How long does it take you to write a blog post or create a video for your brand? The short answer: a long time. The more specific answer: A blog post takes an average of three hours and 21 minutes while a video can take up to 10 business days. There’s no denying that these assets are valuable, but if you’re going to invest that kind of time, repurposing content is a must.
You want to get every eyeball you can on your posts. A one-time use simply isn’t cost effective for most brands. So, how can you get more mileage out of the content that you create? Here are five ways to do so:
1. Create a roundup post
Are you creating roundup posts? A roundup is a list of links to great articles that you’ve already created. You essentially create an aggregated list for your audience to read. Maybe it’s a list of the most read blog articles of the year or it could be five of your favorite how-to videos.
Create an introduction, explain what the list is, and provide the links to each of the assets. If you have videos, you could embed them right in the post.
Here’s an example of a monthly roundup from Social Change Central. Each one of the subheads is a different, clickable article to read.
2. Pull facts from your blog post and create social graphics
Most blog articles include some statistics, so why not pull out a few of those and turn them into social graphics? Turn to a tool like Canva, where you can create a graphic in seconds, and publish on-brand images that catch attention.
This post from Hubspot is a great example of a social graphic with a statistic.
3. Reuse testimonials in an email campaign
There’s power in social proof, so why not maximize that exposure? When you get a new review or gather a testimonial, it’s common to add it to the carousel of feedback on your site, but you should also create an email campaign around it.
Take a look at this simple yet effective email from Casper, an online mattress retailer, that showcases one review in an email and encourages people to shop. It’s a great example of getting extra mileage out of consumer reviews.
4. Turn blog articles into an e-book or a SlideShare
Pull a page out of the Progressive Insurance playbook and consider “bundling” content in a new way. Take a series of related blog posts and turn them into an e-book or a SlideShare.
Let’s say you have a series of five onboarding articles that shows customers how to use your app or digital platform. Put all of those articles into an e-book for new customers to use. You might even consider gating it to collect leads.
You can also use this tip in reverse. If you have an e-book, consider breaking it down into smaller blog articles or a SlideShare with a CTA at the end to drive people to the e-book.
Here’s a great example of an e-book, “The Joy of Data-Driven Storytelling,” that’s available as an e-book or as a SlideShare presentation.
5. Give well-trafficked blogs posts a refresh
Take a look at your blog traffic. Which posts are getting the most traffic? Make a list of the top five posts and consider updating these articles. Of course, you don’t want to change the URL, just refresh the text and visuals.
What should you update specifically? Write a fresh introduction, update all statistics, add new images, and provide better examples, where applicable. You might even consider upping your visual game with new graphics. Be sure to add the new date to the top of the post, like ‘Updated October 2021’ too.
Here’s a great example of a blog post with great visuals. Litmus, an email marketing service, created a post on Apple’s new privacy protocols and added charts, like this one:
There are so many ways to repurpose content. You can turn blog posts into podcasts, break a webinar into bite-sized video clips for social, turn a case study into an infographic, or reshare a post from an influencer marketing campaign on #TBT (Throwback Thursday).
This very article is actually a form of repurposed content. We’ve created this “teaser post” as a shorter, modified version of our in-depth guide, Repurposing 101. To learn more on this topic, be sure to check it out.
