More is better. Get more bang for your buck. Maximize your investment. Do these phrases sound familiar? In life—as in marketing—we’re always endeavoring to squeeze as much out of our time, budget, and resources as we can.
In life, we want to maximize things like our vacation time, special events with family and friends, and even a great meal. In marketing, we want the strategy and assets we create to stand the test of time too.
Take, for example, a single blog article. You’ve invested time planning it, talking with experts, and writing it. It would be a shame if all that valuable time and information were limited to one single asset. You can squeeze more out of it. You can repurpose it into a different piece of content.
5 content repurposing tips
The word “distribute” is key when it comes to content repurposing. That’s because repurposing is two-fold. It’s the literal act of taking a piece of content and transforming it into a different piece of content, and it’s also the distribution of those pieces.
So while it’s great to talk about turning a podcast into a blog or a video into an infographic, how you amplify each asset to get it in front of your audience is just as important. The following suggestions incorporate both elements.
For our suggestions, let’s say you created a blog article on the Top 7 things cybersecurity candidates are looking for in 2023. Here are 5 ways to repurpose and distribute that article.
Turn a concept into a visual
A blog article, like the above, would make a fantastic infographic. You can use the same title at the top and choose icons to represent each of the 7 things cybersecurity candidates want. Remember, you don’t have to get too carried away with words in the infographic. It acts as a succinct visual summary of what is inside the article.
You could take this a step further by creating an interactive infographic that lives on your website. It could even be included alongside the written content. As people hover over each of the 7 elements, additional text or visuals can appear to engage visual learners further.
Create a video
Now that you have that infographic, turn those same visuals into a video animation. A little movement, along with fun music or even a voice track, creates interest and can engage audiences in a different way.
If you have an individual at your organization who is great on camera, consider having that person explain the 7 elements. To break up the interview shots, you could insert the same graphics/icons from the infographic.
Finally, if your audience enjoys long-form video, shoot an interview with a subject matter expert who can dive deeper into what cybersecurity candidates want in a Q&A style approach. Or put together a webinar, record it, and offer it up on-demand.
Pitch a similar angle to the media
There are a couple of nuances to be aware of when taking an already published piece of content and repurposing it for the media. Media outlets and trade publications want something unique for their audiences. It’s not enough to change the title and a couple of words and present it as a fresh contributed article.
Find a way to expand a little bit further on your concept, add new data points and additional research. Give readers something a little bit more than you gave them in your company’s blog article.
Or, instead of offering a contributed article, reach out to a podcast host and ask to discuss the concept. It will give your subject matter expert an opportunity to use their own voice and personality a bit more to communicate the story in a new way.
Create a follow-up article
During the course of researching for your original article and talking with subject matter experts, you may have gathered information that wasn’t ultimately used. Maybe you could have expanded the article to the 10 things cybersecurity candidates want but decided to keep it more concise. Use that information!
Write a follow-up article with new details that links back to the original. This is also a win-win from an SEO perspective. It helps cement your company’s authority in the topic and keeps users engaged and moving from one content piece to another. Maybe this article has a more definitive CTA at the end to nudge audiences to that next step in their journey.
Promote assets across multiple channels
This is the distribution and amplification part of the equation. None of the assets you created will do you any good unless your audience sees them. And promoting each asset one time, one way isn’t enough either.
Create AT LEAST three different social media posts based on your original article. One post could incorporate the infographic, another a quote from the article, and a third could leverage your video.
Share links to your blog(s) and your media placement with sales prospects and current clients. After a period of time, many media outlets will let you share the placement on your website either in part or in full (as long as you link back to the original).
If you have an email newsletter, you could incorporate any one of the above assets into it—and in more than one newsletter edition! Use the blog link in one edition, and the infographic in the next.
If you have a long-form video strategy, make sure you’re leveraging YouTube. Upload your videos there and share the links on social media, through email, and within other pieces of content as it makes sense.
Continuously optimize and—above all—remember your audience
Will every single piece of content you create need to be repurposed in five different ways forever and ever for all eternity? Of course not! It’s important to monitor content performance.
If your content isn’t performing and isn’t providing value over time, it’s time to reassess. Consider doubling down on the content formats that have the most views and reactions and evaluate the pieces that continuously underperform. But remember to give it time. Content is all about the long game. It’s about testing, testing, and testing again.
Our time as marketers is precious. Priorities shift, budgets realign, and news of the day has the power to pull our attention and change our course. This is why squeezing the most out of our investment is so critical. Creating a single blog is nice, but five for the price of one sounds better to us. How about you?