What does it mean to repurpose or recycle content? There are a couple ways to do it. One way is to repost or reshare the content as is. A lot of companies do this with Throwback Thursdays or just highlighting past content. Another way to repurpose content is to take old content and use it as an outline for new content.
For example, once a live stream is over, the audio can be published as a podcast on platforms like Spotify or Apple Music. Video clips of highlights can be repurposed into social content or ads. The transcript can be turned into a blog article, and pull quotes can be used in social posts.
(This article is based off an outline for a live video, that was in turn, based off another blog article, that was itself based off one of our Live Roundtables. Content can and should generate other content.)
What’s Your Message?
If you’ve been making content for a while, you probably have a good idea of what your message is. When you have a message, at least a little bit of everything you create will be a reiteration of something you’ve said before. That’s a good thing! Having too much variety in messaging can create a confusing brand message overall. Your brand pillars and values aren’t going to change, so your primarily message shouldn’t either.
Just because you have a consistent message, it doesn’t mean your content will be too repetitive or monotonous. The world around us–pop culture, trends, industry, standards, technology–is always changing. There are always new topics to address and new information to be added. Adding information keeps your messages up to date. Up-to-date content is more accurate and provides more value to your followers.
This is one of the biggest reasons to spend some of your time repurposing and updating old content, rather than only producing new content. By updating old content, you keep your business’s output high-quality and accurate. You show that your company is with the times and diligent about correcting old information.
Your Audience Grows and Changes
Another reason to recycle content is that it gives more people an opportunity to see it. Even if someone has been following you for a long time, there’s a chance that they didn’t see the content the first time around. Social media platforms notoriously fail to consistently promote content. And, we’re all so busy, it’s easy to miss something. Your followers might appreciate or need a piece of content now, more than they did when it was first published. Repurposing your published information is a way to help your customers get what they need when they need it.
Know What Your Customers Need
The longer you spend doing business, the more you know about your audience’s interests. We are all constantly learning about our followers and audience. As time passes, you have more and more First Party Data available to you. Knowing more about who your customers are can help you to understand what content they actually need. It also helps you reframe your content in the best way possible.
Recycling Content Boosts SEO
One added benefit of repurposing content is that it boosts SEO. Search engines like to see a lot of content that revolves around a single topic. It shows a consistent brand message and the trustworthiness of the source. This indicates a greater brand value, which earns you more traffic.
How could YOU be repurposing content?
