Have you ever wondered how big brands like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s are able to be so visible online? While they may have the deep pockets to spend on advertising, they know that they can’t rely solely on their advertising dollars to gain attention in today’s competitive world of social media and news feeds.

One strategy that many large companies employ today is content repurposing or using the same core piece of content in multiple formats and channels to attract as many people as possible to your brand.

 What is Content Repurposing?

Do you find yourself spending hours every day creating content for one online platform, then wonder what to post on others?

Or do you have days where you have plenty of content ideas, and then run out on other days?

Introducing the quickest strategy for your brand to be visible everywhere online and staying on top of mind – Content Repurposing. Quite simply it means, taking a long-piece content (or pillar content) and breaking it down into micro-content pieces, in various media formats, spread across multiple social media platforms and online forums.

The Reason Behind Content Repurposing

The main reason people choose to repurpose content is that they want their audience to see more of their content. If a user sees only one piece of your content (blog post, tweet, carousel, picture, etc.), chances are that person will forget about it as soon as he or she finds another interesting piece of information elsewhere on the web.

By reformatting your original content in multiple places online, you give your brand a better chance at capturing and holding onto an audience’s attention.

You also make it easier for search engines to find and index all of your valuable content. This can help improve your website’s ranking in search results pages and drive more traffic back to your website from Google and other search engines.

So when you’re showing up all over the place, telling users to take action, guess what – they’re most certainly going to do just that!

The Real Benefits of Content Repurposing

While content repurposing may seem like it requires a lot of extra work, there are actually several advantages to creating multiple versions of your content.

Not only does repurposed content help you gain more exposure on search engines, but it also enables you to reach new audiences and build relationships with them in different ways.

If you know how to show up on different social platforms, content repurposing helps to tweak the tone and layout of your message for better engagement and deeper connections on each of these social platforms.

In a nutshell, content repurposing has the potential to:

1. Improve your social presence
2. Give your content more exposure
3. Grab the attention of people who haven’t yet heard of your brand
4. Engage a new set of people
5. Spark fresh social engagement
6. Increase search engine ranking
7. Boost your marketing ROI
8. Give your content a different perspective
9. Help you better understand what content works well on which platforms.

The benefits are massive, and therefore it only makes sense to get started at the earliest!

How to Repurpose Content

There are several ways to repurpose content. You can add an image or video, combine pieces of content into an e-book, turn a lengthy document into a presentation, create an infographic from data you have collected, or share your content on social media using different platforms (LinkedIn is great for professionals; Instagram is great to build brand awareness and connect with your target audience; Pinterest is popular with brands that sell products).

The goal is simple: Take one piece of content, break it down into different content formats and spread it across multiple channels in order to increase brand awareness and generate more traffic and leads.

Check out these infographics that explain how content repurposing works:

Notice how content moves from one type of format to a blog, which again gets repurposed into another format – all sharing the same piece of content.

Ever wondered how some  Instagram pages create content-rich carousels? Check out Part 2 which explains how simple it is to gather content for a carousel.

 Example of Content Repurposing

Every piece of content you publish should have more than one use. Instead of being a one-hit wonder, it’s your job to find that second, third and fourth use for your content.

For example: If I write a detailed blog post about how to start a business, I might repurpose that same information into an infographic or video series with additional tips and advice on how to get started with starting a business or do an Instagram / YouTube Live to interact with my audience on that topic.

Okay, one more infographic that is going to make your life simpler. It explains how you can take an idea and create content around it & then the best ways to repurpose it.

Amazing right? This means that instead of looking at a blank screen and deciding what to post next, go back to previous content and see how you can turn it into multiple new pieces of content.

To sum up, here’s a list of 16 ways you can get started with repurposing your content:

1. Turn your blog post into a video, multiple bite-sized social media posts, podcasts and a presentation.
2. Use your articles or social media posts to answer relevant questions on Quora.
3. Convert your best-performing articles into podcast episodes.
4. Convert your popular blog posts into an Ebook.
5. Create a series of social posts from your Webinar/Instagram Live/Facebook Live.
6. Create an email series/newsletter from your social media/blog posts.
7. Create micro content and share it on all your social media platforms.
8. Convert your blog post into an infographic or a carousel post for Instagram and LinkedIn.
9. Convert your video script into a blog post or series of social media posts.
10. Expand a checklist or infographic into a series of social posts.
11. Convert your client/customer chat messages & voice notes into images tweets or micro posts.
12. Use your old content in different formats.
13. Convert your Instagram carousel posts into a series of single posts.
14. Use insightful comments you get on your social posts as a separate post.
15. Use snippets from your Ebook as a post.
16. Screenshot tweets from your Twitter account to share on other platforms.

Want some pro tips on content repurposing?

I’m spilling the beans and sharing with you exactly what I follow with my paid clients to get them massive results. Listed below are some insider strategies that you should implement to optimize your efforts:

• Focus more on visual content; images & videos.
• Make sure you address audio & video audiences.
• Use captivating headlines & images.
• When you repurpose content, make sure every version is equally engaging & valuable.
• Share your content multiple times on social media to get maximum reach & exposure.
• Don’t forget to leverage on Slideshare, Pinterest, Medium, Visually, Anchor.fm, Reddit & others.
• Swap your images, so that the same content and message always look fresh.

Want to learn more? Consider the GaryVee Content Model. He’s created a presentation on Slideshare breaking down, step-by-step how he created 30 pieces of content from one keynote. This is a fantastic example of content repurposing in order to amplify your brand presence online.

Want to know what it means to build a brand on social media? Read this article to establish your brand on social media so that you engage with the right audience and draw in the ideal clients to your business.

If Instagram is the place where your ideal clients hang out, you might want to read this to increase engagement with your content.

Need a strategy for managing your social media and content marketing? Let’s connect and discuss how we can work together to attract the ideal clients for your business.