As a content creator, your time seems to be scarce and deliverables demanding. We’ve all been there, right? The executive circle works with us to align goals and expectations.
And at the end of the day, even if you have all the intentions of reaching those goals and expectations, you seem to fall short. I’ve worked with many technology companies that have felt the overwhelm of juggling multiple content expectations, content delivery, lead conversion, and content goals.
But the fact is — you’re not alone. Many content marketing managers are in the same boat. And learning how to repurpose content is a valuable asset to end these pains in your daily workflow and optimize your time.
Repurpose content to save time
I’m not talking about content spinning. Because you’re not going to copy & paste the same copy into three different formats. Do not be a spinner. You’re going to add to those content pieces, exponentially improving them from the primary—adding one more piece every time—and making something great out of it multiple times.
I call this exponential content.
If you can create content that builds from itself one, two, three or more times, you are going to save yourself a lot of creation time—and you’re going to deliver content quicker and faster.
What does this all boil down to? Exponential content is simply quality content that is repurposed & reused, said in different ways, and delivered in different formats.
Content repurposing is a clever way for a content marketer to be smart with content creation.
Repurpose & reuse quality and performing content topics
We have been told this many, many times. Don’t use the same content on multiple websites or social channels. It’s a big no, no for SEO. Don’t post the same content again and again. The audience will dislike it. Well, that is an ‘eh, yes and no’.
The fact is you can repurpose and reuse quality content. In some cases, you can republish the same content piece on a content website like Medium.com and not be penalized by Google for doing it. But you shouldn’t be using the same content again and again on your personal website; instead, you should re-work it, re-word it, and breathe new life into it.
What are the benefits of repurposing content?
Repurposing content has many benefits. After reading Neil Patel’s content marketing insights, content is at a crossroad. In order to be more competitive, we need to produce better quality and more original content.
Google doesn’t like regurgitated content and unoriginal. I believe it’s a hard balance because more is not always better. But in the reality of Google, more will, in fact, give you a higher search presence.
It’s a probability game. Neil says 5.7 average articles a week.
The first benefit of repurposing content is more content production and consistency. The method will help play the Google probability game.
For example, a content piece and topic can have a blog post and a video blog post. It’s similar content, but the video can have additional tips and advice. In this scenario, you created two content pieces.
A second benefit, and already mentioned, you can reduce the pressure to produce. Time and expectations are heavy pressure on content marketing managers. By repurposing content, a manager can be smarter and share a great content idea into multiple formats.
How to choose the best content piece to repurpose
When choosing the best content piece to repurpose and exponentially harness, it’s best to run the numbers.
You choose a content piece that has potential. Meaning, the key topic should have a decent search volume (no less than three hundred a month), be a current popular topic already on a blog (with the numbers to prove it), or shared well on social media.
To choose the best repurpose piece, run the numbers and identify high performers. The high performer will likely be the best content piece to work with. To make it an exponential content piece, make sure it’s not a closed topic piece.
By closed topic, I mean it should not be a topic you cannot generate new ideas, or easily manipulate into other content forms. It should have an exponential opportunity to grow. And add more value.
Think of it also in the way of a topic cluster. Choose a content piece that has many sub-topics. Use those sub-topics to repurpose into various forms of content. Choosing the right content piece for repurposing will be a better use of your time.
5 clever tips to reuse content smartly
The content piece has been chosen and the plan is to turn it into exponential content. The topic has been chosen, but the struggle remains on what form to repurpose the content into.
Content that is quality can be re-created into a variety of formats. Try these 5 clever content formats:
- Turn the content post into a series of short videos
- Re-create the content main idea into LinkedIn Slideshare slide decks
- Take a series of popular blog posts (or similar content) and re-work into a download eBook
- Write lengthy social media posts (or creative social visuals) regurgitating the content
- Turn the content post into a webinar series, record it, and offer it as a download
Creating quality content doesn’t have to be a challenge for content marketing managers. Most likely, you already have a high performer and overachiever in your content stack. Repurpose and reuse it smartly — and improve its potential.
