Smart Content Repurposing Strategies to Boost Your Reach

 

Picture this: You craft a killer piece of content, one that’s got all the good stuff — insights, data, personality. But after a year it starts to fade into digital obscurity. How do you give it a makeover and put it back under the spotlight? The answer: content repurposing.

In today’s digital age, creating fresh content consistently can be exhausting. But what if I told you there’s a treasure trove right under your nose? Yes, it’s all about making the most out of what you already have.

By spinning your original work into different formats, you’re not just saving time; you’re also reaching more people in more places.

Whether they love watching videos, scrolling through social media, or tuning into podcasts during their commute, your content is right there.

In today’s post, we’ll dive into content repurposing strategies and learn how to transform your existing content into various formats that reach wider audiences and serve different purposes.

Think about it: one solid blog post can become an infographic, podcast episode, or even a series of social media posts!

Let’s start breathing new life into those old stories and connect with more people than ever before.

What is Repurposing Content?

First of all, let’s define what is content repurposing.

Although a lot of people use the term interchangeably with content recycling, this strategic approach is more than just rehashing older content.

When you repurpose content, you take existing content and update, adapt, or transform it into different formats or for different platforms. The primary goal here is to expand the reach of your original content without having to create everything from scratch.

The most significant advantage of repurposing content is it makes scaling your long-form content marketing much easier.

Instead of creating a new blog post, video, or infographic every single day, you can use one piece of high-quality material as the foundation for multiple pieces such as videos, social media posts, and webinar topics.

A New Audience With Every Repurpose

An interesting aspect of repurposing content is its ability to attract an entirely new audience segment that may not have been reached by the original format.

For instance: Let’s say you’ve written an extensive guide on how to grow a sustainable business (like we do at Content Hacker). This guide has done well but there might be people who prefer watching videos over reading lengthy guides.

To tap into this demographic group, who could potentially become part of our growing community, I turned my comprehensive guide into a YouTube video which received over 240k views despite being primarily recycled material!

But how do you find blog posts that are ripe for content repurposing?

The Best Types of Content for Repurposing

The best types of content to repurpose are those that have proven to be valuable, and engaging, and have the potential to reach a broader audience in different formats or on various platforms.

These types of content are often well-suited for repurposing:

Evergreen Content: Identify blog posts with timeless content that remains relevant to your audience over an extended period. These can be repurposed into various formats such as infographics, videos, or podcasts.

How-To Guides and Tutorials: Content that provides step-by-step instructions or tutorials can be repurposed into video tutorials, infographics, or social media content highlighting key steps.

Listicles: List-based articles are easily adaptable. Repurpose them into visually appealing infographics, slide presentations, or social media posts, breaking down the key points.

Case Studies: Turn case studies into different formats, such as videos, podcast episodes, or blog series. Extract customer quotes and use them to create engaging visuals for social media platforms.

E-books and Whitepapers: Summarize chapters into blog posts or turn statistics and data points from whitepapers into compelling infographics.

Blog Posts: Long-form blog posts can be transformed into infographics, podcasts, or even video series. They’re packed with information and usually cover topics thoroughly.

Infographics: Great for social media shares; they can also be expanded upon in blog posts or presentations.

Videos: Clips from videos work well as shorter social media posts or GIFs, while full videos might become written how-to guides or FAQ sections on your site.

Webinars: You could break these down into several tutorial videos or extract key points for an educational blog series.

Podcasts: Transcribe them to create detailed articles, quote graphics for social media, or use snippets as voice-overs in promotional materials.

Presentations/Slideshows: Each slide has the potential to be a standalone piece of micro-content like a post on LinkedIn, Instagram carousel slides, etcetera.

Interviews: Convert written interviews with industry experts into audio or video formats. Create highlight reels or quote graphics for social media.

Research Data/Surveys: Create attention-grabbing factoids out of research numbers suitable for tweets; make comprehensive reports accessible by turning them into interactive charts or graphs online.

Email Campaigns: Turn successful email campaigns into blog posts or adapt the content for social media. Use email content as a foundation for creating engaging visuals.

User-Generated Content: Curate collections such as photo contest entries on Pinterest boards – this not only fills up your content calendar but also engages your community further.

When you repurpose content:

• Think about the audience each format reaches.
• Make sure it fits naturally within its new context.
• Keep SEO considerations in mind if moving between web-based mediums.

This approach allows you to maximize reach without always having to start from scratch!

Now let me share with you five of my favorite content repurposing strategies that we practice here at Content Hacker.

Transform Blog Posts Into Social Media Gold

You’ve spent hours crafting the perfect long-form blog post; it’s packed with insights and valuable information. But let’s face it, not everyone has the time to read through 3,000 words.

This is where repurposing comes in handy. By breaking down these posts into bite-sized social media posts, you capture audience attention on platforms they frequent daily.

Tweets or Instagram captions are great for highlighting key points or statistics from your blog. For example:

We turned these numbers into a quote card for this blog post and then posted it on Twitter.

Turn Blog Articles Into Smashing Video Content

Videos are like magnets for eyes — people just can’t help but watch them. So why not transform those well-researched articles into engaging video clips?

A tutorial based on a how-to guide or an animated summary brings new life to written words and reaches out effectively to visual learners. With video marketing’s clout growing unstoppably, this tactic ensures that search engine crawlers find fresh material tied back to your site.

Design Infographics from Data-Heavy Blog Content

Say goodbye to yawn-inducing data dumps and hello to infographics.

An infographic can tell a complex story at just a glance — perfect for the scrolling speedster or the overworked professional seeking quick knowledge bites between meetings.

Fit Small Business is one of the best when it comes to presenting numbers through infographics. Here’s an example:

Creating Podcasts from Blog Narratives

Auditory learners rejoice when blog narratives morph into podcast episodes.

Your voice carries nuances no font could ever hope to capture. Emotions are conveyed through tone shifts and strategic pauses, keeping listeners hooked while they’re on the road.

The personal touch of hearing someone speak can turn casual listeners into loyal fans who feel like they know you — and isn’t that the connection we’re all after?

I remember sifting through my own analytics one lazy Sunday afternoon.

What struck me was how posts about user-generated content seemed popular.

That got me thinking.

Why not invite those very users onto my podcast?

The response was electric. More downloads than any other series I’d done before.

So here’s an insider tip: Use those evergreen articles or guest posts as a script for your next podcast episode.

And don’t forget YouTube videos either.

If nearly everyone remembers more by watching than reading, it makes sense to repurpose written gems into engaging clips.

Think of each video as an audition tape sent out across various channels — it’s bound to land somewhere spectacularly well-received.

A live Instagram video sharing tips pulled straight from high-performing content? Yes please.

Your followers get real-time interaction while digesting valuable insights — an engagement double whammy right there.

Content marketers understand that quality matters more than quantity. A few well-chosen words reminding subscribers why they loved your original content can make a huge difference.

7 Tips to Enhance Your Content Repurposing Strategies

Now that you’ve identified which content types you want to repurpose, here are seven steps to include in your repurposing strategy:

1. Add Value

When you repurpose content, the aim is not just to reuse or reformat it but to enrich it.

Every new version should bring something fresh to your audience. It might be an insightful twist or a lively new way of presenting data that truly grabs their attention.

2. Refresh Old Data

If you’re breathing new life into old content, remember to refresh any outdated stats, references, or time-sensitive info.

Keeping your material current is key to staying credible.

3. Tailor Content to Each Platform

Different platforms cater to different crowds and styles. What works on LinkedIn might not click on Instagram or Twitter.

Adapt your repurposed pieces to fit each platform’s vibe.

4. Keep SEO in Mind

In the process of repurposing, don’t forget about search engine optimization.

Sprinkle in relevant keywords, tweak those meta descriptions, and steer clear of duplicate content that could ding your SEO efforts.

5. Take Advantage of User-Generated Content

Product reviews and social media shout-outs are gold mines for repurposing.

Why not turn glowing reviews into a testimonial page? Or showcase user praise in some snazzy social media posts?

6. Analyze Content Impact

Monitor how well your revamped content performs.

Let this intel guide you in fine-tuning which pieces get a makeover next.

7. Maintain Brand Consistency

Lastly, keep everything true to who you are as a brand. That consistency speaks volumes and ties all points of contact together seamlessly.

Optimizing Repurposed Content for Search Engines

You’ve got gold in your archives, but to let it shine, you need to polish it up not just for today’s audience but for the ever-watchful eyes of search engine crawlers.

Think of these digital bots as treasure hunters; they’re always on the lookout for fresh, relevant gems on your site.

Sprinkle some new keywords into an old post video content or turn high-performing social media posts into an in-depth ebook.

By doing so, you make sure those crawlers keep coming back. This constant refresh tells them — and by extension, users — that what you offer is not just current but also valuable.

The trick is to treat each piece of repurposed material like its own content asset.

Don’t just copy-paste; tailor it so every repurposed blog post feels fresh and purpose-built for where it lives — whether it’s a YouTube video transformed into Instagram reels or podcasts trimmed down for Twitter threads.

The Endless Cycle: Repurpose and Update Again

We all know people love variety — in their diets, their daily routines, and yes, even in how they consume media online.

Plus, your audience is always growing and changing. That means there are always new eyes ready to devour high-quality pieces they’ve never seen before.

Dishing out different types of free content caters to this craving perfectly. One person might skip over a long-form blog article yet eagerly watch a short clip from the same post turned video — all because we process visual information 60 times faster than text.

Now you’re probably wondering, isn’t content repurposing just as time-consuming as creating content from scratch? You’ll need several man-hours to turn videos into blog posts and vice versa.

Let me tell you a secret …

Repurposing content is now made easy by AI — particularly the AI writing tool called Content at Scale.

Just look at the many ways you can create content in just one click:

Content at Scale can turn your existing blog post, YouTube video, and podcast episode into a fresh blog post within minutes! And if you have content ideas recorded on an MP3, Google Doc, MS Word, or MS PowerPoint file, the app can turn them into content gold too.