Truly informative content has value, so why should you repurpose old content?
The short answer: with proper evaluation, repurposed content can have a decent ROI (return on investment).,/p>
- Google prefers fresh or updated content, and publishing and updating content helps you rank better.
- You’ve already done the primary research, so now you can save some time.
- Gain new readership and harness the promotional value of a repurposed post.
- Your contractor can handle it: it’s a viable, easy task for a skillful copywriter.
- You have a foothold on this topic in search rankings: keep it.
- You have a specific goal to meet, such as ranking for a particularly long tail keyword.
To accomplish this, you’ll need to revisit your definition of content, which includes social media posts, videos, and even items your users, affiliates, and employees create.
Remember Micro-Content
We often think of content as blog posts, videos, whitepapers, and podcasts. However, content also includes micro-blogging on social media sites like Twitter, which Google indexes. This means that when you repurpose an old piece of content and promote something new, Google will index not only the content but the social media posts promoting it.
Remember also that micro-content isn’t limited to what your brand puts out there, but topics upon which you and your employees have personally commented.
How to Repurpose Content
To get the most out of your repurposing efforts, it’s crucial to establish and maintain a method to determine which content is worth republishing. If you already have a standard content audit, you can expand upon it by making this part of the process, but it’s recommended to repurpose more frequently than most do content audits. (Many brands do quarterly or yearly audits.)
Determine Which Content to Repurpose
Establish a set deadline for this process, such as every month. Review your content and determine which pieces are ripe for repurposing. You can do that using some key tools such as:
- Google Analytics, Ahrefs, and BuzzSumo: Determine which existing content is a top-performer (more useful with written content such as blogs).
- SEMrush: Check out which terms your existing content helps you rank for. Analyze and determine your plan of attack with the help of this tool.
- Yoast SEO: Carefully plan which post will become your cornerstone content. This will help Google decide where to send your audience for a given search term.
You’ll get the best value out of evergreen content.According to Neil Patel, the best evergreen content is:
- Always useful, regardless of when it was initially published
- Long-form, tips, or lists
- Centered around core topics
Divide and Expand
Intro or 101 content is useful, but as you gain expertise in your niche, you’ll want to expand on your topic. Not only does this attract customers focused on your topic – this strategy will also grow your expertise.
Instead of outlining entirely new posts as you ‘niche down,’ consider rewriting specific sections from your 101 content. In this way, one blog post can become several.
Which subtopics should you select for expansion? Consider what area of business you want to bring in, the types of customers you want to attract with this inbound content, and how you already rank for those related keywords. It’s possible that you glossed over a topic in the past – but now it’s become a hot topic.
Create Infographics
If your original content contains data, consider presenting it in the form of an infographic. Per Axonn, only 7% of our communication happens verbally – the rest is all non-verbal. Effective content communicates clearly, meaning you should think about shifting those stats to a visually appealing image.
Make a Video
If you have the production capabilities, it’s time for your medium to catch up with the trend. According to WordStream, 82% of marketers already use video content, and over 90% of mobile users share those videos with friends, family, and professionals.
How can you make it happen? Choose existing evergreen content that tells a story. That will help you create the most effective video script – and to hold viewers’ attention, HubSpot recommends keeping it under two minutes.
Prepare a Podcast
Do you have topics in your original content that need more time than a two-minute video can provide? A podcast might be an ideal medium for that. Over 80% of podcast audiences listen to most or all of a podcast, and many podcasts run 45 minutes to an hour in length.
When you repurpose existing content and include a guest on your podcast, each section of your original work can become a discussion point in the podcast format.
Live Stream
Did you know that up to 80% of your audience would prefer a live video to a blog post?
Live video is increasingly popular as well. Formally and informally, marketers create streamed content and take an interest in those that do. You can repurpose content on a video stream just as you would with a podcast or recorded video. Additionally, you can embed these types of media in future blog posts as well to continue getting the most out of your work.
Answer Those Questions: Repurpose User-Generated Content
What do your users want to know about your brand? What do they say? You have to do this research anyway, and it’s important to remember that not all of the content at your disposal for repurposing is necessarily created by you. Your audience’s ideas, concerns, and pain points (even if addressed in full before) can be ideal for repurposing.
Presentations Become Webinars and SlideShares
No matter what your industry, you put a lot of work into meeting presentations, panel discussions, and live events.
What do you do with your notes when you’re done? What if people couldn’t attend your event but want to see what you’ve put together?
Enter LinkedIn’s SlideShare. You can upload your presentations to this SEO-friendly site, which also makes your content embeddable should you decide to more substantially repurpose it by including it in a blog post.
Don’t Forget Your Call To Action (CTA)
You can create the best-repurposed content in the world, but if it doesn’t have a purpose, your copy won’t convert. Include a strong call to action at the end of your repurposed content. This should tell your audience what you’d like them to do and it should align with your goals (email newsletter signup, higher engagements, course enrollments, and more). Remember that your repurposed content won’t necessarily have the same CTA as your old content and that your business goals, industry, and therefore your CTA may have changed since you created the first piece.
Another thing to remember: don’t limit yourself when it comes to the type of content you repurpose. That top-performing blog post could also help you spin effective email copy.
Lastly, as you re-purpose, remember to revise and re-optimize former content – and update the publish date when you do. What proves the most value? Once you commit to repurposing content, you can replace amateur efforts altogether.
Have you had any serious successes as a result of repurposing your content? Let us know all about it in the comments
below.
