10 Simple Ways to Get the Most Mileage from Your Content
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How many hours have you spent developing content? Probably more than you care to think about!
If you’ve been marketing online for a while, I bet you’ve created enough blog posts, downloads, eBooks, reports, social media posts, articles, audio and video content to fill a library.
Instead of keeping that valuable content buried on your hard drive, or hoping someone will stumble upon it in your blog archives, why not repurpose it? You’ll get extra mileage out of the hard work you’ve already done, as well as freeing up time and energy for other activities.
Here are ten ideas to get you started. I’m sure you can come up with a few of your own!
- Take the highlights of a report, eBook, or seminar that you’ve created and put together a slide show. Make sure you add a Call to Action! You can upload it to SlideShare, add it to your LinkedIn profile, and embed it on your website or blog.
- Pull together related blog posts to create a report you can use as a lead magnet, product or course.
- Use an app such as Lumen to create a video of one of your popular blog posts, or use your post as a script to do a Facebook Live. Then upload the video to YouTube.
- Update old content with new photos, facts, examples, and other information, then republish it.
- Look for opportunities to present information in a different format. For example, if you’ve reviewed several similar products, create a product comparison chart to offer to new subscribers or post on your blog.
- Share an excerpt of your book or eBook on your blog. Readers may be more inclined to make a purchase when they can see the value of the information it contains.
- Extract a tip or quote from your content and add it to a relevant image using PicMonkey, Pablo, or any similar app that you like. You can then share the graphic on Instagram and other social media sites.
- Collect key facts and statistics and create an infographic.
- If you’ve ever delivered a teleclass or been a guest on someone’s podcast, share the recording or a selected excerpt on your blog. Include a text version for readers who prefer to read than to listen – and for SEO benefits.
- Repurposing older content can even be as simple as linking to it from your new blog posts!
The key is to make small changes to your content so you’re providing relevant information, adding more value, and enhancing your audience’s experience with your brand.
With proper planning and attention, you can repurpose just about every piece of content you create. Don’t just look for ways to repurpose your existing content – develop a plan to repurpose new content that you create as well.
A repurposing strategy will help you make the most of your resources and save you valuable time, energy, and money.
Janet Barclay
I eliminate stress for my clients by hosting, monitoring, and maintaining their WordPress sites so they don’t have to worry about security, downtime or performance issues. When I’m away from my desk, I enjoy reading, photography, cooking, watching movies, drinking tea, and spending time with my family.
Great ideas, Janet – just what I needed for some new inspiration!
Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
I love this idea. Writing fresh content takes energy, so why not make the most of the great ideas you have already had. I am going to try a few of these!
Plus sometimes a post didn’t quite click the way you hoped, and this gives you the opportunity to make it better and try again!
What great suggestions, Janet! Many of them I was unaware of. My dad was a big believer in repurposing content and always encouraged me to do that. When I start a new project, I often look back on what already exists to see if it can be altered or combined to create something new or of updated value. You’ve given me many new ideas to consider. Thanks so much.
What are your thoughts about updating an old post? If you rename and tweak it, do you keep the old post too or delete it? I do so much linking within my posts that I don’t like to delete old posts even if I’ve revamped them with a new name and updated material. Just curious what your thinking is around that.
The trouble with keeping both posts active is that Google will usually only show the more popular one (probably the old one) in search results.
I therefore delete the original post, but I don’t include the date in my links, so any existing links won’t be affected. I often add a note at the end to explain that it was originally posted on [date] and has been updated, so people won’t be confused if there are comments that are older than the post date.
If the date is part of your link, you can delete the old post and redirect it to the new one. Here’s how to do it in Squarespace, and here’s how to do it in WordPress.
Thank you, Janet. These are wonderful tips. I really need to look at my old content and repurpose it in many ways. This article is a great resource!
Thanks, Nancy! I’m glad you found it helpful, and look forward to seeing how you apply the ideas.
Great ideas, Janet! Thank you for sharing.
I started using Lumen which you mentioned through your group, and I love it! I wish I had time to make more videos. I found that revisiting my older posts (over 4 years old) and revamping it works nicely because back then, I made shorter posts.
Lumen is pretty cool, isn’t it? Unfortunately, the videos they generate automatically from my posts aren’t usually any good at all. I’m better off starting from scratch!
Love this Janet. Some great ideas for repurposing articles. Thank you for the inspiration. 🙏
You’re welcome, Kim! I see more and more bloggers doing this, even on the major blogs, so it’s definitely the way to go.