I have a question for you today. How productive is your content? By that I mean, are you squeezing all the juice out of your content that you can?
You work hard to create content, whether that’s written content like blog posts, audio content like podcasts, or video content, whether live or recorded.
Shouldn’t you get the most value of it that you can?
The best way I know to make your content more productive is the repurpose it.
In this post, I’m sharing 3 easy ways to get started repurposing content.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission if you make a purchase using this link. For more information, see my full disclaimer here.
What is content repurposing?
Let’s start by defining content repurposing. Many people think that repurposing simply means “re-using” content by cross-posting it in multiple places.
For example, sharing the same image and caption on both Facebook and Instagram would be an example of re-using a piece of content. Or, if you pull out part of a blog post and send it to your email list, that would be another example of re-using your content.
Re-using content is one type of repurposing, but there is so much more that you can do.
Content repurposing is about creating something one time and then tweaking or spinning it into new content. In addition to re-using content straight out, you can also re-mix content and that’s one of my favorite things to do.
When you re-mix, you’re pulling pieces of content from different places and combining them into something fresh and new.
This post is an example of both repurposing and remixing.
It started out as a Facebook Live that I re-mixed from other content.
Some of the content was originally used in a webinar. Part of it came out of a course. A little bit was from an email that I sent to my list 2 or 3 years ago. And then some of it came straight out of my head, so the end result for the Live was brand new.
Then, I transcribed the Facebook Live and edited it slightly to be more suitable for reading. And that’s what you see here. It’s been repurposed into a blog post.
Why should you repurpose your content?
We talked a little about this at the beginning. Creating content is hard. Sometimes it seems like the more content you create, the more content you need to create. You feel like a hamster on a wheel, creating, creating, creating, but never getting ahead.
Make your content more productive
So, the first reason is to make your content more productive. Repurposing makes your content work harder for you.
Reach a wider audience
The second reason is to reach a wider audience.
Not everyone is going to see every piece of content that you create. Your audience is in different places. Some people read your blog. Some people are on your email list. Others follow you on Instagram. Only your superfans follow you everywhere and even then, they don’t see all your content.
Things like social media algorithms and email deliverability get in the way.
Plus, people have different learning styles. Some prefer text content, some prefer audio and some prefer video. If you only create content in one format, then you are limiting your audience. When you repurpose your content into different formats, you’ll reach people who have different learning styles.
Content repurposing will help you
reach a wider audience.
Make content creation easier
And the third reason is to make content creation easier for you. There is nothing worse than staring at a blank screen trying to think of what to write.
When you repurpose, you always have a starting place. It’s much easier to get going when you have words to look at.
What can you repurpose?
The short answer? Everything and anything.
But to get you started, here are a few ideas of different kinds of content that you can repurpose:
- Blog posts
- Emails you’ve written to your list
- YouTube videos
- Podcast episodes
- Guest posts you’ve written for others
- Course lessons that you’ve created
- Slideshow presentations
- Social media posts
- Interviews that you’ve given
- Articles you’ve written for print
That’s a lot of different types of content that you can repurpose and if you spend a few minutes brainstorming, I’m sure you can think of more.
What can you repurpose?
Everything and anything.
3 Easy Ways to Get Started Repurposing Content
1. Break it up for social media
The first way, and I think this is the easiest place to start repurposing your content, is to break it up for social media.
Chances are you are only creating one piece of core content a week. Core content is your main free content, whether that is a blog post, podcast episode, or video show.
But you are likely posting on social media multiple times per week or even multiple times per day. And that means you need content to share.
Take your latest piece of core content and pull out tips and passages (or clips in the case of audio-visual content) to share. Each piece of core content will yield multiple social media posts.
In the case of written content, each subheading section can be a separate social media post. With audio-visual content, if you create an outline, then what you say for each outline item can be an individual social media post.
For example, from this post, I’ll likely pull out 6 segments and create six social media posts:
- What is content repurposing
- Why should you repurpose your content
- What types of content can you repurpose
And then one for each of the three strategies that I’m sharing.
Simply create a different graphic for each tip and you can easily get a week’s worth of social media posts from one piece of core content.
2. Create an opt-in freebie
The second easy way to repurpose your content is to turn it into an opt-in freebie that will help you grow your email list.
If your post has step-by-step instructions on how to do something, then pull those steps out and create a simple checklist. You can easily make an attractive checklist in Canva and save it as a pdf. Then set it up on your website with an opt-in form.
Another way to grow your email list with repurposed content is to create a free email course or challenge. If your core content is long, then break it up into 3 to 5 shorter pieces. Each shorter piece can be one day of your email course or challenge. Again, you’ll just set up an opt-in -form on your website to collect email addresses when people sign up for the course or challenge…
3. Write a round-up post
I like this one because it is a super-easy way to create a new blog post. When people think of round-up posts, they usually think about round-ups of other people’s content.
For example, I’ve done a few guest expert round-ups, where I reached out to a group of people and asked them to contribute their best tip on a topic. That’s one kind of round-up (and it’s a lot of work).
But you can also do round-ups of your own content. The easiest way is to pick one of your blog categories and find several posts that would work well together. Write an introductory paragraph or pull out a tip from each post and then link back to the original post.
This has two main benefits:
- It’s an easy way to quickly create a new blog post.
- It leads your readers around your blog and exposes them to older posts that they may not have seen before.
You could even do this with a podcast or video. Pull out clips from older shows and combine them together into a new episode.
My challenge to you
There you have it. Three super-easy ways to get started repurposing your content. My challenge to you is to pick one strategy and repurpose something today. The more you repurpose your content, the harder it will work for you.
And for more ideas on how to get started repurposing, grab my free getting started guide below. It will help you be strategic about content repurposing so that you repurpose the right content for the right people.
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