As a blogger, you already know you need to create fresh, relevant content.
What you don’t know is how to keep up with the overwhelming demand of content creation.
But, what if you were able to extend the life of your current and past content?
Rather than posting an article and moving on, you could turn it into two, three or even four new forms of media.
That’s what repurposing your blog content can do.
Cycling back through your content breathes new life into valuable information.
It takes what was old and makes it new again, offering it up to a whole new audience in an updated format.
Not only is it budget friendly, but also saves time while prolonging the shelf life of your online assets.
So, where do you begin?
Below are eleven creative ideas to help you brainstorm, compile and create a successful content repurposing strategy in no time.
How to Repurpose Blog Content
STEP 1: Take Stock
Your first step is to assess your current assets.
What content have you created in the past and how can you update, refresh or repurpose content for another use?
If you’ve been blogging for any more than a year, you have a stockpile of content at your fingertips. It’s important to leverage that content in a whole new way.
STEP 2: Brainstorm Ideas
1. Spotlight an Event on Social Media
Did you recently attend an event or online conference and share takeaways on your blog? Take that conversation and dissect it.
Each highlight and insight from your article will break down into new, separate social media posts.
What would be helpful to your community and what would they find interesting?
Two easy ways to use this:
- Give your community a deeper look behind the scenes of your business or industry.
- Offer your thoughts on why this event was so important and why the information shared should matter to potential clients.
2. Provide a Video Tip Series
Take a popular blog post and break it down into multiple video tips.
For example, you wrote an article on the “Top 10 Ways to Use Video Marketing in Your Small Business.” Take each tip and create short video tips around them.
Post these to YouTube, create a new blog article based on the video, and share to your social networks. Voila! Multiple pieces of content have been created out of one blog post.
The tip below is taken from one of my blog posts and will be used in an ongoing tips series.
3. Create a Podcast
If you have considered podcasting, but don’t know what to talk about, grab a few points from your latest article and expand upon each bullet point.
Cull through your past blog articles and determine what topics could benefit from a deeper dive. Use a tool like BuzzSumo to identify your most shared posts.
Type in your domain and up will pop your most shared articles. Here are a few of mine to give you an idea of what that might look like.
4. Make a Pinterest Board with FAQ’s
Dependent on your type of business, you probably get asked the same questions over and over. If you’re smart, you’ve written a blog post answering many of them.
But if you haven’t, sit down and write the top ten questions you’re asked over and over. Now, answer those questions.
Once you’ve written the blog post it’s time to turn one Q & A into a pin for Pinterest. Create a new Pinterest board and start a series dedicated to these tips.
Constant Contact is a company that consistently repurposes content. On their Pinterest board “Marketing Fun Facts,” they share facts, stats and tips around their target markets top questions.
5. Utilize Twitter Cards
Have you used Twitter cards to promote your blog content? If you’re not familiar with Twitter cards, let me explain.
With Twitter Cards, you can add a Call to Action to your tweets, all in a visually appealing package.
Use them for list sign ups, registrations or to promote your blog post.
Here’s how:
- Take quotes from your latest article and create a Twitter card with a Call to Action.
- There are many versions of Twitter cards — Summary, Photo, Gallery — but in this case, you want to use a Summary Card with Large Image.
- The one below is an example created for a previous article.
Want to get started? It’s easy! Here’s a step-by step via Twitter:
1. Choose a card type you want to implement.
2. Add the pertinent meta tags to your page.
3. Run your URL against the validator tool to be approved.
4. After approval, tweet the URL and see the Card appear below your tweet.
5. Use Twitter Card analytics to measure your results.
6. Design an Infographic
Want to capture the attention of your online audience? Incorporate Infographics!
Donna Moritz is an excellent example of repurposing at work. She writes a post and then turns that post into additional media.
Her Infographics become shared content across all of her social sites and yet another way for her fans, followers and blog subscribers to support her through social shares.
Plus, they’re super eye-catching!
7. Tell a Bigger Story
Are you sharing customer stories? If not, you should be. It’s a great way to explain how you solve customer problems, while sharing the successes of your clientele.
Highlight your clients (with their permission of course) in a blog post and then create testimonial graphics that can be shared on any of your social networks.
Testimonials are powerful. In fact, in a survey by Dimensional Research, 90 percent of respondents said online reviews had a positive impact on their buying decision.
Just think about how that might benefit your business.
8. Turn Blog Content Into a Slideshare
Take your blog post and turn it into a presentation and then post it on Slideshare. You can also give that content a one-two punch by writing a new blog article and reposting the content along with the embedded Slideshare.
Haiku Deck, which is now integrated into Slideshare, is one of my favorite ways to convert an article into a visually appealing slide deck. Incredibly intuitive, Haiku Deck will save you a significant amount of time and allow you to create stunning, image-rich slideshows that stand out.
Here’s an example of how to make this work. This slide deck was repurposed from Peg Fitzpatrick’s article, “How to Connect with Your Customers on Social Media.”
Peg broke down each step into a PowerPoint and then uploaded and shared to Slideshare, putting her content in front of a whole new group of people.
9. Schedule a Webinar
Whether it is you on screen or a screencast of your latest PowerPoint, connecting with your audience through video is crucial.
Take your blog post and break it down into a free, educational webinar.
A free program to create and share your content is Screenr. Just click “record now” and within seconds you are recording anything you can see on your screen.
Another easy way to create a webinar is Google Hangouts. Create an event and broadcast your Hangout live with Hangouts on Air. Want to see how it’s done?
Jeff Sieh and his “Manly Pinterest Tips” show proves that you can successfully integrate Hangouts and video into an overall marketing strategy.
10. Make a Roundup Post
This idea is easy to implement and takes very little time to put together.
Here is how it’s done:
- Create a new blog post that highlights previous articles that readers might have missed
- Go back through your most recent articles and write short snippets around each post
- Link to a select group of your top posts and watch them take on a whole new life
11. Online Course
Once you have been writing for a while it’s easy to see the massive amount of content you’ve amassed. Take that content, consolidate it, and then share your knowledge in an online course.
As Coschedule says,
Online learning is a growing trend, and there are lot of sites popping up that will help you find a new home for the content you’ve worked so hard to create. Use a tool like Skillshare, an online learning community where the world’s best experts teach real-world skills. Anyone can apply to become a teacher on Skillshare. All Skillshare classes have a minimum of 45 minutes of video content, broken into 4-9 minute videos.
STEP 3: Get Started
Now it’s your turn!
No matter which option you choose, pick one and move forward within the next week.
Plan to add that new repurposed content to your blog or social networks and then track its success.
The important part to anything new is to just get out there and do it.
Tell me: What’s your favorite way to repurpose blog content? The amount of unique ways you can refresh content is only limited to your imagination.
Hi Rebekah,
Although this post is old, the advice is still true today. It is one of the best articles I’ve read on content repurposing. There is a huge demand for content, and many bloggers forget that they can reach new audiences by sharing the same content but using different media. For example, videos now are booming, and everyone is looking for how-to videos on YouTube. Taking those blogs posts and making them into videos is definitely a way to increase brand authority across and become more popular.
Thank you for this great piece!
Thanks for sharing the outstanding article. The quality content you have pushed it is amazing.
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Hey Rebekah,
I like your writing style & Deepest knowledge you have. Cool post.
Hi Rebekah, Re purpose Blog Content sounds Interesting and Important, I do few things with my content, I make video slide, PPT slides, I use canvas to make screen shots and submit to imgur etc with my link back, I do podcast and I also syndicate my content on rebel mouse, kingged, Inbound and few more, The Most successful is social media with Info graphics, i share my Info graphics on Pinterest It helps a lot.
The more Important I, create files and share on high PR websites, I also giveaway my content Print outs of few links to download inside my prints. thats how I hope one can achieve the success slowly and yes I have a good relationship with all the other marketers too thats the key point of success.
thanks for your great Article.
Hey Rebekah,
I have seen many of my peers repurposing an old post by converting it into a single video. But creating small videos from each tip of a tutorial post is really handy.
I got a decent response by converting some of my posts into powerpoint presentations & then sharing on SlideShare. Thank you so much for all the other tips too. Take care.
Hi Rebekah,
Great tips. Re-purposing content is a powerful lean content marketing technique that boosts SEO, saves time and increases visibility. Another way to maximize the impact of your blog content and reach new audiences is re-publishing to other publishing platforms like Medium or LinkedIn. Here’s a good article on the benefits of re-publishing blog content to other platforms: http://blog.scoop.it/2016/03/23/why-republishing-your-content-to-other-platforms-is-a-great-way-to-fully-leverage-your-blog/
Agree on the power of SlideShares- we use these and eBooks, which we find to be particularly effective.
You can also get more out of your existing blog content and extend the lifetime of your most successful content through automating its distribution/promotion using a tool like Scoop.it, which allows you to easily identify existing high-converting content (successful or evergreen) to then re-share across your social channels over time.
Hi Rebekah,
Turn blog content into a slideshare is very interesting but seems like other taking to a next level or something, some blog posts such top 10 list, they just put each tip on an individual page and it’s annoying when it takes time to load up the content.
P.S. If possible please drop a comment at my new blog.
Thank you so much for this great post
lh.louis
I’m so glad I found this on Pinterest! I’ve been hearing ‘reuse your old post’ and wondering how to repurpose my old post without starting over. This is a Godsend! Many thanks!
hi rebekah
thanks for article
I love the ideas you put forth in this post!!! I really want my readers to know about this too! I want to share this in my weekly series called “Roll Out The Red Carpet Thursday” – I share bloggers’ amazing posts that I’ve found during the week. I hope that’ ok! Have a great night!
I’m going to have to try your SlideShare Tip. I’m a big fan of SlideShare and LinkedIn
Hi Rebekah,
I love reading your actionable tips. Your article helps me generate ideas for repurposing my content. Tools like Screenr and Haiku Deck are the ones that I’ll use for my next content.
I just published a presentation on Slideshare and I’d like to create some slide decks with Haiku Deck.
Thanks,
Paul
Hi Rebekah maam-
This is a nice blog, I came out a lot information from your blog. I got some ideas and i will implement it on my blog. I will create the slides in the slideshare as soon as possible. Thanks maam
Very Helpful tips. thank you
Rebekah,
I have often thought that I should be repurposing my posts but have never done it.
What a great post with detailed information and ideas on just how to repurpose posts. I had thought of some of your ideas but others were totally new thoughts for me.
I have often considered making an infographic because I really like them and they are very trendy right now.
After reading your post I am definitely going to give more thought to repurposing my posts and how I might do it.
Thanks for the ideas and instructions.
Dee Ann Rice
Hi Rebekah,
Thanks for sharing these useful suggestions. Ac couple of them are things that I already, for example I’ve recently started podcasting and have taken some points from old blog posts and expanded upon them.
A couple I haven’t considered are Inforgraphics and Pinterest FAQs. Pinterest is something that I haven’t yet gotten my head around completely and creating Infographics is something that I’ve thought about on many occasion. Looking at it from this perspective has given me ideas about ways in which I could definitely repurpose my old content even more than I have been doing already.
Thanks for these excellent suggestions!
»Glenn«
Excellent article. I’ve been thinking about repurposing content, but wasn’t sure how to go about it. This sums it up mighty nicely. 😉
I like the infographic option and will probably do that for this week’s post. Need to figure out how I can create an infographic first.
Thanks for these tips..super helpful.
Hey Rebekah,
Ok, this was one valuable post that I had to book market it. One thing I was thinking about doing was doing a screencast and I appreciate you recommending a tool to use to accomplish this.
Also, I do want to do a roundup but I never thought about do so with my older content. That’s a great idea. So now I have two ideas. One with experts and another with old content. The post with old content will save me a lot of time since I have limited of time.
I also used twitter cards, but just last week I found about a tool called Pablo which you can also incorporate images with it. If you have a buffer account, then you can utilize this tool to add images and text with it. I haven’t played with it yet, but this is another alternative!
Thanks for the sharing! Have a great week!
Okay, wow Rebekah…
What a great detailed post really mapping out how we can repurpose our content. I love what you shared that Donna Moritz does. I was recently introduced to her through Sue Anne and I love how she’s creating an infographic with your top tips from the content that was created. What an awesome idea and yes, I’m diving into learning more about Pinterest so I won’t be the last person finally getting on board. LOL!!!
All of your tips are actually great ideas but some just really stood out for me more than others. I’m going to definitely be bookmarking this post as well and sharing the heck out of it my dear.
You just really rock teaching us about social media so I can’t thank you enough. Oh and I loved your interview with Jeff. Great stuff.
Enjoy your day and happy Wednesday.
~Adrienne
Hey Adrienne – thanks so much for your comment – I just snuck on here to get some screen shots for a presentation I am featuring Rebekah in and saw this comment – random! Do you know, I actually did that infographic super quickly in Picmonkey using their superhero theme mainly to show some of my facebook group how to make them easily. It was such a fun one to do! Infogfraphics and slideshare definitely work REALLY well. Have fun playing with Rebekah’s tips! They are awesome!
Wow, excellent. Bookmarked. 🙂
Rebekah,
Thanks for the excellent post. I appreciate the bit on Twitter cards, something on which I’ve been lax on implementing.
Leverage is one of the key business success principles. Effective resource leveraging often makes the difference between winning and losing. Content is perhaps one of the best resources that organizations can leverage. As you point out, there are so many ways to stretch it into other venues.
Re-purposing content not only expands your reach, but puts content into forms more effective for different audience members. For example, visual learners will more effectively absorb your info as video or infographics, rather than text. It’s another way to boost value and create a bond with you audience, in addition to expanding it.
Also, repurposing other content into blog posts is a terrific way to get blog content from videos, trade show presentations, and white papers. Whether you’re paying a freelancer or agency to create these or making them internally, there’s no sense in not going both ways. They make the basis for excellent blog content.
Thanks,
Steve
This is my Achilles heel. Of course doing things like this is something I should be doing at least every week with the content I already produce online, but I find myself involved in projects for my “real job” and I find this stuff being put on the back burner.
This has made me remember that I need to take better stock of the stuff I already have and just do the work. This was a great post Rebekah 🙂
Building on my knowledge. Much appreciated and very useful. Thank you.
LOVE this post! I was literally half way through it thinking “share!” then I saw that you had featured my infographic – thanks so much. Great examples. One to refer to in future for sure (and i love this font … it’s beautiful to type!).
This is exactly what I needed right now. Thanks for the tips.
Some great advice – thanks. I have been looking for a tool like Haiku Deck for some time so thanks for the tip. I have had a quick play and it looks good.
Rebekah: As a podcaster, I liked the idea to take a blog post and develop it into a podcast episode. The tool you are mentioning, BuzzSumo, is it free to use?
Hi Rebekah,
Thank you for some solid tips and ideas. I have been looking for a tool like Screer and I can’t tell you how excited I am that you shared it with us!!!!
Loved the videos. 20 years around real estate.. WOW! That’s a tough crowd, lol… I’ve had some experience with real estate agents in Dallas and they can be all over the place…
I might write an article one day on some ideas I shared with several that might be a major hit for them?
I too came from working with businesses who were offline and wanted to transition online with web development. I tended work with companies that had $50 million in assets on up, and some as high as $750 million. Those were the days…lol.
I’m still on a crusade to help offline businesses learn the foundation of their internet marketing. Too many are just jumping straight into the tools without having a grip on how the web works and they end up treating it like a mass marketing tool.
As you said in the first video, knowing yourself makes it a lot easier when it comes to internet marketing and blogging.
That’s why I teach them:
* What business you’re “really” in
* What are the tangible values your offer your customers
* What problems does each tangible value “specifically” solve
* Who do you “specifically” solve them for
* How are your products or services “a” part of a solution
Then, you can get into strategies, tips and helpful advice because you specifically know how to think like your prospects and customers.
I’m still amazed at how many business owners and entrepreneurs think they know the answers and even sometimes fight it when they can’t answer the question.
But if they can learn it, it will change their business forever both online and offline; and it helps their vendors in web design, seo, social media, copywriting, etc… It shortens the initial “get to know one another” phase significantly and helps them hit the market running.
It’s really exciting to watch them get it!!!
Loved this post Rebekah. I hope you have a wonderful week!
~ Don Purdum
Hi Rebekah maam,
I have literraly read many posts on repurposing content. I appreciate them, but I think you are the one who’s added the right salt. Apart from all those, turn into an ebook and update content or picture stuff, atleast I find something promising.
Converting the post into smaller video courses is just awesome. Its not time taking too.
I would also add twitter cards to my blog the next free hour I get. (hope so! 😀 )
I surely liked your idea on making a FAQ board. Though I don’t get any noticeable click from Pinterest hope this feature will do something positive. I am also reading the Post planner link you added their.. Lets see if it works
Number 10 is just awesome. I like the way we can just crete a complete new post with no real work 🙂
Can’t wait to share it across. 🙂
Thanks and have a great weekend 🙂
Wonderful tips!
Thank you so much for this article. The best I’ve read this week.
It has inspired me to do more blogging by re-purposing some of my ‘dead’ posts.
I like the #10 idea of Round-Up posts and I’m starting with that! Going the Infographics (#6) way is another area I will most certainly explore.
Boy! Am I glad II I visited.
Hey Rebekah,
Great stuffs. Love the video series and SlideShares! You know what I love most? Free training courses. I am sure you are 100% aware how popular these trainings are for beginners!
Keep it up — sharing it around right now!
Very Helpful tips. thank you
Great tips on how to repurpose your blog content Rebekah. Some I already use and as usual, you showed me new ways of improving my operation and online exposure, thanks!
Thanks for the tips! I’ve tried the Pinterest one with moderate success but I am really interested in trying the twitter card since I get most of my views from twitter!
Twitter cards are a really great opportunity Bill. Enjoy playing around with them!
What a great list, Rebekah! I’ve been meaning to dive into Twitter cards, so thanks for the kick in the arse I needed. 😉
As a visual design expert Andrea, you will love Twitter cards. I’ve had a lot fun playing around with them. Glad I could give you the kick in the pants you needed to dive in! 🙂
Thank you for those good tips, Rebekah !
My pleasure Brigitte!
This is the best explanation of repurposing that I’ve seen, Rebekah. You make it all sound so doable and so easy. Thank you.
And congrats on hitting the Top 10 Social Media Blogs for 2015 in Social Media Examiner http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/top-10-social-media-blogs-2015-winners/
Jon
Making anything feel doable is always my goal Jon. I look forward to seeing which idea you use!
Hello Rebekah,
Super cool tips! This post makes enough sense to me to really turn upside down my current approach of writing and blogging!
I am totally lacking on many parts of these 11 tips especially the podcasting and webinar, will have to think deep over them to get them to work!
~Adeel
I’ve been yearning to try half of these already but I’m still unable to do so.
Ive seen what slideshare can do for me and I’ll probably start with that this year and probably a podcast before the year ends.
That Pinterest trick is pretty cool! Im stealing that one from you!
Great tips Rebekah!
I love all these ways of repurposing content, Rebekah. I’m currently using 9 of them and vow to start doing webinars and creating slideshows this year. I’ve been thinking about it and you gave me the impetus to take action!
Thanks,
Sue