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Article's Content
If you’re like most content marketers, you’ve been wasting your time and ignoring one of your most powerful tools. Content repurposing amplifies your content to spread it with a much higher impact than it had before.
That’s why you need to learn to strategically reuse existing content.
With practices like reformatting, reposting, and transforming material from one article into several new pieces across different channels, you can dramatically improve your digital presence with minimal effort. Stop wasting valuable resources by recreating the same old concepts over again, and start soaking up all the benefits of repurposing content!
What is Content Repurposing?
Content repurposing is when you distribute content you’ve already made in a new format. It lets you have a much wider marketing impact than you otherwise would, with relatively little effort. Think of it like taking ingredients from a base recipe and mixing them together to make something new.
The content repurposing workflow consists of taking one piece of content, breaking it up into smaller chunks, and then reorganizing and reforming those parts into brand-new content pieces.
This is an incredibly efficient way to make sure your work continues to generate leads and keep your audience interested long after the initial post goes live. With a robust content repurposing strategy, you’re ensuring that every piece of content you produce adds value for your readers.
Why Content Repurposing Matters
Have you ever spent hours crafting the perfect blog post for your website only to be met with lackluster results?
Content repurposing could help by letting you turn a single piece of content into multiple assets and spinning those out across various channels to reach a larger audience. It can make all the difference in getting your message out there, so it’s important to understand the benefits and best practices.
Repurposing your content amplifies its reach and impact, increases visibility, puts more eyes on your work, and ultimately gives you an edge over competitors. Done right, content repurposing has great potential to expand both tactical reach and overall audience engagement.
Many marketers have realized the immense potential that content repurposing can offer to boost their brand presence. For example, 94% of marketers say they use content repurposing as part of their strategy. This is because it allows them to get more out of existing material, amplify reach and engagement, and better target different audiences.
In the words of expert marketer Liam Moroney, “Make sure your strongest content gets seen.”
4 Ways to Repurpose Content
While you may understand the broad strokes of what content repurposing is and why it’s important, you need to understand the tactical aspects too. There are four main ways to repurpose existing content: reposting, reformatting, transforming, and translating.
Each of these ways of repurposing content has its own advantages and disadvantages. A complete marketing strategy will use all four.
Content Reposting
Reposting content is just what it sounds like: posting something to a different channel with basically no changes. It can also include posting a link to your blog content on a social media channel.
The advantages of reposting content include its simplicity and immediacy. With just a few clicks, you can share the same piece of content across multiple channels, which can be great for targeting different audiences or increasing visibility. Reposting also has a powerful impact; it can increase engagement, sales, and conversions by exposing your content to a larger, more diverse audience.
However, reposting without changes can create an impression of repetition or inconsistency in your message, and could lead to decreased engagement over time. It’s best to use this tactic sparingly to avoid audience burnout.
Tata Consultancy does a great job reposting its content. For example, it posted this article on careers in cybersecurity in November of 2022. But it wasn’t until Tata shared it on X (formerly known as Twitter) and LinkedIn in March of 2023 that the article started gathering traffic.
Now the article has backlinks and after a long time stagnating with zero traffic, it’s ranking for a couple of keywords. Not too bad for a marketing motion that takes almost zero time and effort.
If you’re looking to start repurposing, there’s good news: you can start right away. All you need to do is consider what channels you’re trying to build a presence in and which of your existing content fits those channels best.
Content Reformatting
Reformatting content is slightly more complicated than reposting. Reformatting takes content in one medium and puts it in another.
Reformatting content allows you to reach a broader audience and make your content more accessible. By reformatting existing content, marketers can target different audiences with various interests and preferences.
For example, if you have a blog post about cybersecurity, you can reformat it into an infographic or video for those who prefer visual learning methods. Or, if you have a podcast episode, you can reformat it into something more easily shared and consumed, like an article.
Video content, a popular content type for content marketing, can also be reformatted. Video reformatting refers to the process of changing the format or encoding of a video file. This is often done to make the video compatible with a specific device, software, or platform, or to reduce the file size for easier sharing and storage. Video reformatting utilizing a free video converter allows you to share videos with your target audience, or clients who may use different devices or platforms, ensuring that the video is viewable on a wide range of devices & across various social media platforms.
You can see an example of content reformatting with Foundation’s own case study here. In that post, you can already see two different ways to consume the content: as a podcast or as a written blog post. But that’s not enough, because Foundation also reformatted that content into a video to engage an even broader audience.
The post performed well enough on its own, but the video added a whole new group of viewers. Subscribers to the YouTube channel are engaged, interested marketers in Foundation’s target audience, and video was a great way to reach them directly.
If you’re looking to start reformatting your own content, you should start by looking at what you already have and thinking of ways to present it differently. Think about what would make the most sense for the content, as well as which channels your target audience uses most often.
Content Transforming
Where reformatting content turns the same content into a different medium, like converting text to audio, transforming content makes more significant changes. It involves taking the same core ideas and expanding on them in a different format.
Let’s say you have an article about content marketing best practices. You can take those same principles and turn them into an e-book that covers each topic in more detail. Or, you could repurpose blog content into new videos that discuss those same topics with animations.
The key to transforming content is to make sure that the new pieces are high quality and offer value to your audience. You don’t want to just regurgitate old ideas without adding any new insight; instead, think of ways to expand on existing concepts and provide further context.
Transforming content is helpful because it takes the same message and puts it into different formats, allowing you to reach more people. Plus, if one piece of content does well, transforming it can help create a marketing snowball effect as your audience discovers multiple iterations of the same topic.
Hootsuite is an excellent case study in transforming content. For example, when Hootsuite turned statistics from a digital report into a graphic for social media, it got over 300K interactions. Hootsuite had to put in some serious effort there: doing the original research, pulling insights from the report to reshare, and transforming those stats into a digestible format. But the benefits are clear.
Hootsuite also refreshes old content when it repurposes it. For example, it repurposed an old blog post into a video. Then it embedded that video into the original blog post, adding value to both.
If you’re looking at content repurposing, this amount of work might be intimidating. But start by taking one of your longer pieces of content and pulling out key insights. By taking this simple, step-by-step approach, you’ll be on your way to transformative repurposing in no time.
Content Translation
You’re probably excluding 80% of the world from your content right now.
That’s how many people don’t speak English. But B2B SaaS marketing is overwhelmingly anglophone. It’s true that the intelligent international audience you’re likely targeting is probably more proficient in English than the average global citizen. But translation still has serious benefits.
Translating your content doesn’t just let you reach people who don’t understand English. It also builds trust with your audience. 68% of people prefer communicating with a brand in their native language. Even if they’re perfectly fluent in the language you’re publishing your content in, that doesn’t mean that’s how they’d prefer it.
That’s why the Dutch bank ABN-AMRO translates its content between English and Dutch. You can click on any blog post and easily view the same content in either language. With branches in 12 countries, most of which have very few Dutch speakers, you can understand their desire to make their content as accessible as possible.
While he isn’t in the B2B SaaS market, the YouTuber Mr. Beast is an excellent example of the power of translation. He dubs and subtitles his videos in 12 different languages, so the vast majority of the world’s population can understand them. The impacts are clear: on a video where the original has 280 million views, he just had to redub it in Spanish for another 87 million.
If you’re not sure where to start with translating your own content and website localization, you could try it first with your best-performing pieces or landing pages. That way, you’ll be certain of some return on your investment, and you can clearly see the proportion of people interested in the translation.
You can also try out an AI translator to take the first crack at your translation, but be sure to have someone fluent in the language proofread your work for accuracy before hitting publish.
Common Content Repurposing Mistakes
The biggest mistake you can make is to not repurpose your content at all. But if you’ve already leaped over that hurdle, there are still some key mistakes you need to avoid along the way.
Some of the best content being published online is going unseen because the team behind it hasn’t embraced distribution.
It’s never reshared. It’s not amplified by the team. It’s never promoted in a community. And it’s only promoted for a week.
Create once. Distribute forever.
— Ross Simmonds (@TheCoolestCool) December 21, 2020
Reposting Without Reformatting
When it comes to repurposing content, one of the most common mistakes is to try and force the same content into a different format without making changes that fit the new format. For example, taking an in-depth blog post and simply turning it into an X thread won’t do your content justice.
Rather than forcing the same material into an unfamiliar format, make sure to tailor your content for its new context by including more detail and facts as well as higher semantic richness. You may need to include additional information or rewrite parts of the post to make sure it’s engaging and relevant for your new audience. This will help ensure you stay true to the original message while taking advantage of the new platform’s unique features.
Not Matching Channels to Content
When it comes to content repurposing, not all pieces of material are suited for every format. It is important to identify which channels best fit the specific type of content and tailor it accordingly in order to maximize its reach and engagement.
For instance, if you’re repurposing a blog post into an infographic, make sure that the content is informative enough to be displayed in graphical form and visually appealing. If you want to save time, using an infographic maker can help you quickly create engaging visuals that effectively communicate your message.
Alternatively, if you’re creating a podcast episode from an article or converting a video into text-based content, make sure that the material is suitable for its new medium by adjusting the flow of information and making it more conversational.
Posting Irrelevant Content
When writing extremely timely content, it can be difficult to find the time to repurpose and maximize the reach of your post. To ensure that you don’t miss your window and make the most of your content, adding more detail, facts, and additional context is essential.
Doing this allows you to create new pieces of content that are tailored for different channels without sacrificing the quality of the original work.
Self-plagiarizing
When it comes to repurposing content, it’s important to give proper credit to authors and avoid self-plagiarism. While reposting existing content can be a great way to amplify your message and get more eyes on your work, it should never come at the expense of originality. Your audience won’t engage with the same piece of content over and over again, so make sure you’re providing something fresh every time.
You should also remember to always add value when repurposing content. Don’t just regurgitate old ideas without offering any new insight. Instead, think of ways to expand on existing concepts and provide further context by taking advantage of the new channel’s unique advantages.
If you don’t do this, you haven’t rewarded repeat readers for their loyalty. Instead, you give them no reason to click on the content you’ve created for them.
5 Best Practices for Repurposing Content
With all that said, here are the five key best practices you need to follow when you repurpose your content:
- Analyze your audience
- Create a content calendar
- Reformat to fit the channel
- Ensure brand consistency across channels
- Don’t be afraid of repeating yourself
First, analyze what channels your audience is using. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box; your competitors might be missing out on repurposing content for social media channels where your audience spends a lot of time. Put your content where your audience goes;don’t just wait for people to find it on their own.
You should also create and follow a content calendar that includes your repurposing efforts. Content repurposing doesn’t need to happen immediately. Instead, find your own cadence for posting, reposting, reformatting, translating, and transforming your content. Pay attention to the best times to post on different channels as well–people might use one channel on weekends, and another on their lunch breaks. This helps keep your repurposing active.
Next, look at what content formats are popular on the channel you’re looking to publish in. The X algorithm rewards photos and videos, while LinkedIn deprioritizes links. Consider this when choosing how to format your posts.
With all this switching between media and channels, you need to make sure your branding stays consistent. Use the same color scheme, fonts, and logos on all your channels. You want people to recognize you no matter where they find you.
Finally, don’t be afraid of repeating what you’ve said before, already, again, in different ways. You can bring back the same post more than once, especially if current events or a new context make it especially relevant.
Wrap-Up: Don’t Miss Out on Your Content’s Potential
Content repurposing can seem intimidating, but it’s worth the effort. It allows you to reach more potential customers and build trust with a larger audience.
By following the best practices outlined here, you can make sure you’re taking advantage of your content’s potential and reaching as many people as possible with each piece of work. With patience and practice, you can repurpose your content to its fullest effect. If you do your best, it’ll soon feel like second nature to you.
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