This picture is a screen capture from a video that was inspired by a webinar. As it suggests, each piece of content can be repurposed once or several times over. Here are 8 different ways to repurpose your content today.

8 Genius Ways to Repurpose Content

It takes so much time and effort to create great content that you can’t afford to use it just once. Discover 8 ways to leverage, scale, and repurpose content.
Article Outline

B2B marketers are ramping up their content production, reporting a 51 percent budget increase for this year alone in a Content Marketing Institute study. But even with this increased spending, only 30 percent say their efforts are effective. They must reach their audience with greater efficiency (and results), but where should they start?

Michael Brenner, CEO of the Marketing Insider Group, said, “Content marketing represents the gap between what brands produce and what consumers actually want.”

Everybody responds differently to content formats. Some people are visual learners and respond positively to infographics, while auditory learners may prefer a podcast. By repurposing content, you meet audiences in the formats they prefer while extending your overall reach.

Need help getting started?

8 different ways to repurpose content right now

1. Turn Webinars into Video Tutorials

Creating successful webinars is time-consuming. You must choose the right topic, create the content, and promote the webinar to capture maximum interest and attention. After an event is over, many brands move on to parking it as an on-demand webinar, and (maybe, maybe not) promoting it. But you don’t have to stop there. With some webinars, especially new feature introductions and how-tos, you can continue getting a return on your investment by repurposing webinar content into video tutorials. Here are a few tips for getting started.

  • Keep video tutorials short. Research shows that the optimal length is about 45 to 90 seconds. Keep your content short and straight to the point.
  • Create a series. You may have enough content for multiple video clips. If so, create a series and entice viewers to subscribe to build ongoing engagement. For example, Derek Halpern of Social Triggers created “Free Video Series: How to Sell Anything (Without Being Salesy),” where he nurtured and engaged the audience over an extended period of time.
  • Promote your tutorials like crazy. If you have an email subscriber list, send out an email blast promoting the videos to the appropriate target market, maybe even your customers. Also, take advantage of the capabilities of online social networking sites — Twitter, Facebook, and others. Write a blog post about the upcoming series and publish it on your website.
  • Turn your webinar into a SlideShare. You’ve already got the deck; why not? You may need to cut some slides and add text so the deck can stand alone. Speaking of SlideShare:

 

2. Transform SlideShares to Infographics

SlideShare is a powerful tool for marketers, capturing the attention of 70 million unique visitors each month. In fact, it’s one of the 100 most-visited websites in the world. So it’s no surprise that marketers are using this tool to expand their reach. But once you’ve created a really amazing SlideShare, you can extract key points and stats to generate an infographic. Here are a few tips:

  • Keep it simple. Your SlideShare may be packed with really amazing data, but stay focused on a single theme. For example, PC Magazine published “The Current State of Backup” where it focused solely on the best and worst practices of Mac users.
  • Embed your infographic in a blog post. This gives you double the power and reach. You can promote the blog post and infographic separately to increase visibility.
  • Extend further than data. Most people think infographics only contain data points. But, in fact, 53 percent of the most-shared infographics do not actually contain data visualization. Check out this “How to Guide” of men’s dress codes, which is built on tips, rather than on data:
  • You can also reverse this type of repurposing. For example, start with an infographic and build it into a SlideShare. The important thing is that you’re getting the most mileage out of your content.

 

3. Turn Podcasts into Blog Posts

Podcasts are a great resource for content repurposing. They’re packed with information you can leverage into a variety of formats, such as blog posts. For example, Convince and Convert does this frequently. Recently they wrote, “How to Get Ahead of This Year’s Social Media Trends.” At the top of the podcast, they say, “Listen to this blog post as a podcast,” with a link to play the audio. This is great, because only 30 percent of the population are auditory learners. Those with other learning styles prefer to read or visually see information to process it. Here are a few tips for transforming your podcasts to blog posts:

  • Get transcripts. Get your podcasts transcribed, then quickly edit the transcript into blog post format. You’ll save a ton of time (not re-listening to the audio) and have a quick, ready-made blog post.
  • Select pullout quotes. Did the person you interviewed say something really great? If so, call that out in the blog post and add the “Click to Tweet” link to promote social sharing.
  • Maximize reach. Once you publish the blog post, share it with everyone who was interviewed or included in the podcast episode. If they have a large audience, this will greatly expand your reach

 

4. Convert Blog Posts to eBooks

B2B marketers that use blogs receive 67 percent more leads than those that don’t blog. But once you create, share and maximize your efforts from each post, you want that content to keep on producing. Joel Fridlander details how he turned his blog archive into an ebook in this CopyBlogger post.

He sorted through his website archive, selected popular posts, wrote an introduction and conclusion, updated the content and published “A Self-Publisher’s Companion.” Here are a few tips for getting started:

  • Find the hidden gems. Which blog posts performed best? Look for themes or similar topics that you can string together into different chapters.
  • Update the content. Once you pull together the content, does any of it need to be updated? Maybe stats need updating or certain sections need more content. Polish any areas that need additional attention.
  • Request quotes from influencers. Quotes bring the eBook to life and keep readers engaged. Plus, they’re a great tool for promotion. For example, let’s say your eBook is about a specific pain point of your target audience. Reach out to influencers and ask for their insights on the topic. Sometimes you can get a quote in a quick conversation, or someone will answer a question through email. After you publish the book, share it with everybody who provided quotes (they will likely promote it).

 

4 More Types of Content to Repurpose

Keep in mind that you want to maximize each hour you spend on content marketing efforts. Here are a few more useful ways to repurpose for greater reach.

  • Convert Q&As to blog posts. Do your customers commonly ask the same questions or express the same pain points? If so, you’ve likely written a Q&A for your website. Transform this information into a series of blog posts taking a deeper dive into each challenge.
  • Connect white papers to blog posts. After creating a white paper, pull the content into a blog series and create a call to action promoting the white paper. If the white paper is gated (prospects must provide their email to access), you can use it for lead generation.
  • Follow up events with eBooks. Does your company have an important event coming up? If so, capture the insights of attendees and then turn it into an eBook.
  • Transfer case studies to videos. Are you planning on creating case studies this year? If so, expand your reach by creating short videos based on the content, and including interviews with your customer, to bring the story to life and make it a livelier testimonial.

 

Moving Forward with Greater Impact

With each piece of content that you create, it’s important to ask, “How else can we use this?” You might also consider how to tweak each piece for different personas. As a result, you’ll stop thinking about content as a one-time investment, and instead like an annuity that continues to pay off over time.

Massive amounts of time are saved during the planning stage as you begin to reach different audiences in many different formats, without “redoing” the work you did upfront. But best of all, you’ll learn what types of content your audience prefers through testing different formats to create more meaningful and authentic engagement.

Do you currently repurpose content? What works best for your audience? Please share your experiences.

What's New?