Last week we smacked down some of the stories that can come up around repurposing content.
We flipped the script to talk about how repurposing allows us to do less better and helps us connect with and serve our audience better!
(Missed it? You can catch it here!)
Now that we’ve got the mindset piece down, let’s talk a little strategy, so you can get out there and start repurposing your content.
What I see a lot when it comes to repurposing is copying and pasting content all around town. I call this the ‘Command C’ approach.
It’s the blog post we share on Medium. It’s the live stream we upload to Youtube. It’s taking that same Youtube video and uploading it to our blog and sending it to our email list. It’s the social media post we regurgitate monthly.
The ‘Command C’ approach is one piece of content copied across multiple platforms. This is the form of repurposing we’re probably most familiar with, no? It's effective, but I see this more as distributing and marketing our content than repurposing.
When we artfully repurpose our content, we find a way to take something we’ve previously created and breathe new life into it.
6 Ways to Artfully Repurpose Your Content
1. The Mini Method
Just like we love mini candy bars, we love bite-sized pieces of content. They give us a taste and make us want more.
A great way to repurpose a longer piece of content is to break it down and create new, mini pieces of content perfect for sharing on social media.
A blog post can be turned into multiple social media posts. Longer videos can be clipped down into an Instagram story or used on IGTV.
In-depth course material can be segmented out into shorter blog posts, podcasts, or live streams.
You get the idea!
Bonus tip: Freshen up repurposed, mini content by adding a new intro, image, quote, or closing thought.
2. The Convertible Approach
Remember those weird tube tops that were being advertised on tv for a while? It was one band that could be worn multiple ways, as a tube top, as a skirt, as a weird accent to another top.
They were bizarre (hope I’m not offending anyone’s sense of style here), but they were onto something we can use: Repurposing content by taking one topic and using it multiple ways.
This is when we take, say a blog post we’ve written, and use the same content and share it in a new medium, like in a video or podcast. You can also reverse this and turn a video or podcast into a transcript or new blog post.
Not everyone consumes and receives information in the same way, and The Convertible Approach is a great way to connect with people in different ways.
I use this form of repurposing almost every week! I write a blog post once, then talk about the same topic on a live stream on Facebook, which I also stream to Instagram. It’s the same topic multiple ways!
3. Create a Collection
Once you’ve amassed a body of work, you can repurpose it by compiling a group of content together to create a collection.
For example, a series of blog posts with a few edits can turn into an e-book or guide.
A group of similar videos can become a mini-training or challenge.
A bunch of PDFs can turn into a resource library.
Your favorite blog posts or videos can become a ‘best of’ or ‘favorites’ section on your website.
To make this work, we want to pull content together so they logically make sense.
4. Get Paid!
I’m ALL about giving away tons of free, valuable content, but we can also repurpose this very same free content and turn it into paid offers.
I can already hear the resistance on this one...Why would anyone pay for content they can get for free?
I’m guessing most of us have already done this!
We often pay for content to be organized and simplified for us. Paid content usually follows some sort of framework to help you create a desired result. It removes the guesswork, gives us a step-by-step path to follow, saves us time, and allows us to avoid information overload that can come from sifting through free stuff.
For example, I have books next to my desk that I paid money for that are essentially collections of author's blog posts. They’re organized for me in a way that makes sense, is easy to follow, and all in one place. Totally worth it and valuable!
Take a look at your body of work. Is there a way you can organize this content into an easy-to-follow and digestible framework that could help someone else get a result? If so, you might have the makings for a paid offer created from repurposed content!
5. The Multiplier Method
Most of us have SO much we could say about any given topic that we’re passionate about.
I know on any given blog post, I have to hit the delete button over and over again to create something that’s digestible.
Often, we think if we’ve talked about a topic once, that’s it. Then we’re back to the ideas drawing board.
This couldn’t be further from the truth AND this thinking doesn’t serve us in our business. We want to show up and continually talk about the things we’re experts in and able to help people with in and new and different ways.
For this reason, this method might be my favorite. It’s repurposing our ideas and topics, and finding new and interesting ways to talk about the same thing we’ve already waxed poetic on.
One of the easiest ways to implement this? Take a piece of content that speaks to your zone of genius and connected with your audience. Add to or expand upon that very same idea in a new piece of content (that’s what we’re doing here!), or find a new example to illustrate the same core message.
6. The Smoothie Method
Smoothies introduced us to a whole new way of enjoying fruit. It took a bunch of ingredients that already existed and blended them together to create an entirely new and delicious concoction.
We can do the same thing when it comes to repurposing our content!
The Smoothie Method takes the ingredients of your content and blends them together until you have something new!
To make your own content smoothie: Find a few pieces of content that follow a similar theme, pull out a piece from each one, and then reassemble and blend those pieces together until you have one, new content smoothie.
Fun stuff, no?
Repurposing content can go so much further than the copy and paste approach! When done with thought and intention, there truly is an art to repurposing our content and it can allow us to show up, connect, and serve our audience more powerfully!
I hope this week’s post will inspire you to find new ways to stretch your content, connect with your people, and keep yourself off the content creation treadmill!
Wishing you your version of success!
XO, Kim
P.S. Ready to step your content game up a notch, so you can connect with your dream clients and make more money doing your thing? This is something I love helping my clients with! Click here to learn more about working together and book a free coaching consultation!
