Recycling is an underrated tool in every digital marketeer’s arsenal.
We’re not talking about plastic bottles or the environment – although those things are important too! We’re talking about reusing content across multiple channels to maximize its effectiveness.
One piece of content shared once on one marketing channel is wasteful. Additionally, it consumes all of your time and does not always reach your target audience.
By upcycling your ideas and assets repeatedly, you stay consistent and reinforce the messages your audience needs to hear.
As a result, your marketing efforts will be boosted as well. Repurposing content was extensively researched by HubSpot. The following are a few key findings they made:
- 92% of their monthly blog leads came from “old” posts.
- By optimizing old blog posts, they more than doubled their number of leads and organic search views, increased by an average of 106%.
In summary, recycling content can save you time, brainpower, and help boost your business.
The research speaks for itself when it comes to the potential value of optimizing old blog posts. However, it’s important to remember to be picky of what content you choose to optimize.
Here are a few tips to help you get started:
- Relevance – Make sure the content you select is timely.
- Collect Data – Take a look at the highest performing content on your website by assessing engagement rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and lead generation numbers. These data points can help you determine what content will be best for recycling.
- Get Creative – Remember that recycling content is not just about the written word.
Ready to start recycling? Here are a few ways to repurpose your existing content…
1 – Create an infographic.
Have a blog post full of statistics or data? Consider creating an infographic.
Consumers appreciate visuals, so creating a summary of the most hard-hitting statistics from your posts is a new, engaging way to give meaning to your content. You can place these infographics within the blog post, but they can also be repurposed and posted on social media.
2 – Post user-generated content.
User-generated content can be anything from reviews on your product pages to one-off tweets from a satisfied customer. Although it may seem like these only provide value in their original channel, they can be repurposed for social media. For example, you can use customer reviews in an Instagram video.
3 – Extract quotes from existing content.
Extracting quotes from top-performing content, especially when they contain insight from industry leaders, is particularly impactful on social media channels like Instagram or Twitter. Extract these quotes, create social media posts, and re-use them on all your favourite social platforms.
4 -Turn video transcripts into blog posts.
Transcripts can be repurposed as blog posts. If you create a scripted video that follows a logical structure, a transcript likely won’t need much editing before it can become a blog post.
5- Repurpose by Updating Older Content
Let’s face it: things evolve.
Could you refresh a few of your older posts? Possibly. You could have fresh information or tips to offer on a subject you’ve previously written about. So, take your previous post, edit it, add to it, and then republish it. If it appeals to today’s audience, you shouldn’t need to completely change it (although that is an option).
Additionally, you may edit the content within the same article, preserving the URL and SEO value while promoting the changes you’ve made. You can even adjust the publish date on some blogging platforms so that it appears on your blog as a brand-new post.
To boost the likelihood of producing leads, it’s also worthwhile to think about updating (or adding new) calls-to-action to posts that are still receiving traffic.
Summary
Repurposing your existing content is designed to be an additional strategy rather than a replacement for developing new content. You can continue to produce fresh content while also revitalising your previously published, high-quality posts and provide relevant, timeless knowledge to your audience.
Running out of ideas? Need some help recycling your old content? Get in touch today!
