The Guide to Content Repurposing: Part 1

Your team puts hours into creating great web content that appeals to visitors and grabs attention. You plan, research, develop and promote that content. You see the success. But why stop there?

Repurposing content allows you get more return for those hours of planning and development.

Repurposing also allows you to reach new audiences and make your appeals in new formats to maximize the effectiveness of your content marketing.

Over the course of this series we we will help you through the process of content repurposing and promotion. We will cover the different ways in which to repurpose your content, how to best promote that content, and how to tie it all together into one comprehensive strategy.

What is Content Repurposing?

Marketers always want to get more value for their investment. Bigger, better returns are the name of the game, and smartly executed content repurposing is a great way to achieve those returns. In this guide, you’ll learn all about repurposing and how it can benefit your organization.

Think of content repurposing as going green with your marketing. When you talk about recycling a plastic milk jug, we can do a few different things with it. We can change the shape, use the same jug for a different product or we can just clean it up and leave it unchanged and use for the same purpose.

Content repurposing is the same concept – you can take a piece of content you have already written and turn it into something else such as an eBook, video, or infographic. The key to successful repurposing is creating valuable content in as many channels as possible, offering a unique perspective for each outlet.

Creating content for different channels allows you to reach different audiences with different tastes – let’s explore how.

Learn more in our free e-book

Why Should I Repurpose Content?

Over the years, we have all learned there are three main ways to learn:

Content repurposing is a way to reach your audience online through different senses. An infographic can reach visual learners. A podcast or video can reach your auditory learners. And games or interactive elements can reach a kinesthetic learning experience.

On a macro level, content repurposing supports your other digital marketing efforts. New pieces of content – such as infographics and videos – can provide fuel for social sharing and build your presence in important channels like YouTube.

Content repurposing provides plenty of support for your search engine optimization efforts as well. Each new piece of content is a new opportunity to earn a valuable link or take another in a search results page.

Search engines love new content and new formats of content that cause engagement, so having repurposed content is a great way to deliver both.

So you’re sold on the idea now, but how do you get started?

Formats for Repurposing

The easiest way to understand repurposing is to take a step-by-step look at how one piece can be repurposed and modified. Let’s go through it now:

Creating the Original Content

The first step of repurposing is creating your original content, so you need to decide on a topic that makes the most sense for your target audience. You want to choose a topic that is relevant, fresh and fits into your overall goals and strategy. Look at news headlines, related blogs, keyword lists, social media, and any other place you think there might be inspiration lurking. The best content takes a fresh angle on a popular topic, so try to be original.

A good repurposing campaign is created in the planning process.

What are your goals?

What channels do you want to hit? How do you want to grab your audience? Figuring out this in the initial stages will help you time and release the rest of your content for maximum effect. There are many channels to explore with repurposing, including the list below.

Forms of Repurposing

• Blog posts
• Longform Article
• Short Article
• eBooks
• White Papers
• PDF Reports
• Podcasts
• Audio blog posts
• YouTube
• Video blogs
• Slide Presentations
• Images
• Infographics

You don’t have to use every format for every campaign. Your research might indicate that the target audience isn’t all that interested in listening to a Podcast, or maybe you simply don’t have the resources.

It’s ok – a mix is good.

It’ll keep your plan unique and help keep you from falling in a rut.

It’s better to pick the outlets and formats that make sense for your business instead of forcing everything you do into every single category available.

Remember, the key to any content marketing plan is to create value. If your piece isn’t creating any value in that channel, then you don’t need it.

Write the Content

Now you need to create the content. In this example, we’re going to start with a longform content piece. We’re going to create an expertly written, well-researched article that is about 3,000 words long. This is the base for our content, and it’s where everything else will come from.

Make sure you do your research and know your facts. A few hours of prep time before writing will save you a lot of time and possible embarrassment down the road!

Once you’ve created the content you are using as a base, it’s time to start repurposing – and we’ll cover that in Part 2.