Introduction
Not enough time in the day. That’s how it feels, doesn’t it? When your marketing team is tasked with doing more with less, meeting your marketing goals can be challenging. Sure, content marketing can help you reach those goals, but it takes a lot of content, and if you’re creating all that content from scratch, it adds up fast. That’s why so many marketers have turned to repurposing content.
But if you haven’t repurposed much in the past, you might wonder: Is it OK to repurpose content? Repurposing content isn’t just okay — it’s actually really common. The majority of marketers repurpose existing content. What’s more, the right content repurposing strategies can save you a lot of time and money.
No surprise, right? But here’s one more thing to keep in mind. Not every person who needs your content saw it the first time, which is why repurposing isn’t just efficient, it actually helps your audience. So, let’s start with the basics.
TL;DR: Content repurposing strategies help marketers save time and maximize the impact of existing content by transforming it into new formats like blog posts, eBooks, social media posts, or infographics. From webinars to podcasts, repurposing boosts visibility, lead generation, and audience engagement without having to start from scratch.
What is content repurposing?
Content repurposing is the practice of taking existing content and adapting it into different formats or for new platforms to extend its reach and value. For example, a blog post can be turned into a video, infographic, podcast episode, or social media snippets. This strategy helps maximize the impact of your content, reach different audiences, and save time by building on what you’ve already created.
With so many repurposing options, how do you know where to start? Let’s jump into effective content repurposing strategies. We’re going to make it simple by sharing our favorites. But here’s the trick: You don’t have to do them all at once. Pick one strategy, implement it, and measure the results. Once you’ve mastered it, move on to the next and watch your results multiply.
Repurposing webinars to blog posts
You just created an amazing webinar. The feedback was great. You could do what many companies do, which is post it on your website and move on. Or you could do apply our first content repurposing strategy, which is spin it into another piece of content, like a blog post. Here’s an example of how we repurposed a webinar into a blog post.
Our team created a webinar featuring top experts about how to market during a recession. The reaction to the webinar was great, so we repurposed it to get even more mileage from the content. We used the transcript to create a blog post, inserting video clips of the best points to create a more in-depth experience.
And you can do the same. Plus, if you want to get even more out of your webinar, capture all the best expert quotes and turn them into social media posts, linking back to the webinar or the blog (you choose!).
Repurposing blog content to eBooks
Do you have superstar blog posts? Do they get lots of web traffic, social shares, and comments? Gather a list of this content and look for themes so you can spin the posts into an eBook.
For example, maybe you have several blogs related to industry trends. You could pull together an eBook about the biggest industry trends of the year; write an introduction, a conclusion, and transitions for the content. Once the content is repurposed, you can go back to the original blog posts and use the new eBook as a lead magnet to fill your funnel with fresh new leads.
And while we’re on the topic of spinning old content into something new, we can’t not talk about AI, right? Consider taking your eBook content and finding opportunities to integrate it into personalized email campaigns. Once you find where it fits best, you can leverage tools like Act-On AI to generate email content and subject lines fast and get even more out of your repurposing efforts.
Case studies to blog posts
As a marketer, you know that stories are powerful. But what’s surprising is how powerful they truly are. Your audience is 22 times more likely to remember information if it’s presented in a story. What’s more is that storytelling can increase conversions by as much as 30%.
But here’s the best part. It’s likely that you already have stories in your content inventory just waiting to be retold. Ahem … case studies, anybody? Consider leveraging your case studies into a blog post with a common theme as part of your content repurposing strategy.
For example, we wrote the post “How 3 Insurance Companies are Leveraging Marketing Automation,” in which we told stories about how our clients improved email deliverability, successfully implemented automated segmentation, and increased conversion rates, using case studies as the basis of the content.
Pick stories that speak to your audience’s biggest pain points, and create content that leverages those stories to more effectively connect with your audience.
Repurposing content for social media posts
Review your highest-performing content because it reflects your audience’s proven interests. Then gather stats from these assets and repurpose this content into social media posts like tweets, LinkedIn updates, and other bite-size pieces of information.
These numbers create foundations for your stories, which is why you sprinkle them throughout your various assets. Plug the content into your social media calendar to multiply content distribution like wildfire. And, of course, link back to the original asset (which should be stacked full of lead magnets).
Podcasts to blog posts
“We don’t have a podcast,” you say? No worries! We have a content repurposing strategy for that too (hold tight).
But first, if you do have a podcast, here’s what you can do. Plug that podcast audio file into a transcription service and get yourself some rough copy. Create an eye-catching headline, edit the content into body paragraphs, write a quick introduction and conclusion — and you’re done!
But what if you don’t have a podcast?
You can leverage someone else’s. Now … this is one of those content repurposing strategies that crosses into influencer marketing, but it’s a lot of fun, so we thought we’d throw it out there. Here’s how to do it:
- Make a list of podcasts your target audience listens to. Go big. List the most well-known ones you can think of.
- Visit a podcast, and find a topic that you think your audience will love.
- Listen to the episode, outline the lessons you learned, and then create your own unique perspective as a response to the podcast. Then create a title like “X things I learned from {INFLUENCER NAME} about {TOPIC}.”
- Give the influencer credit, link to their podcast, and then tag them when you promote your content via social media.
- You can go a step further. Send the podcast host an email explaining why you loved the episode and how it inspired you to write on the topic. With any luck, they’ll share it.
Bonus tip: Repurpose your well-performing older content
You likely already have content on your website that performs well. Don’t let it bask in its glory. Squeeze it for all it’s worth. Because here’s what we know about content that performs well … Your audience loves it.
Consider updating it once a year. Now, make sure you follow SEO best practices. You don’t want to change the URL or well-ranking keywords. Instead, enhance it, update it, and make it even better. Consider creating an infographic. Pull quotes from it. And then promote all those bits of content to drive more traffic and interest to your company.
How will you leverage your content?
The reality is that you only have so much time in the day. You’re one person. Sure, you might work on a team, but time and resources are finite. When you these content repurposing strategies, you get so much more out of each day.
And when you take it a step further to repurpose content and leverage marketing automation … watch out. Results will happen even faster. If you need a quick cheat sheet for getting started, we put together one for you:
Summary
When marketing teams are short on time and resources, our proven content repurposing strategies offer a powerful way to keep up without burning out. Repurposing content involves adapting existing content into new formats or distributing it on different platforms to reach broader or different audiences.