Why Repurposing Content Should Be Part of Your Strategy

As you probably already know, regular updates to your website and social media channels help position you as an authority in your field, both to your buyers, no matter their phase of the journey, and to search engines. Armed with this knowledge, many marketing teams include a calendar for drafting new content as a business goal for the year.

Here’s the thing though, creating new content involves a lot of work. From brainstorming to completion new content takes time and energy. Often, while original content creation starts at the top of a priority list, it’s often pushed lower and lower on the to-do list for other deadline focused tasks.I’m going to let you in on a secret that will help you achieve your content marketing goals. The content doesn’t have to be entirely new. You can use your existing content and repurpose it!

Repurposing content may feel like a cheat tactic, but truly it’s more akin to buying a capsule wardrobe and cleverly creating many outfits from the same clothes. While we may wish to wear a brand new, never before seen, ensemble every day, the resources needed to accomplish this dream aren’t available to all of us. That’s why it’s wise to use what we already have and dress it up in a fresh new way for another occasion.

Successfully repurposing content involves two steps. First, you must look at the content you already have and consider appropriate alternative uses. Second, when drafting the new version, you can not simply cut and paste, you must update appropriately. While it will take some time and thought to redesign your content, you will still save time and energy compared to creating brand new content from scratch.

Content Repurposing Can Take Many Forms

Here are just a few examples of what content repurposing may look like:

• Rewriting a blog post from several years ago. You may need to update statistics, add in more recent quotes on the subject, or even consider current events. Isn’t that a whole new blog post? It’s not – because the overarching theme or piece of wisdom you’re sharing is the same.
  
  
• Taking a single element from a sales presentation and creating an infographic. I’m a firm believer that sales and marketing teams should be more aligned. They are both more successful when they support each other. By using collateral you know your sales team relies upon, but breaking it into smaller bits, you’ll be setting them up for success with more resources to attract, engage, and delight prospects and leads.
  
  
• Using still images to create slideshow style video content. If you’ve invested time and money to have professional photos taken, there’s nothing that says those still images can’t be more dynamic. There are many apps out there that can transform a collection of single images into a smooth video. These videos are excellent content for your social media strategy.

Benefits of Repurposing Content

A benefit of freshening up your content is the potential SEO impact. By having more content on a similar topic you’re reinforcing your expertise and relevance on that subject. Gone are the days of keyword stuffing, but search engines have evolved, and keywords still play an integral role. Having multiple, valuable resources will position you as an authority.

Additionally, while your current content may be getting a lot of attention, it may not be reaching everyone who may benefit from it. It could be that it’s not on a buyer persona’s preference for finding information, or it is only appealing to buyers in a certain stage of their journey. Whatever the case, by reimagining it, you open yourself up to discovery by new audiences.

We hope you’ll add this secret weapon to your content marketing arsenal. If you’d like a team to bounce ideas off of, or are just ready to completely outsource this aspect of your strategy, reach out to adWhite today.