When it comes to creating a holistic marketing strategy that doesn’t cause burn-out, repurposing content for social media is king. In today’s fast-paced world, producing content that keeps your audience engaged and informed is one of – if not the – most important part of any marketing strategy.
But what happens when your creativity runs dry? What happens when you’re running out of time and can’t work on new content? What if you’re tired of white supremacy, the patriarchy, ableism, and capitalism basically breathing down your neck to SELLLL all the time?
That’s where repurposing content comes in!
From maximizing your effort to targeting different audiences and boosting your credibility, here are 5 reasons why you should be repurposing content for social media.
1. Maximizes time & effort
Social media is hectic. We know it, you know it, brands know it. As such, producing content for social media is a full-time job that soaks up tons of attention, effort, and creativity. That’s where repurposing content comes in, in a way to maximize your efforts, save time, and still continuously “show up” online.
Basically, repurposing content for social media saves you the trouble of having to come up with new ideas by re-using something you’ve already made (with a twist!). And who doesn’t love a time-saving tip? Hallelujah!
Some ideas are…
- Transforming a long-form blog post into an infographic
- Creating ann in-depth article into a video
- Make a quick quote into a longer journal entry…
There are tons of ways to make sure that your content both feels new and is exciting for people to check it out – even if they’ve seen it before.
This also means you have more time to produce better quality content because you’re not just pushing content out for the sake of doing it. Instead of spending hours brainstorming hundreds upon hundreds of ideas that might work, you can latch on to content that has been successful in the past and continue to share information around that subject in order for it to gain traction.
2. Allows you to target different buying stages
The great, and sometimes scary, thing about your audience is that they’re all at different points in their buyer journey (awareness, consideration, and purchase). This means that not all pieces of content will work for everyone: that’s where repurposing content for social media comes in.
Someone in the last stage of the journey might be ready to take the leap, but they need one last push before making the decision to buy it or leave it. In this case, a longer piece of content – like a blog post or a news article – might be ideal to help them gather up all the information they need to finally take the plunge.
READ: How Small Businesses Can Effectively Create & Use A Content Calendar
On the other hand, a customer who’s just starting their journey, and is getting to know you and your brand, will prefer a short-form piece of content – like an Instagram post or infographic – they can quickly look at.
As such, repurposing content for social media allows you to reach people at each different stage without having to create separate pieces of content for each one: you just need to update the format to fit each potential customer’s needs.
3. Expands your reach
Another reason you should be repurposing content for social media is to expand your reach and find new audiences that aren’t familiar with you or your content.
Because your audience might be spread out across different social media platforms, you can’t really expect people on Instagram to be following your blog – or vice versa. Repurposing your content means you can hit different audiences from different angles and still bring value to the conversation without the fear of seeming repetitive or redundant.
It’s also worth noting that, even if certain audience members are present in all of your channels, it’s also a possibility that they have very different learning styles. Yes, they might stay up to date with your blog and never miss a post…but their heart truly lies within short infographics they can pin, save, print, and keep going back to at a quick glance.
Repurposing and reformatting your content means you’re catering a lot closer to their needs; and this, in turn, means they’ll keep coming back to you. You make their life easier, their experience enjoyable, and their learning process adaptable.
Content creation got you down? Introducing: The Converting Content Bundle! A toolbox for service-based business owners and content creators brimming with templates, prompts, and structure to create content with confidence!
A great example of this is producing a podcast alongside an ebook launch. While both formats might touch on the same subjects and discuss a lot of the same information, they still feel very different and new. Here’s the thing: People who listen to podcasts might not necessarily be avid book readers, and book readers might be easily distracted by podcasts. Launching both means you’ll be reaching very different audiences without doubling your efforts.
4. Boosts your online presence & credibility
Showing up all the time, everywhere, clearly takes a lot of patience and effort. And, hear us out, we’re absolutely not suggesting that you should be everywhere all the time. You know the famous quote: “All work and no play makes content creation hell”.
However, repurposing content for social media gets you one step closer to showing up in more places without sinking into a ‘burnt-out’, hate your business rage.
The more quality content you have online, the better your presence will be. The better your presence, the more your followers will believe and trust are the business for their needs. And, in the end, having a strong presence online and a large platform from which to speak to your audience, will ultimately get you more recognition and lead to even more customers.
Emerging in the scene as an industry expert takes time and patience, but when you start repurposing content and creating content that centers around the same theme, it’ll become more and more clear that you know your sh*t. As such, readers and curious onlookers will start to think of you – and your brand – as an “authority figure”, strengthening your reputation and your credibility.
But…wouldn’t repurposing content and sharing the same information make me seem lazy? No, on the contrary! Knowing how to transmit the “same message” in a number of different ways will cement your position as an expert. Let’s be honest: not everyone can switch between formats and still retain the same information. The fact that you can repurpose a blog into a bite-size infographic, quick video, or social media caption means you know the information inside and out.
5. Saves content from obscurity
Let’s say you spent 6 hours of your day researching and writing a blog post. You’re proud AF, you’ve found the visuals to go with it, you’ve done the SEO, and you’ve just clicked “Publish”.
Then, an hour goes by: nothing. Three hours and there’s a comment. Six hours and the same comment is there, but no one else has interacted with it. A day later, there’s one more comment and a spam bot.
Defeating, right? Well, it doesn’t have to be. In cases like this, repurposing content for social media might be this piece’s saving grace.
So you sit down, cut the information into bite-sized chunks, and create a carousel for Instagram that looks great, reads well, and gets your point across in a quick 9 slides. Suddenly: the post blows up. It’s being shared by other industry experts, people who are interested in the topic are saving and commenting on it, questions are popping up in your DMs…the list goes on.
Sometimes, certain pieces of content simply don’t do well on certain platforms. Whether they’re too dense or difficult to read, not in depth enough, or just flat-out uninteresting to an audience, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re not good. It just means you can try a different approach and breathe new life into them. You know: add a little 🌟spark🌟.
Other reasons you should be repurposing content for social media
But it doesn’t stop there! We could go on for days about why repurposed content is so great and why more brands – especially smaller ones that don’t count with the support of a 12-person team – should consider repurposing content for social media as one of their key marketing strategies.
Here are a few more reasons why you should consider giving it a try:
- Creates a cohesive marketing strategy: Repurposing content also helps in terms of how the audience sees you and your marketing strategy. When your content appears to be connected all throughout your different channels, your audience will get a sense that there’s a clear plan in motion and you’re not just “playing it by ear”.
- Boosts your SEO: The more reputable content you have, the higher Google will position you. Repurposing content helps you create more content without the risk of duplication. Plus, by continuing to post content about the same subject, you’ll start to show up more and more as an expert in your field.
- Achieve multiple goals at once: If a piece of content is doing well on one platform, it’s very likely that it will do well once it’s been repurposed. This means that one piece can help you achieve your KPIs across platforms.
- Reaching a more recent audience: Let’s say you published a piece of content that blew up 6 months ago. Your audience on social media changes daily, especially if you’ve been growing constantly for the duration of those 6 months. Repurposing an older piece of content that these newcomers might have missed means you’ll be reaching them with information that they haven’t seen before and might find tremendously valuable. However, make sure to shake it up a little bit for other members of your community who might have seen it in the past: whether it’s a different design, a different title, or a different vibe, you don’t want to simply copy-paste.
Last thoughts: should you be repurposing content for social media?
We’re firm believers that repurposing content for social media is a great way to strengthen your marketing strategy without going into content burn-out mode trying to come up with new ideas for all the platforms you’re active in.
A few reasons why you and your team should be repurposing content for social media are:
1. To maximize your time and effort
2. To reach customers in different buying stages
3. To expand your reach
4. To boost your online presence and credibility
5. To save content from disappearing into obscurity
You should also consider repurposing content in order to…
- Create a cohesive marketing strategy
- Boost your SEO efforts
- Achieve multiple goals at once
- Reach newcomers and new audience members
However, this doesn’t mean that you should feel forced to repurpose every piece of content you create: some pieces simply don’t work in a different format. Instead, focus on content that is doing well, that you know your audience will appreciate and learn from, and that is most likely to help you achieve your business goals.
Doing for the sake of doing will simply add more to your workload, when repurposing should be the contrary.
What are your thoughts on repurposing content for social media? Do you and your team do it? Let us know in the comments!
Enjoyed this post? You might like these, too:
Simplify Your Marketing Strategy Next Year With A Marketing Plan For Small Businesses
How Small Businesses Can Write Accessible Content
5 Content Marketing Tools To Upgrade Your Strategy
How To Incorporate A Video Content Strategy For Your Business
5 Ways To Increase Engagement In Your Community Organically
