Creating content is a painstaking process that takes a lot of time and effort. But you don’t have to start from scratch with every piece of content you create. Why not get the most out of your hard work?! A fantastic way to do this is to repurpose existing content across channels.
What I mean here is that your latest blog or YouTube video doesn’t have to be just that. It can be transformed into different types of content that can be posted on other channels, which will save you time and energy in the long run.
If you aren’t already repurposing your content, it’s time to start. You can take anything, from blogs, YouTube videos and even social media posts and refresh them for use across channels to drive traffic to your brand and establish a better presence online.
Why You Should be Repurposing Your Content
There are several reasons why you should be repurposing your content across channels. All of them are good! Let’s look at them in a little more detail.
It Expands Your Reach
Repurposing your content expands your content’s reach. Let’s say that a blog you posted hasn’t performed well. A simple way to repurpose it would be to post it to your social media accounts. Not only does this introduce your content to a new audience, but it also drives traffic to your website.
Distributing your content on other platforms and channels is a surefire way to expand your content’s reach, but before you can do that, you need to make sure that your content on those other channels translates well. For example, if you want to share your blog on Twitter, simply copying and pasting it into a thread of tweets won’t cut it. And similarly, reading out a blog on a YouTube video will sound too formal and will bore users.
It Saves You Time
Anyone working in content marketing will know how long content takes to create. From research to writing, optimising, designing and actually publishing content, it’s a pretty hefty process each time. The great thing about repurposed content is that it takes a fraction of the time to create, but still maintains the quality and effectiveness of your content.
5 Tips for Repurposing Different Kinds of Content
Blogs and YouTube content make the best foundation to create content for multiple channels because they’re usually the most detailed, but it can be done with other kinds of content too. But, before we get into how you can best repurpose your content, let’s look at how to choose the right content to use.
Not all content is good for repurposing, especially content that you’ve written in the past.
Find Evergreen Content
The best past content to repurpose is evergreen content. This means content that is always relevant to your audience, and doesn’t expire. So stay away from news pieces and content about trends, and look more to your “How To” content and industry resources.
If you’re at the beginning stage of creating content, then you don’t have to go for evergreen content, because you’ll be taking an omnichannel approach to your content from the start.
Decide Which Channels You Want to Redistribute Your Content on
To know how exactly to repurpose your content, you’ll need to decide where it’s going. For example, if you want to take your blog to YouTube, you’ll need a video script, and if you’ve talked about some great tips for copywriting on TikTok that would make a great blog, you’ll need to expand your current content.
Your audiences also vary across channels, so think about this when you’re considering repurposing your content, and what would work best where.
Transform Your Content Accordingly
Now you’ve decided what you’re repurposing and where it’s going, you can get to work on creating your new(ish) content. Here’s how to go about doing so for two main types of content: Written Content and YouTube Videos.
Create Bitesize Bits of Content for Other Platforms
Whether you’ve got a detailed report, eBook or blog post, long form content is perfect for repurposing. Longer sections of writing are just waiting to be turned into video scripts – 80% of the work is already done! All you need to do is loosen up the copy a little and make it more concise.
If you’ve created an eBook or report that’s full of interesting statistics and research findings, those can be used in a blog, or turned into an engaging infographic.
And when it comes to repurposing long form content, you don’t even have to use the whole thing. Say you’ve got some great tips or a particular insight that would be super valuable to an audience on a different platform. You can easily pull key points to create eye-catching Instagram content or write an email newsletter.
The possibilities are endless!
Convert Video Content into Audio or Blogs
YouTube Videos can easily be transformed into blogs, podcast episodes and social media content. As they’re already engaging and concise in nature, you’ll need to tighten up on your tone of voice and expand on your points to create an engaging blog.
When you repurpose content, you’re saving yourself time and energy, increasing traffic to the original content and getting the best out of your hard work. It’s a no-brainer really.
For more tips and advice on content marketing, check out the rest of my blogs or follow my Youtube channel.
