Since about 2005, we have lived by the mantra ‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’ and though this applies to saving the environment and going green, it can also be applied to how your startup uses its content. The most valuable thing we all have is time, so what if we said you could be saving bucket-loads (an official measurement) by repurposing your content for all your channels? Sounds amazing, right?
The main idea behind repurposing your content is a lot like why a person reupholsters a sofa or fixes an item of clothing, it’s so you can put a new spin on it and give it a new lease of life. Plus, creating new content with content you’ve already created instead of starting from scratch? That’s the dream.
Did you know that buyers need to hear your message approximately seven times before they will close the deal? Apparently, it’s a thing, Marketing’s Rule of Seven it’s called. It sounds like a crazy amount and may leave you wondering how on Earth you’ll be able to get a potential customer to view a single message seven times. This is where repurposing content comes in.
There are many ways you can turn your content into something new instead of leaving it to gather dust in the archives of your website and social media pages. You’re proud of the work you’ve already put out, so why not breathe new life into it and allow it to find audiences it may not have the first time around? Updating that blog post with the latest stats or turning it into a short video gets new (and old) eyes on it. You can even start a podcast if you find something that would be great to expand upon. Perhaps there weren’t enough words for the blog post, or you can feel a discussion brewing from a LinkedIn post, even from a Tweet.
It’s all possible and will save you time and grow these all-important elements of your startup. So, how exactly do you do it? Let’s take a deeper dive into the ones mentioned above along with a few more examples…
Most content that can be repurposed will come from blog posts, but we’ll start with an easy one. Updating blog posts to reflect change, new information, and statistics that might be a little out-dated is the simplest thing to do. Better yet, you can note anything updated in the title of the post which will draw new and old eyes onto the post. You may have had some user feedback on some posts as well, and updating the post based on these show that your customers are being heard and are valued.
Blogs can be edited down further and transformed into bitesize social media posts, whether that be captions, status updates, LinkedIn posts, or Tweets. If you can cut down the main points of your long-form blog posts, you’ve just created loads of extra content that can be shared throughout the week, or even month. They really are a gold-mine for repurposing, so this is your sign to create a blog if you haven’t already. Consistently posting on it will be a further help, so it may seem like more work to begin with – but in the long run, having a blog will save you more time than imaginable.
Everyone and their dogs have a podcast, and they are one of the best ways for you to keep up with the latest news, trends, and tactics within both startup land and your specific industry. By looking through your blog posts and LinkedIn posts, a topic may come up that you’ve spoken about before but didn’t get the chance to really dig into it like you wanted. This is where creating a podcast comes in. They’re easily accessible by practically everyone nowadays and sharing your knowledge on your industry in the form of a podcast will improve your authoritative image. Plus, you can refer to certain posts in the podcast itself and increase the engagement on it.
A whopping 85% of all internet users enjoy video content which could be a huge, untapped resource for your startup. With the rise of platforms like TikTok and additional social media platform elements like Instagram reels, short video content should not be ignored. Coming up with fresh ideas for videos is a laborious, time-consuming task. However, transforming content you already have, like product reviews and customer testimonials, into short videos? It’s already there, waiting, and that’s half the battle won.
Speaking of customer testimonials, they are one of the best resources you can have for repurposing content – because it’s content you didn’t create to begin with! Using these is not only timesaving, but they are versatile. They can made into short videos and infographics, and anything else your creative heads can come up with. They’re great to have in visible places as they draw in other potential customers who won’t make a purchase without reading what others have to say. It lets new customers know you’re trusted, and your regular customers know they’re being heard (and it’s a nice little ego-boost for you!).
Amongst all of this, rehashing your content in new and creative ways will only do good for your SEO standings. Updating and reforming older content means you’ll have multiple opportunities to include the most relevant and trending keywords within your industry at that moment. This could mean you show up several times in a user’s search for a product, reinforcing in their mind that your startup has authority and can be trusted. All from something as simple as repurposing.
Now, what are you going to do with all this free time?
