How to breathe new life into old content

Running out of time and ideas for your business blog? Here are five ways you can repurpose your content in order to increase visibility and drive leads.
21 August 2018

Save time and increase the visibility of your content with these tips. Source: Shutterstock

Business blogging is one of the hottest marketing trends right now — and rightly so!

With strong blogging content, businesses across all industries can expect to see their search visibility, leads, and sales rise to new heights of success.

And with 66 percent of marketers last year reporting using blogs in their social media content, if you haven’t started already, you’re already behind.

Despite its pay-offs, blogging can be a laborious task. It can take a lot of time out of your busy day and uses a lot of brain power.

Enter the term “repurposing”.

In the world of marketing, you have probably come across the term. To manage the creation of content for your business, repurposing allows you to get more mileage out of each piece you work so hard on.

Repurposing your content allows you to ensure greater visibility on social media platforms. And with today’s complex algorithms resulting in a very short productive lifespan on the internet, this has never been more important.

  • The average content lifespan on Facebook is five hours.
  • The lifespan is longer on Instagram, at 21 hours.
  • On LinkedIn content typically lasts 24 hours.
  • The shortest lifespan is on Twitter, at just 18 minutes.

So, how can you repurpose your content in a way that saves you time, helps you reach a larger audience, and ensures your message gets heard? Here are a few tips to get you started.

1. Combine blog posts to create an eBook or online learning course

If you’re creating content which constantly teaches people how to do things, then you already have the audience and relevant material to create a higher-value product such as an online course or eBook.

While this is may involve a bit of effort and time, repurposing your content in this way will be a really great investment. Ebooks help your brand establish expert status by providing in-depth content covering a range of topics.

What’s more, eBooks are usually gated, helping your business generate leads with each download.

2. Infographics

This is a really great way to repurpose your blog content. People love infographics; it’s an easier way for consumers to understand a complex topic, they’re visually appealing and are much more shareable on social media.

Scan your blog post, pulling out the key facts and statistics to populate the infographic. You can also provide a link to the full blog so your audience can read more, driving traffic to your website.

There are many free yet brilliant infographic tools such as Visme and Snappa to help get you started.

3. The power of the podcast

Today’s generation are consuming podcasts at an increasing rate. As such, it may be time for your business to consider implementing an audio content strategy in your marketing.

Podcasts are emerging as a powerful marketing tool. Source: Shutterstock

In regards to repurposing your content, this can go both ways. You can turn your blog post into a podcast and vice versa. By doing this, you’re covering both your readers and listeners.

4. Video content

Creating compelling video content for social media channels is a sure way to engage your busy audience.

In a 2016 HubSpot research survey, almost 50 percent of consumer respondents said they wanted to see more video content and social media posts from businesses.

Many marketers are already riding this trend, with almost 50 percent of professionals adding YouTube and Facebook channels for video distribution in the next year in order to meet the preferences of the modern consumer. It’s time to join them or risk losing business to competitors.

Turning your blog post into a video content adds a more personal spin to the related topic, showing there are actually real people behind your brand. Posting this content on YouTube also unlocks the potential to reach the huge video-streaming social media market.

5. Spruce up old posts

If blogging has been part of your marketing strategy for a while, it is likely that you have some brilliant content that is collecting dust and going unnoticed.

The topic of these blog posts may still be very relevant in your industry today. Instead of starting from scratch, have a look to see which of your old posts can be re-posted. But ensure to keep them relevant by updating them with fresh facts and examples.

So, if your business blogging inspiration is running a little thin, try repurposing your content. Not only will this save you a whole lot of time you can put towards other tasks, but it will drive traffic and reach a far wider audience.