You’ve done the hard work of creating a content program for yourself. You’ve even got yourself a shiny editorial calendar so you can feel the satisfaction of marking each article POSTED and watch as those little green tick marks stack up (It’s really satisfying, isn’t it?!). What comes next for your wonderful, engaging content after it endears you to your blog readers? Nothing, huh?
What if I told you there was an easy way to extend the viable lifespan of your blog posts by, I don’t know, let’s say 3x? 5x? Yeah, that’s what I’m saying here. It’s all about repurposing.
Before continuing, take 5 minutes to look through your site stats and pick one high-performing piece of content. I’ll wait.
It’s OK to be picky here, in fact, it’s preferable. Not every piece of writing needs to be repurposed. Actually, many pieces I’ve stumbled upon over the years served their purpose in one fell swoop and can rest easy in retirement. We’re looking for the ones that stand out. The articles that got your readers excited about your widget. Or that started a heated debate down in the comment section.
Got one? Cool. Let’s do this.
A little something for the skimmers
If the piece you’ve selected is longer than 1,000 words or so, good on ya! Now, take each section and move to a new draft document. Add a one-sentence intro, and congratulations! You now have a series for LinkedIn. Each one can link back to your main article (in the comments, I’m pretty sure they’ll dock you for linking directly from a post) and provide a great forum for more engagement with your audience on a different platform.
Trim it a little further…a little further…there it is!
Now take those shorts and trim out the sound bites. Look for quotes that cover the basics of the broader topic and/or that highlight your expertise just right to draw in eyeballs on social media. We’re looking for bite-sized nuggets of goodness here, no more than two short paragraphs with bonus points if you can include a relevant meme. Yes, even B2B folks secretly (or not so secretly) love a good meme.
Thou shalt not forsake that old standby, the inbox
Take that article and generate a two-paragraph summary (more bonus points if you can reuse one of the blurbs from the first section here). Now add a meme or two from the second section, sprinkle in a company update and product teaser, and you have yourself a newsletter. Mazal Tov. Newsletters are awesome for many reasons. Today let’s focus on two primary things: reminding folks you’re there (brand awareness or trickle marketing) by hitting them where they already spend hours a day, email; and giving you more opportunities to link back to your pillar pages, product landing pages, and the full version of that amazing blog post that started this.
Turn your Q&A into an FAQ: different acronym, same result
More content, that is. Take the questions your readers left in the comments on the original blog, add your witty and erudite responses, and just like that, you have an entry for your FAQ page. You’re being proactive, while giving yourself more content to link people to when they ask the same question you’ve already answered multiple times.
The infographic: For those who can’t even take the time to skim
Condense the big ideas from that blog post into a visual for your audience who can’t even take the time to read the summaries. That’s not fair, they’re probably busy, just like you are, so providing a way to convey your main points in a format they can take in with limited time will go a long way to endearing you with your audience and ensuring they reach out when they need your widget. Besides, it’s a great way to prove that a picture is truly worth a thousand words.
The humble case study: doing the heavy lifting of providing social proof
OK, this one might be a stretch depending on what the article you picked actually covers. You have customers who already love you, and you should be talking about them. Pull those bits out of the original article and bulk it up with some quotes about how much they love your company. Show them you love them right back by crafting short, to-the-point stories that highlight not your widget, but how your customers are using it to increase their own businesses. Be sure to get their permission before posting, of course.
Podcast clips: For your readers who prefer to listen
Extract the best bits of your article and record them as audio clips or combine them into full podcast episodes. Perfect for your audience’s morning commute or while they’re doing the break room dishes because no one else ever does them.
Next time you realize a high-performing blog post is just sitting there, languishing on the second or third page of your blog, no longer getting the hits it once did, dust that bad boy off and repurpose it for more engagement with your audience. Don’t even get me started on ways to reuse longer pieces like whitepapers and eguides, those will be getting their own treatment here on Strategic Narratives soon.
Until then, happy repurposing!