What does repurposing content mean? And why should you repurpose your B2B content?
Think of content repurposing as redistribution or broader distribution, making sure a piece of content you’ve created gets seen by as many different people as possible.
Another way to look at it is return on time invested.
You’ve created a piece of content for a purpose. It takes time to write, edit and get signed off (or filmed or recorded), and time is money.
So, you want to maximise the value of your time and content. Making sure it gets seen by as many of the right people as possible will help you achieve that.
How do you repurpose content?
There are different ways of repurposing content, which break down roughly into four areas:
1. Multiple-channel approach
This is where you publish the same piece of content on several different channels that you use for your business.
For example, you make a video and publish it on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube, embed it in a client newsletter and put it on your website. That’s five different channels.
If you use Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, you could publish it there too.
2. Break up a longer piece of content into smaller pieces
Longer content, whether an article, report, longer video or podcast, can be repurposed into smaller chunks of content for different channels.
For example: Take your thought leader article or white paper, pull out key sections/points/quotes, and turn them into a series of shorter LinkedIn posts, blog posts or Tweets.
3. Reformat into a different medium
We live in a multimedia world, so this is about taking one piece of content and changing the format to create another piece.
For example, a podcast episode can be turned into a series of short video clips or audiograms for social media. Or transcribe that same podcast episode or video and turn it into an article.
Or take an article or blog post and turn the key points into a carousel/slider on LinkedIn.
It’s the same content, just dressed in a different outfit.
4. Re-post
There is no harm in posting the same content again, maybe tease it slightly differently or flag it as ‘in case you missed it’ (ICYMI).
Keep a content archive, dust off, and re-post content that is still relevant but not time sensitive.
If a topic has resurfaced in the news that you wrote about a while ago, then re-post and link it to the new discussion.
I saw this done recently by someone writing about workplace trends; they highlighted a piece they had written several years earlier, which made some pertinent predictions.
Why repurpose?
I’ve already mentioned distribution and maximising the value of your content. To explain that further, your audience is unlikely to be all in the same place.
Some people will subscribe to your newsletter, and some will be on LinkedIn or Twitter. Some don’t know you yet but might Google the topic and get sent to your article on your website – or your YouTube video or podcast episode.
Plus, it’s never sensible to have all your content eggs in the same content basket. What if something happens to one channel – say, a social platform changes its algorithm, or it goes down for a spell? You don’t have any control over that.
Choose channels appropriate to your audience but fill those channels by repurposing your content. You aren’t creating from scratch, just using what you’ve already created better to reach a bigger audience.
And just because you post your content once on LinkedIn or Twitter, it doesn’t mean the algorithm will show every one of your connections that post. And not everyone is on the platform when you post.
Chopping up a larger piece of content into three, four – or more – shorter posts you can drip feed onto social platforms means more chance of it being seen by more of your audience.
Changing the format is another way to increase the reach. Some people prefer listening to a podcast, some prefer to read an article, and others may like consuming video content.
But the crucial thing is you are populating lots of different channels with the same content.
Yes, repurposing a piece of content will take a bit of time, but compare that with how long it would take to create content from scratch and get it signed off.
Think of it as doing more with less to reach a bigger audience.
How many ways can you repurpose your content?
You might also like to read:
Post-event content: Are you making the most? (also available as a video)
How to make the most of your B2B content (also available as a video)
How I created 9 pieces of content from a LinkedIn Livestream
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