How To Repurpose Your Content to Improve ROI

It all starts with a great, witty idea. Then, you wrote an article about it. Now, you’re about to publish and promote it. But what about after this?

You might need to repurpose your content for future use. The change in approach could be as easy as changing the headline, but it could also mean changing your entire format. Either way, it’s a smart move to take the time to repurpose your content for future use. 

Perks of Repurposing Content

Repurposing content is like buying a few sets of a particular outfit in different colors. You can wear your outfit again for a VIP event, and you can wear it again during the next hot festival season. Repurposing content is much the same. You’ll recycle your original content and use it again in multiple ways.

It allows you to extend the life of your original content. You’ll earn more long-term results if you build a plan that repurposes your content. You’ll gain additional visibility from your original content. It gives you the chance to use again the article that got you hot and heavy traffic.

Not only that, but it also builds additional sets of traffic to keep your article generating income for a longer time. You’ll also get fresh new content, expanding your knowledge base, establishing your authority on your chosen niche. It helps you make higher-value original content too.

Identify which piece to repurpose.

Here’s the bad news – not all of your content is qualified for repurposing. Some pieces are complete and need to be pushed out into the blogosphere. Others are simply not ready for off-shoots yet.

Stand by your original piece when you’re preparing for repurposing. Is your content about a trend that is still going strong? Does it have a large, loyal following? Is it hot and popping on social media? You don’t want to repurpose something that is old news or facing losing its steam soon.

To help you determine which piece fits the role, here are some things to ponder:

1. Take a look at your web analytics.

Are you using Google Analytics? If so, you’ll have access to a wealth of information on which pages are performing well. To turn your analytics into a tool for repurposing, start by marking the pages that did really well for you.

2. Social analytics can help too.

Social media is one of the best ways to get in front of your readers, and social media is a great clue on how well your content is doing. If some of your content has Facebook likes or Twitter followers, you are more likely to repurposing it.

3. Check out the competition in your niche.

Why? If everyone is doing it, you can probably find an interesting angle to make a fresh take on it. Why? If no one else is doing it, you’ll have no competition and be able to do it the way you want to do it without having to worry about someone stealing your approach or using any of your ideas as their own.

4. Keep an eye on evergreen content.

Evergreen content pertains to older content that stays relevant for a very long time. If you’re an evergreen content creator, taking a look at your archives will help you come up with ideas and inspiration for your repurposing. It’s also a never-ending resource of content ideas.

Here’s how to repurpose your content the right way

Decide on the format.

The first thing you need to do is to decide on the format for your repurposed content. You’ll use your original piece as a foundation for your new piece. This means you’ll need to choose between a few options, including:

1. Deconstructing your original piece into different parts

2. Taking screenshots of certain parts and adding them to slides in your slideshow presentation

3. Adding charts or data tables that are exclusive to your infographic

4. Doing an in-depth analysis of a specific part of your original content

Your new piece will be useful for more than just promotion. These are just some ideas, but you can also add audio or video to the mix if that suits your business goals better.

Take advantage of 1:8 rule

According to James Chartrand, the 1:8 rule is a good guideline to follow when you are repurposing. According to this rule, you should repeat at least 80% of your original content if you are looking for a successful repurposing. The only exception is that if you’re doing an in-depth analysis of a specific part of your original content.

Here’s how this rule works: Let’s say your piece has 500 words in it. Use 80 of those words, such as the headline and subheading in your title. If possible, work with 120 words in the introduction and 120 more of your original content. This means you’re using 8/12 of your original content.

You can use them on:

• A blog article
• A new blog post
• A tweet
• An infograph/graph
• Interactive application/tool with your original content as the basis of the experience you’re creating using a Google spreadsheet.

Update your existing content

Updating your existing content will do two things for you. First, it’ll provide new insights and give your readers something to go back and read again. Secondly, it’ll reposition that piece in search engine results as relevant.

Keep in mind that repurposing your content doesn’t have any penalty from Google. If done right, you’ll be able to spread the love of your brand without having to worry about hurting your rankings. Don’t forget: the key is to update it and make it relevant to what’s happening now.