If you're anything like me, you're always looking for ways to get more out of your content. More engagement, more shares, more traffic - the list goes on.
And one of the best ways to do that is by repurposing your content.
What Is Content Repurposing?
If you're a content creator, chances are you've come across the term "Content repurposing" at some point.
But what is content repurposing?
In a nutshell, content repurposing is the process of taking existing content and adapting it for use in different formats. For example, you could take a blog post and turn it into a video, an infographic, or even a podcast episode.
Content repurposing is a great way to get more mileage out of your existing content, and it can also help you reach new audiences.
Pro Tip: At Contentellect, we’ve coined another term for repurposing content, the “Content marketing flywheel”.
Essentially, you can take one piece of content and break it down into fragments. You can share these fragments in bite sizes for quick and easy content consumption.
TL&DR: Check out this video on the content marketing flywheel:
5 Ways To Repurpose Content (With Examples!)
Let me show you how to repurpose content. Here are 5 fantastic, easy-to-duplicate examples of how to repurpose old content.
1. Turn Your Blog Posts Into Slides
Turn your epic long-form blog posts into easy-to-digest slides.
I love what Rand Fishkin from SparkToro did with his wife’s famous “70 Things I’ve Learned From Writing 1000 Blog Posts.” post. Here’s the blog post.
He took her long-form blog post and turned it into 107 epic slides on SlideShare.
The slides got over 42k views and are still one of the most popular slides on SlideShare.
When you flip through the slides, you’ll see that an image and a single sentence are often enough to get the idea across.
2. Create Infographics From Your Content
If you’ve got fantastic, statistic-rich blog posts, turn them into shareable infographics. Infographics are superb resources that other websites can link to and share with their audience.
Here’s how Revive.Social repurposed a blog post into an infographic.
Revive chose their popular “Data Says: Best Times to Post on Social Media – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram + More” blog post and turned it into a visually engaging infographic.
This was the blog post:
They provided their readers with easy-to-copy HTML code to make sharing their fantastic resource easier. Readers can copy the code and embed the infographic on their sites.
What does Revive get in turn for their hard work? A juicy backlink, a new audience, and quality traffic.
Here’s the infographic they created:
I find that it’s easier to turn blog posts rich in data and statistics into infographics. Don’t despair if you don’t have data-driven blog posts. Any step-by-step blog post could work.
It’s not just info-rich or how-to blog posts that you can turn into infographics.
You could also turn a video into an infographic. For instance, if you’ve got a dance school, take your instructional dance video and turn it into an infographic.
Eric Lyday did it well in 2014 with his How To Moonwalk infographic.
8 years later and his infographic is still shared all over Pinterest and social media. That’s impressive!
3. Videos Into Posts (And Vice Versa)
One of the easier ways to repurpose old content is to transform it into videos. This tactic works the other way around too. Yes, you can turn videos into blog posts.
We used this content repurposing tactic a while ago. Mark recorded a fantastic video on how to do semantic search with KeyClusters in minutes.
Here’s the video:
I then transformed his video into an ultimate semantic search guide.
4. Turn Content Into Quora Answers
You took a long time to create that excellent content. I’m sure you’ve become an authority on it. So, share your knowledge by turning your content into Quora answers.
David Alexander from Mazepress had the right idea when he turned their “How to repurpose content” blog post into a Quora answer.
In the Quora post, you can see he answered the question, “What are some tips for repurposing content?”. His answer is straight to the point, with no fluff or flowery language.
Continue reading, and you’ll discover one link informing readers that they can learn more tips from his full blog post.
A gentle, non-spammy link insertion is an excellent way to show why you’re an authority and bring new visitors to your old content.
5. Create and Repurpose Twitter Threads
If you love Twitter, then you'll know all about Twitter threads.
Twitter threads are great as they force you to succinctly capture one idea per tweet. These ideas can then be repurposed into blog posts, slides or even podcast topics.
For example, here's a great Twitter thread from Herb's founder, Matt Gray. I seriously recommend reading it to see how Matt manages to capture powerful ideas in a short tweet.
This took me 10 years to learn, I’ll teach it to you in 5 minutes:
— MATT GRAY (@matt_gray_) July 2, 2022
Here's another from investor and founder of Angelist, Naval Ravikant. Again, well worth reading!
How to Get Rich (without getting lucky):
— Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018
The beauty with Twitter threads is they are great for repurposing.
Once you've taken the effort to write a succinct and punchy Tweet thread, it's not hard to then turn that thread into a post on LinkedIn or a blog for your website.
For example, here's how Matt Gray turned his popular tweet thread above, into a LinkedIn Post.
You can even get a little creative and turn Tweet threads into LinkedIn Slides. These tend to have higher engagement than just plain text LinkedIn posts.
Here's Matt Gray again, using his Twitter thread as a LinkedIn slide-share (you can see the full slide-share here).
Content Repurposing FAQ
Is Content Repurposing Good For SEO?
Content repurposing is fantastic for your SEO.
It improves your efficiency, i.e. you can produce quality content faster. Because you use different mediums, from blog posts to videos and social media, you can reach new audiences.
What Content Should I Repurpose?
I find that it’s always best to repurpose evergreen content. Chances are evergreen content won’t fade and will provide a constant stream of visitors for years to come.
How Do I Choose What Format My Repurposed Content Should Take?
Understand your users. Know what they like, where they hang out, and what content they consume. Use that knowledge to decide what format your repurposed content should take.
Easy Content Repurposing
If you’re struggling to come up with new content, then consider repurposing your old content instead.
It’s a great tool to add to your digital marketing strategy.
The tips mentioned above are an excellent start to helping you create more valuable content material. You’ll be reaping the rewards over and over. Don’t be afraid to get creative.