Effective Content Repurposing: Maximizing Your Resources
Understanding Content Repurposing
Content repurposing, or “content reuse,” is the practice of getting more from your marketing content. Repurposing takes each content piece and reimagines it or breaks it down into smaller components, reusing each piece differently.
For example, you might repurpose an old blog post by updating it with current data and re-sharing it. You might also create an infographic with that updated data or produce a video using the same content.
Repurposing benefits brands in multiple ways, including:
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Saving money: Repurposing makes your content creation budget work harder. It’s the difference between spending hundreds of dollars on one blog post and spending the same money to create a blog post, infographic, video, and social media post.
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Saving time: Repurposing means you don’t create every piece of content from scratch. Each time you repurpose a piece of content, you bypass the early research and planning stages, going directly to production and publishing.
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Reaching further: You reach more people when you create more content types. The people who watch your video will probably be different than those who read your blog or retweet your infographic.
Any business with a content marketing strategy can benefit from repurposing. The key is finding which pieces and topics have the most value potential.
Identifying Repurposing Opportunities
Content repurposing gets the best results when it’s data-driven and geared to audience preferences. Here’s how to find the best candidates.
Analyze High-Performing Content
Start by identifying your best-performing blog posts, videos, social media posts, and more. Find the content that received the most views, shares, and likes, then analyze what those posts have in common.
Recognize Evergreen Topics
Evergreen topics are ideal candidates for repurposing. They don’t become outdated or require extensive editing to be current, even if years have passed. Look for topics in your library that fit this description, considering which are most relevant to your audience.
Use Data Analytics for Insights
Use your software to determine what topics and content types work best for your audiences. Repurpose material that resembles high-performing current content or earned great results in its heyday ? assuming it matches audience preferences today.
Tools and Technologies for Streamlined Repurposing
Effective repurposing requires well-thought-out content operations, also called content ops. But what is content ops, exactly?
Content ops encompass the people, processes, and tools you need to bring your content strategy to life. It creates the action plan for developing, building, publicizing, and analyzing the content ? starting with the right tools. For content repurposing, that includes:
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Graphic design tools: Programs that can create and edit visual content, from infographics to social media images
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Video editing software: Tools you can use to take still images or video snippets and repurpose them into longer or more engaging video content
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A digital asset management (DAM) system: Software that can store, organize, and retrieve content assets on-demand based on project needs
High-quality DAM systems also use artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to tag content based on selected attributes. Content creators can more easily find pieces they can pull from or repurpose, saving additional time and powering more relevant content.
Maximizing SEO Impact Through Repurposing
Repurposing is an efficient way to boost your search engine optimization (SEO). Here’s where to focus your attention.
Optimizing Headlines and Meta Descriptions
Metadata best practices change frequently. Update the title tag, headline, and meta description every time you repurpose content, staying within recommended character counts and incorporating target keywords.
Using Keywords Strategically
Repurposing gives you more opportunities to rank for current target keywords. Use your DAM system to find existing content that can rank for those keywords. Or, add target keywords as secondary terms for a repurposed piece.
Ensuring Mobile Friendliness
Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it uses the mobile version of a page to determine rank. Verify that all repurposed pieces look great on smartphones and tablets.
Integrating Internal and External Links
Every repurposed content piece is a new linking opportunity. Maintain a database of internal pages that could use more traffic and links, then look at options to include them in repurposed content. If your repurposed content has external links, bring them up to date. Delete links over three years old and replace them with new versions when possible.
Measuring and Adapting Key Metrics for Repurposing Success
A successful repurposing strategy gives audiences what they want. Start tracking audience engagement numbers when you launch your first repurposed piece. Those metrics include:
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Social shares: How many times audiences have shared your content
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Inbound links: Whether people are linking to your content
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Time on page: How long audiences spend with your content
Since audience growth is a primary goal of repurposing, evaluating your content’s reach is also important. That means tracking unique page views, audience growth rate, and blog traffic.
Use these numbers to edit and update your repurposing plan. Give audiences more of the formats and topics they like, even if it’s not what you initially thought.
