Repurposing Content: Your Guide
Occasionally, you’ll come across a piece of content you’ve produced on your site that has the potential to be turned into something else.
You may also set out to create a piece with the intention of then repurposing it into other formats.
It’s a common practice within marketing. That’s because it can help reduce the amount of time you spend researching new content. It can also allow you to reach new audiences with the same piece.
Repurposing your content can deliver real benefits, without a huge time investment.
What is content repurposing?
Content repurposing is exactly what it sounds like. When you have a piece of content that performs well, you might choose to redevelop it into other forms.
This piece could come in any format initially – blog, video, PR campaign, etc. You can then turn it into anything you see fit.
As an example, let’s say you’ve created an infographic featuring various statistics about accidents at work. You could then break the stats down and turn each one into a social media post. You could also create a case study based on each stat if you have clients who fit the bill. Alternatively, you might want to delve further into each statistic in separate blog posts.
Each post will have a different target audience, allowing you to share the information provided in the original post with more people. This can boost your brand awareness and ultimately help attract new business.
Repurposing the right content
Your first action will be to identify the appropriate content to repurpose. You won’t benefit from reusing every piece of content you’ve produced – not every piece will be popular enough or lend itself to reuse.
Look at which pieces have proven most popular. Ensure you’re analysing the data for the appropriate lengths of time and periods – seasonal fluctuations can give you a false idea of a piece’s overall performance.
The most popular pieces will be a good starting point for repurposing. Think about why they were popular. Were they timed to be relevant to an external event? Did they match user intent particularly well?
But you may also want to try again with a piece that’s underperformed. You could give a piece new life by turning it into something else entirely. You then need to consider how you can reuse your content and whether you have the resources to turn it into what you want.
Just remember that you should always have a goal with your content repurposing. There’s little point in turning a piece into something new if you don’t know what you want to achieve with it.
How to repurpose your content
Repurposing content isn’t so different from creating new content. There is a process you should follow and research you should carry out.
- Set your expectations
Think about what your motivations for repurposing a piece of content are. You may want to establish KPIs with your new format based on your original piece, whether that’s matching or exceeding the latter’s performance.
- Carry out a content audit
Look at the pieces you think could benefit from being turned into something else. This could be pieces that have done particularly well, and therefore have a strong chance of doing so in another format, or it could be a piece that you had high expectations for and just hasn’t delivered.
- Research other formats
How could your piece be repurposed? Which new audiences do you want to reach? Do you require additional resources to create a new piece (graphic design elements or video, for example)?
- Create the new piece
Now the easy part: putting the plan together and creating the new piece. When you’re working on it, think about how you’ll get the most traction from it. This could involve outreaching it to external sites or boosting it on social media.
Content repurposing examples
Some forms of repurposing content your firm could consider include:
- Turning blogs into how-to guides
- Turning blogs or guides into videos
- Turning how-to guides into podcasts
- Turning client interviews into blogs
- Turning one-off blogs into a series
- Turning social media queries into FAQs
- Turning statistics into social media posts
Although some of these concepts could sound irrelevant for your firm, there may be some value to them. For example, you may not initially view podcasts as an appropriate form of content for your firm. But they allow you to expand on some complicated legal points in a conversational and helpful way. You can often hold someone’s attention better when talking them through something than explaining in written form.
Repurposing your existing content can give your site a boost without the effort you’d need to create brand new pieces. This makes it a tactic you should certainly consider in your marketing.
