We hear so much about what content repurposing is, but what about what it isn’t? Is there a list of that somewhere too? You are in luck – because I have created one!
Last week, we chatted all about how to use content repurposing to shorten the curve to make more money. We don’t have the time to be all places and all things to everyone. Especially right now.
If we are trying to do that, we are giving up on the parts of our business that only we can do. Content Repurposing lets me touch more places where Ideal Clients are and it allows people to see me the 7-10x of a sales cycle faster.
As you are looking to scale, you need to be looking at the things that you and only you can do. Content repurposing is something that someone else can do — if they know-how. Smart business owners looking to ramp up their visibility and income should have others do their repurposing.
You can’t truly own the platform if you are doing all the editing. It won’t leave you time to create.
It’s not: Using the same content everywhere
Often times, I hear entrepreneurs say “Yeah I repurpose. I use a scheduling tool to share content on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter at 9, 11, and 1pm every day of the week. It’s great because I just create one post and it’s automatically shared everywhere!”
I hate to break it to you, but that is NOT repurposing content.
That is mass sharing your content. And if you are in the beginning phases of creating content, that could be a good place to start. You are being visible in more places.
But when you have been consistent for several months and ready to up your game, there is a better way.
When you are truly repurposing, you are taking a piece of content and working it to be platform appropriate. That could be breaking up your Facebook Live into smaller videos to share in other places. It could be creating an infographic from a blog post.
To qualify as repurposing, the medium and/or the message has to change.
It’s not: Resharing an old piece of content
It’s always good to find those old blogs, videos, or social media posts that do well and share them again. Especially if you got a good response from it the first time around. That is a good strategy to have. But it’s not repurposing.
We have a client that has a blog post about ceiling fans. We update the post and reshare it a few times a year during her slower months. It ALWAYS gets more traffic to her site. It’s kinda crazy. But before we share it, we freshen it up. We add new statistics, new links to ceiling fans on Amazon, etc.
If we were to just re-share the link to the post, that is is just re-sharing the link. To repurpose, it needs to have some editing and changing.
It’s not: Using duplicate copy
There are many other blogging platforms: Medium, LinkedIn Articles, Tumblr, WT Social, Facebook Notes, WordPress, Blogger. I could go on and on. But sharing the same piece of content on all those channels isn’t repurposing. It’s technically just duplicate content.
Same with video. There is YouTube, Facebook Live, Instagram Live, LinkedIn Live, Stories, IGTV, etc. If you are putting the same video up on all the platforms without any editing, you are sharing duplicate content.
And you actually could get in trouble for it. Most of those platforms aren’t fans of duplicate content.
So pick one platform to be the main host of your blogs or videos, then create original pieces for the other sites. Can you use the same topic? Absolutely! Can you use the same bullet points and change the text? Probably. But copying too much isn’t creating new or repurposing. Can you use do a recap of a longer video to share on another platform? Great idea!
Another way to edit your blogs or video is by directing it to a different audience. Back to my ceiling fan client, we have also edited that blog to be written to different audiences such as home owners vs. home builders. So same content, but written to different people. Because they need to independently know different things about ceiling fans.
It’s not: Avoiding the metrics
Paying attention to the metrics and analyzing what they are showing is a crucial part of repurposing. So if you aren’t doing this step, then you are missing out on a BIG advantage of the process.
Does your audience respond better to video? Do they only read your blog post for a few seconds then switch to a new page? Do they take the time to comment and engage on your post – or do they just scroll through?
You have to know the answers to those questions so as you are repurposing, you know the next best step and direction to take with your content.
Schedule time in your calendar right now to review your metrics every month. Go on. I’ll wait.
So the thing you need to remember is that to qualify as content repurposing – it needs to change and be edited in some way.
If you posting to social media just a few times a week, not creating original content, or struggling to be consistent, you are not at a point to repurpose. And that’s okay! Your first goal should be to work on getting consistent. After you have done that for a few months, then you can start implementing repurposing.
To recap:
- Content repurposing isn’t posting the same thing on every channel.
- Content repurposing isn’t resharing an old blog post or video without making any edits.
- Content repurposing isn’t duplicating your content on another platform.
- Content repurposing isn’t avoiding the metrics.
But……
- Content repurposing is making your posts platform-specific before sharing them!
- Content repurposing is updating old blog posts and videos before republishing them!
- Content repurposing is creating original content for different platforms!
- Content repurposing is knowing and understanding your metrics!