Content Repurposing: Save Time & Money With These Hacks

‍Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to build brand awareness and connect with your target audience. And one of the best ways to to double down on these efforts is to utilize content marketing repurposing. ‍

Many marketers are now using AI tools to streamline their content marketing production. And yet, the need for a constant flow of fresh content can be a lot to handle even for larger businesses

Content recycling is an old and effective tactic to make sure your efforts to produce informative high-quality content count more. 

What is content repurposing?

There are three main ways to reuse your content, which are:

• Cross-posting: posting the exact same content on different platforms, e.g. as YouTube shorts and Instagram reels.
• Re-posting: republishing content on the same platform - this is most common with X (formerly Twitter)
• Repurposing: keeping the main idea of the content piece, but adapting it to a different platform, e.g. repurposed blog content for social media platforms. 

While it’s perfectly fine to use the other two strategies as well, as you can tell repurposing content requires a little more effort and creativity. But it definitely pays off as there are numerous benefits of content repurposing. We’ll discuss the main ones.

Why repurpose content?

1. Saves time and resources

Creating fresh content from scratch requires significant effort. Repurposing allows you to leverage existing materials, reducing the workload while maintaining consistent output.

2. Reach new audiences

Different audiences consume content in different formats. For example, a blog post can be turned into a podcast, infographic, or video to attract people who prefer those mediums.

3. Improve SEO

Repurposing allows you to target additional keywords and create more touchpoints for your audience to find your content, boosting your search engine visibility. For example, if you’ve created a YouTube tutorial, you can also translate it into a how-to blog post, and embed your video as well to maximise on that search engine optimization.

4. Reinforce your message

Presenting the same message across various formats ensures it sticks in your audience's mind, helping with brand recall and understanding. This can be especially useful with things like seasonal or awareness campaigns. 

5. Adapt for Social Media

Social media presence is a must nowadays. Still it doesn’t  Repurposed content can be broken into bite-sized pieces suitable for platforms like Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn, helping you maintain an active presence.

{{SMD_PORTFOLIO="/dev/components"}}

6. Maximize ROI

By reusing and adapting existing content, you extract more value from your initial investment, increasing your overall return on investment. For example, you might have 

7 Content repurposing ideas you should try

Now that you know the benefits, let’s get down to the practical steps. Here are 7 simple and effective ways to repurpose content.

1. Convert blogs into ebooks (and vice versa)

Written content usually takes the longest to produce, even in the days of AI. So, it’s no surprise that this type of content is one you should definitely repurpose as much as possible.

If you’ve been writing about a particular topic in a series of blog posts, why not compile them into one ebook that you can also use a lead generation magnet.

We’ve done something like this with our SaaS design guidebook, which combined some of our best-performing pieces on SaaS design. Of course, in this case you’ll need a professional designer to create the ebook layout, cover pages, and perhaps any additional illustrations or graphics needed to make the ebook easier to read.

However, you can also go the other way, and split your longform stuff into several shorter pieces of content. The great thing about this is that shorter pieces, such as blog posts are easier to update, so you can keep your content fresh and relevant for longer.

2. Create visuals with quotes

It’s one of the simplest and most effective visual content hacks out there. Whether you’ve created a blog post, a YouTube video, or conducted an interview, sharing key takeaways is always a great idea.

Here’s a great example from Hubspot Academy. The design matches their modern and vibrant brand identity. The black and white image also works well to create a sense of cohesion in the design.

The quote itself is easy to understand, but intriguing - a perfect way to plug (and repurpose) their podcast.

3. Share presentations on LinkedIn

This is a content repurposing strategy idea that many overlook. It’s definitely more appropriate for B2B companies, but well worth trying.

While it’s no longer possible to share SlideShare presentations on Linkedin, you can do it by saving your presentation in PDF and sharing this content format. 

Although things like trends and yearly reviews might seem suitable for only one occasion, you can always repurpose them as a way of comparing old trends with emerging ones. For the right target audience this can be a truly insightful and shareable content type. 

This is also a great way to share an in-depth case study that can help potential clients understand the benefits of working with your business better.

4. Turn blog posts or YouTube videos into social media posts

This is definitely the most popular type of content repurposing, especially in the B2B market. Here’s a nice example from Buffer of how they repurposed a blog post as an Instagram carousel.

With this type of content repurposing, it’s essential to have the help of a professional designer. If you just paste chunks of text onto a colorful background, chances are nobody will bother to read, even if it’s bitesize pieces.

The example above has a great modern design. The focus is still on the written content, but the bright colors help to catch the viewers attention, and the simple layout makes for easy scrolling.  

One company that you should definitely look up to when it comes to repurposing video content is Ted Talks. The talks tackle complex topics and last approximately 10 minutes. How the Instagram Reels are much shorter, but still capture the essential idea of the talk. They use the caption and little bits of text like a headline in the video itself to give scrollers an instant idea of what the talk is about and encourage them to check out the full-length version. 

5. Create infographics

It’s well known that people retain information much better when it’s presented in visual and written format. And the content marketing statistics on infographics speak for themselves: 65% of brands use infographics for marketing and they are shared 3 times more than any other type of content on social media.

So, how do you repurpose content into a high-quality infographic? Here are some tips.

1. Choose the right data. The best infographics focus on a few key pieces of data. Consider what would be most useful or insightful for your target audience and stick with that.
2. Start with the layout. Consider how you’re going to group the information before designing. Try a few different options to ensure you find the best solution.
3. Limit color usage. With lots of visuals and some text, infographics can quickly become overwhelming. So, it’s best to use up to three colors to keep your infographics reader-friendly.
4. Show, don’t tell. Don’t beat the purpose of infographics by adding too much text. The more you can communicate visually without impeding the clarity of your message, the better. 

6. Craft a compelling newsletter

It’s the oldest trick in the book, but one that still works. Newsletters don’t have great open rates (an average of about 20% across all industries) and even lower click-through rates (about 2% average).

And yet, most companies still have some sort of regular newsletter. If you manage to convince even a portion of your prospects to open those emails, you’re probably going to move them down your sales or marketing funnel. Updates from the company also help with brand recognition and keeping your brand top of mind.

And content repurposing is the foundation of an effective email campaign. One of the best examples for this comes from media companies. They regularly include their high-performing content (top stories) in the subject line to get readers interested. 

7. Create a podcast episode

Podcasts have exploded in popularity in recent years. And if you haven’t included them in your content repurposing strategy, this might be the right time to consider it.

These usually take a lot more time and effort than some of the ideas previously mentioned. However, if you pick your topic correctly, this might be a piece of evergreen content - something that stays relevant and available for resharing for a long time. 

Final word: design help for content repurposing

We hope this list gives you some ideas on how to repurpose content effectively. As you might have noticed, recycled content often requires fresh design.

Whether you need to recreate a blog post as an Instagram carousel or compile shorter pieces into an ebook, our design subscription is the right choice!

Work with a team of designers with skills to suit all your needs. One flat monthly rate covers all your design needs, so you can create new and repurpose content as you please. Most requests take just 1-2 business days to complete, so you can always stay on top of your strategy and content calendar.

Best of all, our service also includes video editing so you can also use the service to repurpose your video content.

Get started today for as low as $549 a month! Or get in touch with us to see how we can help.