Taking the time to create meaningful and insightful content requires dedication and consistency—and likely takes you away from your core business, which means it costs you money. Ensure that each piece of content you pen—be it a blog post, a social media update, a white paper, or anything else—allows you to make a considerable impact, garner attention, and get the most bang for your buck.
In this blog post, the marketing experts at YGL Enterprises will discuss the basics of repurposing content and why this action is beneficial to the bottom line.
What is Content Repurposing?
Firstly, let’s break down what we mean when we refer to content repurposing; within the world of content strategy, it can also be referred to as content recycling. This approach means you are taking a piece of previously written content for use on a platform such as a company blog and using it differently to expand your audience, gain more exposure, and potentially drive more business to your primary website.
Some ways to repurpose content include:
- Include a well-performing blog post in a targeted client newsletter.
- Break down blog content into bite-sized information for social media.
- Create an infographic to highlight industry statistics.
- Convert the post into a video, live-action feed, or animation and share it on your website or social media. (Many people find visual information easier to digest than reading text, which could lead to immediate audience expansion.)
- Returning to a blog post you wrote months or years ago and heavily adding to and/or revising information based on market or industry changes to offer more value to a reader.
- Applying for syndication on a website like Business2Community or set up an account on Medium. On the former, every time you post a blog to your site, it will automatically be pushed to the B2C site. On the latter, once you publish enough content and gain some followers, you will likely be invited to participate in “online publications” and share content on pages that have large audiences.
- Compiling blogs that share a theme and creating a whitepaper or an eBook—and then offering these materials as a “bonus” to people who opt-in to a mailing list or take some other conversion action.
Indeed, these are just a few ways to recycle and reuse content. This approach allows you to avoid getting stuck in a seemingly never-ending loop of trying to come up with new content ideas.
Repurposing Content Can Be Beneficial to SEO
We all know that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a complex endeavor, primarily because search engines constantly change their algorithms and consider so many criteria when determining search results. Fortunately, recycling content can potentially boost your SEO efforts. Here’s how:
- You invest your resources wisely and reach a broader audience in the process. For instance, let’s pretend you have a blog post that consistently performs and drives traffic. It resonates because your prospects reference this article when they call you to schedule a consultation for a specific service. Therefore, if you create an infographic and a video on this topic, as it is already popular, you will boost your organic traffic without investing time and money to figure out what speaks to your potential audience.
- When you repurpose your content—adding to it or revising it—you give that piece of content a more recent update record on your website. This tactic appeals to the search engines and signals that it is still relevant, meaning it is more likely to end up on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
- You can put your SEO knowledge to good use. For instance, maybe when you wrote a blog, specific keywords were hot and sought after, but today, they are not. In this regard, you can rework the content based on what keyword data is trending now and give the content new life.
How to Determine What Content Should Be Repurposed
Simply put, not all content can be considered evergreen or even revisable. So don’t drive yourself crazy trying to make a seasonable or outdated piece of content relevant again. Therefore, we recommend the following tips:
- Assess your goals and find content that aligns with what you are trying to achieve. For instance, are you trying to partner with a specific industry player? Are you seeking to build relationships with prospects who specifically operate in the C-suite of their organization? Whatever your goal may be, identify content that speaks to this audience.
- Check your website’s analytics and see what content is performing well. Then, determine what blogs rank for organic visibility, reach, linking structure, the number of shares, and other key performance indicators.
- Identify evergreen content. This is content that never goes “out of style.” It is an easy and effective way to create social media updates, graphics, videos, and the like.
- Review reader comments noted on your blogs. Often, a reader will leave constructive feedback if they have questions about a concept you discussed and would like to know more. If someone took time to read your content and comment, pay attention to them.
- Employ the “skyscraper technique.” Research your competitors, check out what they have written about, and repurpose their content (no, not plagiarize—this content will be new to your business and should be original). Create a better and more complete version of what your competitor offered. If you want to put the cherry on top of this tactic, reach out to blogs and websites that may have linked to your competitor’s content and share your new and improved version. If your timing is right and the stars align, they will remove the old link and replace it with a link to your latest and updated interpretation.
Consult with a Professional
Repurposing content is an effective strategy for any business that does not have the time or capacity to constantly strategize and push out new content. Instead, harness your existing content’s power and make it work harder for your company. Of course, if you love the idea of this strategy but need some creative inspiration to give your old content new life, contact the marketing professionals at YGL Enterprises. We would love to have the opportunity to consult with you, analyze your content, determine where there is an opportunity, and get your business more attention.
Yvonne Levine, president of YGL Enterprises, Inc., is a strategic marketing consultant who collaborates with professional services and small and mid-sized businesses to develop and execute successful marketing strategies, branding initiatives, content creation, and digital marketing plans. By helping businesses devise a targeted strategy first, this approach creates a strong foundation for tactical decisions, which drives brand awareness and positive results. Follow Yvonne on LinkedIn and Facebook.
Yvonne Levine, president of