Content creation is a challenging task: there seems to be a never-ending demand for fresh ideas and inspiration, and all the brilliant ideas you do have can only be used once before being quickly replaced by new ones.
But do they have to?
Your content can have a much longer lifespan than just a one-off publication. All you need to do is look at that content with fresh eyes and prepare new pieces of content out of it. That could be a podcast out of a blog post or a whitepaper out of a webinar, for example.
This is called content repurposing.
Content repurposing
If the subject is new to you, you might wonder why it’s worth giving it a shot. Let’s start with some necessary information.
What is content repurposing?
Content repurposing is, generally speaking, taking an asset you’ve already created and tweaking it to be used again. Whether that means preparing an article out of a webinar or extending a webinar into an online course, you'll be working on research and materials that you’ve already prepared – there’s no need to start from scratch. For example, if you have a great podcast covering your best SEO tips, you could create an SEO training course that delivers some of that material to a different audience.
What can you repurpose?
When it comes to content repurposing, you can use almost any type of content, as long as it still delivers value in its new format. For example, when you need to display an image, there is no point in preparing a podcast around it.
Another point you should consider is if the content is time-limited. Some pieces of content can quickly become obsolete, in which you shouldn’t invest in repurposing them. When you’re just starting, opt for evergreen, easy-to-repurpose assets.
Why should you include repurposing in your content strategy?
There are several strong reasons why you should include content repurposing in your strategy. After all, it’s just about getting business value at the end of the day.
The most important reason for content repurposing? It lets you fully explore the potential of the content that you create. Most of the time, this can go much further than just a one-off publication.
It also helps you to manage your resources more effectively. Preparing content – a webinar, a whitepaper, or a course – can take a lot of time and effort. When you are aiming to create everything from scratch, you will need to invest much more than when applying content repurposing in your strategy.
Another reason you should take into account is that by changing the form of your content, and sometimes the distribution channel, you can reach out to new audiences and customers. That is how you can attract more people to your business.
Benefits of content repurposing
Higher quality content
Coming up with content that is backed with research and your own experiences, then presented in an enjoyable way, takes time and effort. When you can spend more time preparing each asset – whether it’s a webinar or an article – you can come up with higher quality, more insightful material.
Adding content repurposing to your strategy lets you invest more in the initial asset before reusing it, meaning you may come up with better content than if you were to prepare everything from scratch.
More sustainable process of content creation
The pressure to come up with new, original ideas anytime you need to create content can easily lead to burnout. Content repurposing might serve as a way to limit that risk and make your content creation process more sustainable.
What’s more, it helps fulfill the content’s potential as well. When you give only one chance of publication to the idea you came up with, you miss all the other opportunities it could bring. Repurposing material lets you avoid this situation.
Becoming accessible for a wider audience
When your aim is content repurposing, you need to open the door to new audiences – and, in this way, new potential clients.
Sometimes it will be due to appearing on a different platform, sometimes because the form will be more suitable to their preferences. Another important aspect is accessibility for people with disabilities. For example, people with impaired vision could listen to the audio stream of a webinar, but referring to a chart or an image without describing its content won’t help them. In this case, a podcast, for instance, would work better.
Content repurposing strategies
There are several approaches to content repurposing. Apart from conveying the same message in full detail but in a different way, you could also tweak it. That will let you make the most of the chosen form.
Simplified content
Content repurposing cannot do without it. When you take your material and distill it into a simpler, more basic form, you can also skip less important details. This is a great way to attract people to your initial article or webinar. For example, you can share the main points of your webinar in a high-performing social media post and invite the audience to watch the entire video.
Extended content
This is the opposite strategy. When you notice demand for the topic that your webinar tackles, you can prepare more extended material. An online course, for example, is a great way to monetize your content.
Refreshed content
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. From time to time, you can revamp your old content and republish it. In the case of articles, this might mean adding or removing some paragraphs, enriching them with additional materials, or providing new data. This strategy works fine for your SEO as well.
Guest content
The last strategy for content repurposing is about guest content. Sometimes, you can repurpose your material to use it as guest content for another publisher. This tactic can not only make the most out of your content, but also improve your SEO and establish you as an authority figure.
Make sure to check the requirements. Some publishers only accept brand new content and might refuse to publish repurposed material.
What content can you generate out of your webinar?
There are numerous ways to make content repurposing. Even within one category, such as social media posts, you can prepare Instagram stories or a Twitter thread. Make the most of this variety and choose formats that will best suit your overall content marketing strategy.
Here, we will cover only the general categories to give you some inspiration!
Blog post (or a few)
A blog post is one of the most common types of content. Repurposing your webinar into one or several blog posts brings you several benefits. Some people simply prefer to read text instead of watching video content. Articles also help with your ranking in Google search results as their robots can get more information, which in turn helps you get more traffic to your site. If you have an audio recording of your webinar you can easily convert that audio to text, and thus create an article that you can publish on your blog.
Whitepaper
This is a more detailed and advanced version of written content. Usually you will ask for email addresses in exchange for the whitepaper, or keep it behind a paywall. You can create a whitepaper out of an article that was based on your webinar – no one said you could repurpose your content just once ;)
Infographic or visual notes
This type of content has been on the rise recently, usually accompanying a webinar. By putting the most important information into a neat and appealing form, you can encourage your followers to share it.
With LiveWebinar, you can save the scribbles that you write on the whiteboard during your webinar. That can be a good starting point for your graphic materials.
Post on social media
Social media posts are usually a simpler type of content than webinars. Nevertheless, they constantly prove to be an engaging way of sharing information with your audience.
Here, the audience tends to pay attention to the visual aspects. You can share an infographic, a schema, or a photo to display some important points from your webinar.
Also, you can use the recording of your webinar and include some video. LiveWebinar lets you prepare materials in Full HD, and even trim video directly on the platform.
It’s worth noticing that a post which informs about your webinar isn’t a form of repurposed content. Yet, if you repurpose your webinar into a post, you could also inform readers about the original version.
Podcast
Podcasts seem to be a simple way of repurposing your webinar – after all, don’t you just save the audio stream and hit the publish button? Well, you don’t. With webinars, you can rely on some visual aids that will be unavailable for your podcast listeners. That is why you should rearrange all of those moments and adjust your descriptions to the medium.
Online course
When your webinar seems to only scratch the surface, you can develop it into an online course. This is definitely a more demanding way of content repurposing, and probably you will rarely use it. Nevertheless, you have to remember that it will bring you benefits over time, and you can get a lot of opportunities to monetize it.
How to repurpose your webinar?
When you already have a webinar to repurpose, there are several steps you should take.
Choose the right material
As we have already discussed, not all of your webinars or other pieces of content can be repurposed. When you are just getting started, a how-to webinar could be a safe bet. With time, you will learn what kind of repurposing works best for you!
Decide on the type of the final content
In this step, you should be precise. Instead of settling on “a social media post”, define exactly what kind of post and on which platform. Who is your target audience? What goal will it have? Those questions will help you in the next steps.
Choose your distribution channel
This is another point before you move to the creation process. When keeping in mind distribution channels, you can adjust some details to save you work later on.
Adjust the message and the form
When you have a clear image of the goals and placement of your final content form, you can choose what elements of your initial content to include. You will also be able to spot the points that need to be elaborated on, and list down additional materials you have to prepare.
Creating recyclable content
Actually, one of the best ways to repurpose content is to create it with this goal in mind in the first place. This attitude helps you in getting the structure and the content put together in a way that makes it easier to repurpose. What steps should you take before you create your webinar?
Think about 5 (or 3, or 7) different forms of content for your topic
Planning out your content creation process is easier with a clear goal in your mind. When you know in advance that you won’t prepare just the webinar, but an article, a podcast, and Instagram stories as well, you will analyze the material in a different way.
Map out the content
Decide what you will include in a given format. Also, define the goals of each content type and the schedule of publishing. For example, when you prepare a webinar about remote work, you can publish an interesting insight on your social media, then deepen the topic in your webinar and sum it up in a blog post.
Don’t forget that you can use feedback from your audience and add it to repurposed assets. For example, you could allow time for questions during your webinar and then cover the most important issues in a whitepaper.
Afterwards, you can go on and create your webinar!
What should you keep in mind?
As with each tactic, there are some limitations and restrictions you should be aware of. After all, what we’re looking for is sustainability =)
Make sure to maintain balance
Content repurposing should be just one element of your content strategy, not the only resource. Apart from repurposing your previous content, you should still work on entirely new materials as well. Content repurposing is a tool for reducing the need to come up with fresh ideas every other day, but it’s not a replacement for them.
The audience comes first
It sounds obvious, but you shouldn’t repurpose your content for the sake of it – there has to be added value for your audience. Anytime you plan on repurposing, double-check what value it will provide.
As a recap
Content repurposing is an amazing way to discover the full potential of your content ideas. By sharing it in a new format, you can reach new audiences, make the creation process more sustainable and come up with higher quality assets.
The main criterion for choosing the final format of your content is the value you can bring to your audience. Sometimes, repurposing your assets means you can deliver the message to a different group of people, in which case you need to adjust the value proposition.
A webinar opens you numerous possibilities of repurposing: from written forms like blog posts or whitepapers, through graphics such as visual notes or social media posts, to podcasts. You could also stick with the video format and prepare an online course. The only limitations are your resources and your imagination. You can use content repurposing to live webinars and evergreen webinars. Just as you wish!
Go out and look for inspiration in your environment. You’ll probably spot numerous examples of content repurposing. Analyze how others do it, and apply those insights to your own case!