Content repurposing, as the name suggests, involves taking an existing piece of content and modifying it in some way, with the end result is going from just one item to multiple – without the hassle of creating it from scratch.

Content repurposing, as the name suggests, involves taking an existing piece of content and modifying it in some way, with the end result is going from just one item to multiple – without the hassle of creating it from scratch.

It’s something of a buzzword in the digital marketing world at the moment, but it’s here to stay. Businesses of all sizes face the challenge of keeping their blogs up to date, posting regularly on social media, and, most importantly, reaching new customers. 

Not every brand has the resources to put out dozens of pieces of content in a day, especially when it’s all different. However, repurposing what you do have can check plenty of marketing boxes with relatively minimal effort.

Why You Should Repurpose Content

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The best marketing plans involve working smarter, not harder. One of the best things about eCommerce is that it levels the playing field somewhat. You don’t need the $2 billion budgets of Coca-Cola and Pepsi to market a new drink if you can take them on with a clever approach, for example. Content repurposing helps to make that happen.

Position Your Content Where the Audience Is

The chances are you’re present on all sorts of different platforms when promoting your business, many of which favor other formats. So, for example, if you enjoy written content, that’s great for your blog and could appear on LinkedIn and Medium, but it won’t reach the audience that likes to watch videos.

Bring Forgotten Content Back to the Fore

Things move fast in the online marketing world, but many things stay the same. It all comes down to the industry you operate in. For example, let’s say your business is in the haircare space. 

You may have spent hours poring over a blog post on combs ten years ago, filling it with fun facts and tips. Combs have remained fundamentally the same for thousands of years, but all that post does now is apparent in the depths of Google and be buried deep in your blog archives.

It’s an extreme example, but if you’re short on time, ideas, or both, go back to the beginning of your content production. Find something you can repurpose, update or deliver in another format. What was once old can now become new, and you’ve saved time while ensuring those hours you put in initially result in an even greater return on investment. What was relevant then can be again with just a dash of repurposing effort.

How to Implement Content Repurposing in Your Marketing Efforts

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In most cases, any content you have can be turned into something else. Don’t just think about transformation, either. Great content doesn’t necessarily need to change to fit the scope of repurposing. 

For example, you might have been creating short video snippets for ages when TikTok and YouTube Shorts weren’t even ideas. Take five minutes to upload them somewhere else, and you’ve already repurposed content for a new audience.

Here are five fantastic tips to start content repurposing from scratch with marketing in mind.

1. Take Stock of What You’ve Got

Content repurposing always starts with a core piece of information. It could be a blog post, video, image, or anything else that adds value to your business. The most innovative way to start repurposing this content is to know what you’ve got available, and it’s worth going all the way back to when you launched your blog

Then, all it takes is a little inspiration to decide how it can be changed and where you can upload it to reach new audiences and breathe new life into it.

2. Create New Content with Repurposing in Mind

The content repurposing process involves plenty of thinking outside the box and doesn’t always align with merely getting the job done. You won’t always have an older piece ready either, and just because you can adapt what you’ve got doesn’t mean you should eliminate doing something new altogether.

If you record a video interview with someone, direct the conversation in a way whereby you’ll have a near-endless supply of quotes and soundbites at the end. When you write a blog post, make it as conversational as possible so it might become a podcast in the future. When you create an image, do it in such a way that it will only take a few seconds to change the size and layout to make it suitable for Facebook, Pinterest, and your blog.

Much of becoming someone that repurposes content comes down to thinking like one.

3. Draw on What You’re Good At

Many marketers like to adopt a broad approach to the discipline. It’s generally accepted that every business needs a website, and most marketing professionals expect firms of a specific size to post on social media regularly. 

However, there are plenty of thriving organizations out there that never set foot on Twitter or Facebook. Take Apple on Twitter, for example. It’s one of the world’s largest and most recognizable brands, as evidenced by its 7.1 million followers. Add its following count and total Tweets together, and you come up with the princely sum of zero.

Not every channel makes sense for every company, so don’t feel obligated to do something that doesn’t tangibly contribute to what you want to achieve and focus on areas that will grow your business, not checkboxes.

4. Use The Data You Have to Target Audiences and Create Campaigns

Part of the fun of marketing is the sheer number of disciplines it draws upon. It’s an opportunity to focus on what you enjoy, from writing and design to inspire and data analysis. The latter shouldn’t be underestimated, and that doesn’t extend solely to marketing data either.

You have a better idea of who your potential customers are, where they spend their time online and what they look for from content than anyone else. Furthermore, you have real-world insights into interesting information that those outside the business might like to understand, even if they’re not necessarily tied to your core goals. 

For example, if you use remote monitoring on your company network, you’ve got ready-made stats for a campaign around security and how you value your customer’s privacy. In addition, if your business is growing quickly and you’ve taken on several new hires recently, you can post your opinions on the employment market on social media.

Don’t feel like everything you do needs to tie in directly to your business. Accurate information with proper business applications is always interesting, even if it appears irrelevant, and you never know what audiences you might penetrate in the process.

5. Consider Everything an Opportunity

The final and possibly best tip for anyone looking to get into content repurposing is always keeping an open mind. Try to always take the approach in anything you do to wonder how you can use anything that falls into your lap somewhere else.

The content you repurpose doesn’t necessarily have to extend only to things you’ve created specifically with marketing in mind. For example, corporate blog posts are written to be read, and there’s usually a call to action involved that seeks to turn a reader into a paying customer.

However, you have content everywhere you look. One email thanking your customer service team and praising your products can, with the sender’s permission, become incredible social media validation for your brand. Even a complaint can be spun into a positive if you’re happy to take the necessary steps to remedy it.

Too many marketers get into the habit of sitting and thinking about what to do next. It’s often far easier to get on with something else and let great ideas come to you. Whenever you read, write or record something, think about where else it might boost your marketing efforts.

In Closing

It can be challenging to keep up with the demands of a modern online business. If you run a blog and social media accounts and don’t keep them fresh, you might find people wondering if you’re even still in business. Adding new content can be difficult when you’re bereft of time, ideas, or both, but content repurposing is one of the cleverest ways to take what you’ve got and try something new, with improved results to match.