Content repurposing is a vital segment of content marketing strategy that should not be ignored especially if you want to get great results from your strategy. A good question to ask will be how is this possible and how can this be done?

In this article, I will be sharing the important things you should look out for when repurposing content and how to get the best result. Let’s take a dive into getting familiar with the definition of content repurposing.

What is Content Repurposing?

Content repurposing is the process of recreating a piece of content using different methods to meet the needs of different segments of your target audience. You will agree with me that the definition sounds simple for something that has been researched to generate more results for content marketers according to Peep Stratetegy.

“61% of marketers claim updating/repurposing content is the most effective tactic”

Another definition says content repurposing is a multi-channel marketing strategy that gives room for your business message to appear in different formats and on every platform where your potential customers will look for it.

Just like the first definition, the goal of content repurposing is for you to be able to reach your audience and provide what you believe they need at that particular time.

This marketing strategy allows you to get substantial results without necessarily putting in too much effort and resources.

You do not need to create or develop new content every day. You can repurpose old or existing ones to meet the needs of your audience today.

If you’re a Nigerian, you will understand this scenario. Imagine you made a pot of pepper stew to accompany a plate of white rice today, you can use that same pot of stew to enjoy a meal of boiled/fried plantain, and tomorrow, you can decide to make a pot of jollof rice with that pot of stew. With just one pot of stew, you have served 3 segments of your audience;

1. The white rice audience
2. The boiled/fried plantain audience
3. The jollof rice audience

At the same time, I am not encouraging serving your audience with stale content, but a piece of content they’ve not seen before and in that format is as good as brand new. So, why not?. Of course, there are pros and cons like every other thing out there, which I would be sharing in this piece but it does not take away the credibility of content repurposing.

Examples of Content Repurposing

1. Blogpost to social media content
2. Blogpost to youtube videos
3. Social media content to the podcast
4. Podcast to infographics
5. etc

Importance of Content Repurposing

As I wrote at the beginning of this article, the goal of content repurposing is for you to be able to share your existing content to reach the different segments of your audience across platforms and through different mediums. Let’s talk about the importance of content repurposing.

1. It helps to meet your audience’s need

Content marketing itself is a strategy in your digital marketing strategy with the sole aim of marketing your products or the services you offer to your audience. If you notice, I did not state the target audience, that’s because when you are developing content, you develop for your target audience, and those who are not your target audience but will find their way to becoming a part of the audience. You don’t want them to feel left out.

While you are creating or developing your products or services, it is crucial that you create them for your target audience.

For example, your followers are not your customers. But your followers can give you your next customer because they are pleased, satisfied, and convinced by what they see on your social media platform. If their friend, family, or colleague at work needs the product you sell, guess who they would recommend? You!

Why? Because they are convinced that you are trustworthy and, as much as they are not your target audience, they can be the link to your target audience. This is one of the reasons why you should repurpose your content.

2. It saves resources and efforts

Content repurposing helps you to save money, time, and other resources that would have gone into creating fresh content. You do not have to start from scratch, as you already have an idea from already existing content, all you need to do is to update that piece to fit into the next use you have for it. This doesn’t mean that you can just lift a blog post and make it into a podcast word for word, No.

You simply have to digest the content of the blog post and share it in a conversational manner for the podcast. Content requires creativity and flexibility. Creative enough to come up with ideas that would increase engagement and interaction, and at the same time be flexible enough to try out something new and different as long as it has the possibility of giving you the results you long for.

3. It is useful to reinforce your message

The marketing rules as developed by the movie industry in 1930, state that a potential customer must see a message at least 7 times before they’ll be provoked to take an action. This principle was developed from a research discovery that revealed that a potential moviegoer had to see a movie poster at least 7 times before they would be willing to go to the theatre to see a movie.

This explains why you will find banners of a product in a strategic location in the city. The goal is to simply show up everywhere you as the customer can be found in various formats, communicating the same message.

In digital marketing, this is why you have content marketing. Imagine if you have a podcast where you spoke about a critical topic/problem that your product is providing solutions for; a blog post that talks about the same topic; a social media post; as well as a video that clearly explains this same topic. Some of your audience may not necessarily buy from you at that point.

How about transcribing that podcast you recorded weeks ago? At least, the only segment of your audience who is aware of that piece of content are those who listen to you, so why not make it available for your reading audience as well?

Remember, your overall goal of content marketing is to convince them to buy from you or hire you to provide a service using visually appealing tools. So, why not show up with what they need in a different manner?

Repurpose content so your message sinks in and finds a way to live in their head rent-free and keeps you at the TOP OF THEIR MIND.

4. Aids content distribution

Repurposed content helps you to expand and increase the reach of your content, and makes it possible that you are not simply focused on creating and developing content but you are also promoting it.

How to Know the Content That Should be Repurposed

In the past 3 years since I’ve been in the content marketing field, I have discovered that not every piece of content you create will be a hit. By this, I mean not every piece of content will be favoured by the algorithm but that does not take away the place of delivering quality content any day and any time, as you don’t want to be caught unprepared. So, how then do you know the best content to repurpose?

1. Popular content

For every piece of content you put out there, especially on digital platforms, you can monitor them to see how your audience reacts to it. If they find it valuable, chances are that if you repurpose it, it will get the same reaction. If you notice that a piece of content got satisfactory engagement, that’s your cue to repurpose it for the other segments of your audience.

2. Evergreen content

Evergreen content can be content that extensively describes how your brand is solving a problem or as you deem fit, but it has to be something that will be RELEVANT and not outdated. Take, for instance, you can decide to repurpose a blog post into tweets for Twitter, that’s fine. But it becomes a problem if the services you offered 12 months ago are not the same as what you are offering now. You will not only mislead your audience, but you have also successfully proved that you should not be trusted.

If your audience can’t find reasons to trust you and the content you distribute, do you think they will be willing to part with their money?

3. Unpopular content

Yes, unpopular content can be repurposed as well. For reasons best known to the algorithm, the content may not perform well on the initial platform where it was shared but that could be your stellar content; it might not be meant for the audience on that platform. You can share that same piece of content somewhere else in a different format. Now, I’m not saying you should copy and paste from Instagram to Linkedin, that would be cross-channeling marketing. What I meant is to make a video of that content to share on YouTube, TikTok, and other platforms that allows video content.

The onus is on you as the content marketer to determine which content you’d like to repurpose for the benefit of your audience.

Conclusion

Content repurposing is a strategy that shouldn’t be missing in your content marketing strategy. It shows you have the ability to maximize resources to get results, and you are also intentional about providing value to your audience. I would always say that people can smell the intentionality and effort underneath whatever piece of content you put out there. Repurpose your content but don’t water down the quality of your content.

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• Brand Storytelling: Key to Long-Lasting Customer Loyalty
• 5 Content Marketing Types that will Change Your Business
• What is Content Writing and Why Does Every Brand Need it?