s time (especially if you’re a small team with limited resources), and you’ll likely see greater traction from your content if you are presenting it multiple ways.
A1a: Content reuse is always part of any project I pitch b/c if content was worth creating in the 1st place, it’s worth putting it to use in different mediums. #ContentChat https://t.co/CNEAsLCYQP
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) April 27, 2020
A1: I’ve said this dozens of times across so many channels – if you haven’t used a piece of content at least three times, you’ve wasted it. #ContentChat
— John Cloonan (@johncloonan) April 27, 2020
A1: A good rule of thumb is that recycling is never a bad thing. If you can get more value our of your content without cheapening it, why not? Plus, if you put in good effort for the first piece, it should be solid enough to be repurposed plenty of times. #contentchat
— ChipBot🚀📈 (@getchipbot) April 27, 2020
A1: A little column A, a little column B.
Repetition can be great for emphasis, and re purposing content to reflect and create nostalgia can be valuable.
80% of the time though i’d say that unique fresh content will serve you better long term.#ContentChat
— Dakota Snow 📸🏎️🏁 (@DaksAhoy) April 27, 2020
A1: I recommend content repurposing to clients as part of the content planning/writing and editing process. #ContentChat
— Darcy De Leon 👩🏻💻🏠Blog Editor (@darcydeleon) April 27, 2020
Hard YES to content repurposing! This would definitely depend on your goals—but I love having a solid base of ‘evergreen’ content that can evolve over time and be both a great resource for our audience and a great driver of traffic 📈 #ContentChat https://t.co/OVlJUfTiKc
— Meisha Bochicchio (@MarketingMeisha) April 27, 2020
Despite the inherent benefits of content recycling, there are several potential hurdles in the process. For example, you may not have access to the design resources needed, or your content may be spread across too many topics (making repurposing difficult as you are always moving on to a new topic).
A1b: When it comes to my own content marketing, I don’t do as much of this as I’d like, because I don’t have a designer as part of our team…yet! So we are limited to what @AlekIrvin and I can come up with in Canva, mostly. 🙂 #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) April 27, 2020
A1: I try to repurpose/re-share but admittedly not great at it. As a freelancer my work for the last 4-6 years has been spread across tons of different publications/sites which makes it more challenging. #ContentChat
— Raj Chander (@raj_chander) April 27, 2020
A1
Currently, I’m not a content recycler but the idea of being able to use your content on multiple outlets has been appealing. I think what’s holding me back is figuring out which platform works best for me as a creative. #ContentChat— sam (@samisbored) April 27, 2020
Q2: Why should creative reuse of your content be included in your content strategy?
You maximize the value of your content reuse by planning for it before you create the base content.
A2a: When you bake in the creative reuse of your content to your #contentstrategy, you can often save time and money upfront by having the same team create an entire suite of content using the same creative instead of a one-off piece now and something else later. #ContentChat https://t.co/2ekHQMSrU5
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) April 27, 2020
This “value” encompasses a few areas. First, there is the financial side. Great content requires time, money, and team resources, and you can more efficiently repurpose a piece of content than you can create an entirely new piece. Plus, when you create multiple pieces of content around a central theme, you will likely see greater traction on each piece.
A2) Value maximization is pretty important. Clients and creatives spend a lot of time and money into creating good content and its utility should be worth the investment. #contentchat
— OnePitch (@onepitchsaas) April 27, 2020
A2: The sign of a well-oiled #contentmarketing strategy is low effort that leads to high [and valuable] output. Branching out and growing an audience is often as easy as repacking well-performing content so that it works on other channels. #contentchat
— ChipBot🚀📈 (@getchipbot) April 27, 2020
A2: Time and money are why you need creative reuse of your #marketing content. There is not enough of either to keep creating new content. Creativity is key. #contentchat
— Jason King (@jjking24) April 27, 2020
The reason you need to repurpose content is that your audience has unique needs and preferences on how to consume content. Create your content for different channels, formats, and angles to ensure a greater portion of your audience members can gain value from it.
A2b: But in addition to the WIIFM for the content marketer, repurposing your content from one type of content into another form also is valuable to your community, who may prefer a different content type for consuming your information than you first envisioned. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) April 27, 2020
A2: Because people consume content on many different channels and in different formats. You want to edit every single piece of content so you can reach more people, meet their needs.#ContentChat
— Darcy De Leon 👩🏻💻🏠Blog Editor (@darcydeleon) April 27, 2020
There might be a split in your audience in terms of what medium they prefer – someone might favor watching an informational video rather than reading a long-form blog post.#ContentChat
— Mary Clare G2 (@g2_mary) April 27, 2020
A2. The blessing and the curse is that everyone digests content differently so repurposing is a necessity, but it also makes for a little more work on the weekend. #ContentChat
— Shawn Paul Wood (@ShawnPaulWood) April 27, 2020
A2a: People consume and respond to content differently. Some of your readers may prefer a blog, others may prefer an infographic or podcast. It allows you to cast a wider net + get more bang for your 💰 +⏲️ #contentchat
— WriterGirl (@WriterGirlAssoc) April 27, 2020
A2. The goal of content reuse (besides reuse!) is really to reach people who haven’t or wouldn’t see it in it’s current format. Often you can reach an audience in other formats with slightly changed content. #ContentChat https://t.co/SwzDJciSXx
— Jen Brass Jenkins (@chrliechaz) April 27, 2020
Additionally, content repurposing can help your team keep up with the fast-paced media and content landscape.
A2: In the current media landscape it’s important to create fast content and it’s an easy to keep up by repurposing content. Also, by repurposing or up cycling content for different media outlets you are able to reach an audience you hadn’t with the original content. #ContentChat
— Taylor Rogers (@taysburner) April 27, 2020
If there is not an apparent way or need to repurpose your content, reconsider its value and assess whether it is actually serving your community.
A2c: And if you create content that doesn’t seem to lend itself to being repurposed, you may want to ask yourself if it is really serving the needs of your community, or if it’s more of a 1-time campaign and not part of a strategic content marketing program. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) April 27, 2020
Q3: Are there any downsides to repurposing content?
There are downsides to repurposing content, and they largely depend on how much planning your team puts into your content reuse. Remember that the focus should always be on your audience—they aren’t as close to the content as you are as the creator, so their threshold for what feels stale will be different than yours.
A3a: Marketers can get bored with their topic and visuals (hence why brands redesign all the things with such frequency). So repurposing can feel a bit stale to you even if it feels fresh to your audience (who hasn’t seen everything you’ve ever produced, unlike you). #ContentChat https://t.co/zw6Cohkj3v
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) April 27, 2020
The most common issue with repurposed content is if it sticks too close to the original content, which is not valuable for your audience. Content recycling is not a copy and paste exercise, and there needs to be a clear value-add of each piece of content you create.
A3: It takes time to reuse content well because you don’t want to just copy and paste. There’s some thought and editing involved. And that takes time. #ContentChat
— Darcy De Leon 👩🏻💻🏠Blog Editor (@darcydeleon) April 27, 2020
A3: In re-purposing content, you do want to make sure it has some value for the audience and is somewhat unique. #contentchat
— Jason King (@jjking24) April 27, 2020
Very true. Even though you’re reusing content, there should still be a unique purpose behind every individual piece. Ask yourself: What can I add to strengthen the value of the message? #contentchat
— ChipBot🚀📈 (@getchipbot) April 27, 2020
This is where you can think about verticals, funnel stages, and personas #contentchat
— Dan Goldberg (@Jonas419) April 27, 2020
A3) When it is done poorly or with little effort, it can easily come across as lazy and uninteresting. Execution is just as important as the content you’re repurposing. #contentchat
— OnePitch (@onepitchsaas) April 27, 2020
A3: If you’re repackaging content for a variety of platforms you run into the issue of your presence feeling stale. You also have the issue where each platform caters to a different format. Content formatted to the platform it will be displayed on will do better.#ContentChat
— Dakota Snow 📸🏎️🏁 (@DaksAhoy) April 27, 2020
A3: If not done right, you can appear boring or repetitive. Always repurpose with a purpose. #contentchat
— ChipBot🚀📈 (@getchipbot) April 27, 2020
A3. You don’t want to bore your audience or look stagnant. #contentchat
— Elisabeth Bachmann (@Lizannbach) April 27, 2020
Plan the cadence that you’ll release your repurposed content. If you slowly trickle out new content that is all very similar over time, it can start to feel repetitive. Either frontload the work so everything is released close to the same time, or take extra steps to further differentiate each piece of content.
A3b: Also, if you don’t repurpose the content into different formats that you make available all at once, it can start to seem like you are being repetitive as you trickle out the derivative content slooowwwwllllyyy over time. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) April 27, 2020
Q4: What are some ways you typically repurpose your #content?
The community shares a multitude of ways you can repurpose your content below. Some highlights: Customer case study interviews can be used for video testimonials, written case studies, pull quotes, or presentation decks; Podcasts can be turned into blogs; Blog series can be packaged as an e-book or whitepaper; and basically anything can be turned into a graphic of some sort.
A4: When I do customer case study interviews, I like to do them over video then have them transcribed. I can create small video testimonial clips, a written transcript that can be used for a written case study, examples for PPT decks, and quotes for future content. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) April 27, 2020
A4: Client examples:
– Podcast audio (via Rev) is edited into a meaty, bulleted blog post (show notes).
– Blog post quotes are edited into social media posts.
– Tips from blog post are used in separate social posts.
– Blog post is turned into infographic.#ContentChat— Darcy De Leon 👩🏻💻🏠Blog Editor (@darcydeleon) April 27, 2020
A4:
Blog posts are usually so value-packed that they can be repurposed into a multitude of content. Youtube video scripts, Twitter threads, Instagram captions. They can inspire social media conversions. The sky is truly the limit here. #contentchat
— ChipBot🚀📈 (@getchipbot) April 27, 2020
A4) Turning podcast and interview content into blogs or taking quotes from a blog and using it as an infographic post on social media. It’s all about translating useful info so new audiences can consume it in different ways and spaces. #contenchat
— OnePitch (@onepitchsaas) April 27, 2020
A4: using high quality stills and shorter clips, from longer videos to reach audiences on other platforms outside of our primary platform.#ContentChat
— Dakota Snow 📸🏎️🏁 (@DaksAhoy) April 27, 2020
A4: By reformatting content to best fit each social media platform and repurposing written content into video. #ContentChat
— Taylor Rogers (@taysburner) April 27, 2020
Same here! We have been focusing on long-form content, so we are experimenting with repurposing those blog posts into video. A new project for us! 🤩 #ContentChat
— Mary Clare G2 (@g2_mary) April 27, 2020
Same. We’ve done a few <1m videos as social introductions. Now we’re working on longer presentation-style videos. It’s kind of fun (because I’m managing and not doing the work) #contentchat
— Dan Goldberg (@Jonas419) April 27, 2020
A4: Using the blog as the basis, I usually break it into social media posts, an infographic or two, and if I feel it’s warranted, a short video. For some clients, it also goes into a discussion forum to generate UGC. #ContentChat
— John Cloonan (@johncloonan) April 27, 2020
I’m also experimenting with taking a series of related blogs and turning those into a white paper. That’s new for me, I’ll keep you posted. #ContentChat
— John Cloonan (@johncloonan) April 27, 2020
A4: Most often, blog > social posts. Depending on the content, it may also go to a quick graphic for social (mini infographic) or a larger infographic. In some cases, a series of related blog posts that are produced around the same time > white paper. #contentchat
— WriterGirl (@WriterGirlAssoc) April 27, 2020
Q5: Do you have any favorite tools or resources that make it easy to repurpose your content?
There are plenty of tools to help you repurpose content. General categories include design tools like Canva…
A5: 1. Relentless editing. 2. @Canva, again, for designing the new content for social media channels and other types of media – infographics, banner ads, etc. The graphics are so pretty, and you can add your own logo, photos, etc.#ContentChat
— Darcy De Leon 👩🏻💻🏠Blog Editor (@darcydeleon) April 27, 2020
A5: I like to use Canva! Would love some recommendations for other tools! #ContentChat
— Taylor Rogers (@taysburner) April 27, 2020
Social media management tools like Meet Edgar…
A5: I don’t currently use one but have always wanted to learn @MeetEdgar or a similar “smart” social media curation app. They seem like excellent tools for repurposing. Open to recommendations if you have them! #ContentChat
— Raj Chander (@raj_chander) April 27, 2020
And video tools like Lumen5, Toonly, and Kapwing…
A5: I like how @LumenFive makes it easy to create videos from your existing content. And @MeetEdgar does a nice job if suggesting ways to recycle your social content. #ContentChat https://t.co/G0ytFdzkV6
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) April 27, 2020
A5b: We’ve also been experimenting a bit with Toonly. Curious if anyone else has used this for content repurposing? #contentchat
— WriterGirl (@WriterGirlAssoc) April 27, 2020
A5: Gotta give props to @canva. We’re also fans of @kapwingapp for making quick videos or GIFs. I also like using @wakelet for curating content from a specific campaign. #contentchat
— WriterGirl (@WriterGirlAssoc) April 27, 2020
Q6: Share a link to your favorite example of a piece of recycled content
Check out these pieces of recycled content that the community recommends, and comment if you have others we should see for inspiration.
Many of you have seen this but it is still a favorite example. This SlideShare is a recycling of a media placement a PR colleague got for a CEO client. https://t.co/ixETH7WShH#ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) April 27, 2020
A6: I repurposed a blog post of Chris Ducker’s a few years ago into an infographic (with his permission).
He’d written some great tips.https://t.co/RH1ZJjkZSR#ContentChat
— Darcy De Leon 👩🏻💻🏠Blog Editor (@darcydeleon) April 27, 2020
A6 This blog post is just one of the 12+ pieces of content we’ve created, or plan to create, based on the main report (linked below). 10 trends = 10 blog posts + overview post + infographic. https://t.co/rttpupN6QX #contentchat
— Martin Lieberman (@martinlieberman) April 27, 2020
We released the report and overview post on the same day, then the infographic the next week, and every week thereafter we wrote a different post about one of the 10 trends. Wasn’t just a copy and paste; some additional work was needed for each individual post. #contentchat
— Martin Lieberman (@martinlieberman) April 27, 2020
I love that. I’ve done similar content projects for Meltwater over the years. The blog posts would use a topic from the ebook and greatly expand upon it so it still provided value on its own, vs being an excerpt. #ContentChat
— Erika Heald | Content Marketing Expert (@SFerika) April 27, 2020
A6: @HubSpot!
Their free courses come with transcripts and powerpoint slides. Many of the modules are repurposed into high-value articles, and there are also videos that expand on them. https://t.co/ENE6k0HXWk#contentchat
— ChipBot🚀📈 (@getchipbot) April 27, 2020
A6: We did an industry survey at the end of 2019 and then took the results and created a whole set of blog content out of it. Some of it just reported on the results while others addressed issues our survey respondents brought up. https://t.co/hWOn9tV009 #contentchat
— WriterGirl (@WriterGirlAssoc) April 27, 2020
A6 We turned a survey into a report, an infographic, blog, webinar…. https://t.co/lmhC1Pvbdz #ContentChat
— Dan Goldberg (@Jonas419) April 27, 2020
I liked the way @airbnb had a magazine: https://t.co/Pfd0XOim6B it was great marketing for those of us who’d used the service – it gave us travel envy flipping through the pages & served as a motivator to travel again! But I believe they’ve dumped concept now (COVID) #contentchat
— Caroline (@CAZJAMES) April 27, 2020
A2b. For example, @HarvardBiz takes top performing articles topically and publishes them in book form at the end of the year. People reading articles online are often a different audience from those consuming this content in book form. Or, like me, they may have missed something. https://t.co/JaGHp9FPg2
— Jen Brass Jenkins (@chrliechaz) April 27, 2020
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