Are you struggling to keep up with the demands of content creation for your business? Feeling stuck and overwhelmed trying to come up with new ideas every month? Wishing you could wave a magic wand and have all your marketing content planned out for the month?
We’ve got just the thing to help.
This Lunch & Learn session was all about content repurposing – how to get more mileage out of your content and save yourself hours (if not days!) every single month with a simple mindset and strategy shift.
Our Head of Marketing, Gaby, chats with Jon about what exactly content repurposing is (and isn’t!), how to integrate it into your marketing strategy, and five practical repurposing ideas to help you get started straight away. Then, Jon and Gaby take you through a step-by-step demonstration of how our own marketing team turns one piece of content into a full month of content. Yep, an entire content calendar from one might blog post. Check out the replay below!
At Five by Five, we’re all about helping you share your magic through conversion-focused website design and high-impact digital marketing solutions. Whether you’re a new business in need of a wow-worthy digital launch, or an established business looking to refresh and replace your old site, we have the know-how and dedication to make it happen. Contact us today to get started.
What is content repurposing?
Content repurposing is the practice of reusing all or part of your existing content to expand its reach and lifespan. It’s about being strategic with the types of content you do create, and leveraging this to connect with a larger audience across multiple marketing channels (while also saving yourself time!).
Where does this fit into your overarching marketing strategy?
Well, your marketing strategy is (in a very succinct nutshell) your game plan for pricing, promoting and selling your products or services, and acquiring and retaining customers.
Content marketing is a type of marketing that involves creating and sharing educational, informative and relevant content to a) attract and engage your target audience, b) build brand awareness, and c) establish your expertise within your niche. This forms a part of your overarching marketing strategy, and would typically be utilised with other types of marketing like search engine optimisation, email marketing, and social media marketing, for example.
Content repurposing, then, is the process of strategically transforming one piece of content into different formats, to get it in front of more people on more platforms. A good way to think about repurposing is as one technique or approach to content marketing. It helps you to execute your content marketing more efficiently and to maintain consistency across your marketing messaging. You don’t have to utilise this as a technique, but it certainly helps you to do more with less!
Cross-posting, reposting, and repurposing
Content repurposing isn’t the same as simply posting the same image to multiple social media platforms. This is a common misconception, however there is more to repurposing that you might initially think.
Cross-posting involves sharing the exact same piece of content across various platforms.
For example, you might post the same image and caption on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Or, you could publish the same short-form video to Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts. You likely have different followers on each of these platforms, so by sharing the same piece of content across each, you can ensure you reach your entire social following.
Reposting is about sharing a piece of content for a second time on the same platform (after some time has passed, of course!).
Let’s say you posted an Instagram Reel six months ago. It received way more views than you might usually see, and you noticed a lot of people were sending it to their friends and sharing it to their stories. Views soared, engagement was high and you even received an influx of new followers. If it’s still relevant today, you might choose to repost this exact same reel so that it can reach a new audience, and boost your engagement and following again.
Repurposing, on the other hand, takes the core information from one piece of content and adapts it for different platforms.
For example, writing a blog post about a specific topic and then recording a podcast discussion centred around that topic. Or more simply, distilling a long-form blog post into a few different Instagram carousel posts. This approach ensures that your content is tailored to fit the unique demands of each platform, while keeping your messaging consistent and aligned. :
Two things to keep in mind for effective content repurposing
Analyse your existing content
Understanding what your audience finds interesting and valuable is what it’s all about. Identify which existing pieces of content have performed well and generated engagement. Look for blog posts, articles, or social media posts that have received a significant number of comments, shares, and likes. Has any of your content sparked conversations or prompted action from your readers? Are readers forwarding or replying to your email marketing when they’re about specific topics?
When you understand what your audience likes, finds value in, and wants to see more of, you can strategically adapt content that delivers this into other formats to share across more marketing channels. This way, you’re amplifying the impact of content that already resonates with your audience.
Understand your audience
Content repurposing is not about blindly adapting every piece of content for every single channel. Different people hang out in different places online. So, think about where your audience spends their time online and how they prefer to consume content.
For example, an 18-year-old might only engage with short, snappy videos on social media platforms like TikTok or Instagram. A 34-year-old woman might prefer an engaging podcast she can listen to while out for a walk or driving to work. A 57-year-old man might be more inclined to read a well-constructed, insightful blog article over his morning coffee. He might not even have social media, so if all of your marketing efforts are going into content creation for social platforms, yet your target audience is men in their late 50s to 70s, this isn’t going to get you anywhere.
Understanding the behaviour and preferences of your target audience means you can be strategic and intentional with how, when and where you share all of your content – repurposed or not.
5 practical examples of content repurposing
Instagram posts
Turn snippets from your blog post into visual Instagram posts and carousels. Bite-sized content is ideal for social media, where users prefer quick, easily digestible information. You can use the same content from your blog, but present it in a visually appealing way that suits Instagram’s format.
LinkedIn articles
Repurpose your blog content into LinkedIn articles. This platform is great for reaching business professionals and driving traffic back to your website. Share long-form written content you have created (blog posts, articles, guides) as native articles on LinkedIn to boost your reach on this platform, encourage conversation, and establish yourself as an industry thought leader.
Email newsletters
Perhaps a less obvious option, but an effective one nonetheless! You put time and effort into writing EDMs to engage your email database, so why not repurpose them into social media posts? Or, vice versa? If a social media post generates a lot of engagement, build this topic out into an email newsletter!
Podcasts
One of the best (and most popular) ways to repurpose a podcast is turning it into video content! Set up a tripod and film your next podcast episode. You can upload this as a long-form video to YouTube, and even edit the video down into key moments or a short promo to distribute as short videos across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube shorts! This approach allows you to reach different audience segments with the same core content.
Round-up of top content
Combine snippets from your top-performing content to create new, engaging pieces. For example, take the best moments from interviews or podcasts and compile them into highlight reels. These mashups can be shared on YouTube, Reels, or TikTok, providing fresh content that draws from your existing assets.
Creating a month of content from one blog post
In the webinar snippet below, Gaby walks you through a step-by-step demonstration of how the marketing team here at Five by Five actively implements everything we’ve just shared with you! Using one hero piece of content, we build this out into a full month of marketing material.
In this example, Gaby uses last month’s blog post as hero piece of content that forms the foundation for the monthly calendar. This transformed into a webinar, which is then recorded and uploaded to YouTube. From the webinar, snippets are extracted for social media posts, and the transcript is turned into another blog post (just like what you’re currently reading!). Email newsletters are crafted to highlight the month’s theme, promoting both the blog and the webinar.
This comprehensive approach ensures that every piece of content ties back to a central theme, providing multiple touch points for our audience and reinforcing our brand’s messaging across different platforms. Check it out below.
Five easy ways to repurpose your content
Watch how we turn our hero blog post into a full month of marketing content
Download your FREE content planner
Now that you have clear repurposing system, and plenty of examples to get those creative juices flow, all you need is a template for mapping out your content each month.
We’ve put together a free marketing content planner to help you streamline your content planning and repurposing and get ahead with your marketing activities, so you can feel organised and confident.
Download your free template here, and happy planning!
