Repurposing Content

Earlier in this training we covered creating one piece of content and resizing for each social platform. In this training we will be covering repurposing content.

Often we are so focused on creating and publishing piece after piece of content, that we completely forget about all the great content we’ve already produced. Repurposing content is one of those strategies that every business owner should be following.

If you’ve been creating content for a while, you have to know that one story can tell dozens more — and therefore bring you tremendous benefit with minimal effort.

What is repurposing content and why should you do it?

Repurposing content, is a fancy name for content recycling, which simply means taking existing content and reusing it somewhere else, in a different context. In other words: repurposing content is giving a new life to content you’ve already created. That sounds pretty simple but it can turn out to be tricky sometimes. To make things easier, when producing content, have repurposing in mind, so you’ll be able to slice it into different formats later on.

Repurposing content has considerable benefits. Besides the fact that it saves you a LOT of time, considering that the hard work is already done, repurposing content allows you to reach a completely new audience. Indeed, reformatting your content to other platforms means reaching larger audiences.

Why repurpose content?

Firstly we need to look at Social Media engagement rates. When a good engagement rate on social media platforms is only between 1% to 5% … it is pretty arrogant to assume that not only do your followers watch everything you post but they also remember it!

In fact on average only 1% of your followers actually see what you post which is why we are covering Boosting Posts and Paid Advertising in the next training.

What do you repurpose?

Look at the content created by fellow Franchisees and even Head Office from walk through videos, house plans, other static photo posts. Take snippets of long form video – cut long video into 30 or 60 second reels or stories, add overlays like emojis or watermarks to ensure that your video stands out and select branded assets like logos, fonts, and colours. It’s the best way to combine images, videos, and text layers together into a multimedia Instagram post to attract new likes and followers.

Repost / Recycle

Change up a post previously uploaded … again your followers are not going to remember every … single … post … you ever put up on social media. Make memes, vlogs (video blogs), and talking head videos or post teasers, trailers, and previews of longer-form content to attract viewers to YouTube. 

Consider using the Link or Swipe Up feature to direct your Instagram audience to a full-length video on your YouTube channel. Just paste the URL in your Story video teaser, add a URL sticker or text overlay to Swipe up, or put it in your Reels description.

1. Use old images as post backgrounds.

Have high-quality visuals that you’ve only used once? Try using  them as post backgrounds. As long as you’re following the Instagram size requirements, you can use these images as the background for quotes you extract from blog posts or simply post the images on their own to draw audience attention to a past project.

2. Post snippets of existing video content.

Do you have YouTube videos or any type of business-related video content? Post snippets on social media. Most platforms allow you to post video content, so if you edit it down to fit within their video-length requirements, you can easily repurpose a video for each of the platforms you have a presence on. If you’re hesitant to go this route, or new to video overall, consider the following stats from Wyzol: 86% of video marketers say that video has a high return on investment (ROI), and 85% of businesses already use video as a marketing tool.

3. Post user-generated content.

User-generated content can be reviews on your product pages a supplier showcasing your use of their product to feedback from community work. Although it may seem like these only provide value in their original channel, they can be repurposed for social media. 

4. Repost social media content from your other profiles.

It may seem rather convoluted, but you can repost content from your social media profiles to your other social media profiles. This could look like taking a screenshot of a Facebook post to share on LinkedIn, a picture of a YouTube thumbnail to promote a new video on your Instagram Story, or a screenshot of a Tweet for your Instagram page.

5. Extract quotes from existing content.

Extract quotes from top-performing content, especially when they contain insight from industry leaders, is particularly impactful on social media channels like Instagram or Facebook. Extract these quotes, create social media posts, and re-use them on all your favourite social platforms.

6. Update Older Content

There may be new developments or advice you can share on a topic you’ve already posted about in the past. So, take your old post, make some adjustments and additions, and re-publish it. You shouldn’t have to do a complete overhaul,(although that’s also an option)  just make sure that it appeals to today’s audience.

Repurposing isn’t difficult and it is a great way to reuse some amazing content you’ve created previously.

Next Lesson: Comments and Invites