Maximize Your Content (and Time) by Repurposing, Reusing & Recycling

Don't reinvent the wheel every time you create digital content

Content creation can feel like a never-ending hamster wheel. No matter if it’s for social media, your blog, newsletter, videos, or anywhere else you’re marketing yourself online.

But! There’s a way to get more mileage out of the content you’ve already created. It’s all about repurposing, reusing, and recycling.

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The Value of Repurposing

Repurposing content isn’t just a time-saver—it’s a powerful strategy for maximizing your content’s reach and impact. 

When you repurpose content, you’re taking something you’ve already created and giving it new life. This isn’t juuust about efficiency. It’s about reinforcing your brand’s message and reaching new audiences.

Extend Your Reach

When you repurpose content across different platforms, you’ll reach new audiences who may have missed your original content. Different platforms attract different audiences, so by repurposing your content, you’re ensuring that your message reaches as many people as possible.

Here are two examples (more to come) as to how this would work.

1. Use a popular Facebook post for Instagram content: Take a Facebook post that has a lot of engagement and comments and create a Reel based on the topic and/or discussion. 

2. Transform a written blog post into a visual graphic: Take the information from a popular blog post or news article from your website and create a graphic. This can be an infographic for Facebook or Pinterest, a graphic that spans multiple images in an Instagram carousel, or even a visually interesting YouTube Short. 

Pro tip: If you’re a small business working on a very limited budget with limited time, don’t feel like you have to post everything everywhere. Do what works for you and your audience, then expand when you can. 

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Get alllll the mileage out of your content. | Photo by Aleks Marinkovic on Unsplash

Increase Your Content’s Longevity

Repurposing helps you get more mileage out of your content. It extends its lifespan and ensures that it continues to deliver value long after it was first created.

Think of it as giving your content a second (or third or fourth) life. (And giving you more time to work on other things in your small business.) 

Pro tip: Even if you have some seasonal content, think about ways to reuse it at the same time next year or ways to spin it to make it more evergreen. The content you’ve already created probably has more gems to mine than you assume!

Steps to Repurpose Like a Pro

1. Start with Evergreen Content

Evergreen content is content that remains valuable over time, so it’s a great starting point for repurposing.

Identify blog posts, videos, or social media posts that have performed well and are still relevant to your audience. 

Pro Tip: Create an on-going content library where you can easily access your evergreen content. This makes it simpler to identify pieces that are ripe for repurposing.

I wish my content library could actually like this. | Photo by Arif Riyanto on Unsplash

2. Transform It

Take your original content and reshape it into different formats. Turn a blog post into a podcast episode, a series of social media graphics, or a video. Or, combine several related blog posts into an in-depth guide or eBook to use on a funnel landing page. 

By transforming your content, you’re making the information more accessible and appealing to different audiences.

3. Recycle Across Platforms

Share your repurposed content on platforms you haven’t tapped into yet. Did a blog post do well on your website? Turn it into a LinkedIn article or a Twitter/X thread. Take that successful Instagram post and create a more in-depth blog post or a short YouTube video. The possibilities are endless.

Photo by Adam Bignell on Unsplash

4. Consider Micro-Content

Break down your larger content into bite-sized pieces. Micro-content is perfect for platforms like Instagram, Twitter/X (if you’re still using it), Meta’s Threads, and LinkedIn.

For example, if you have a long-form blog post, pull out key points and share them as individual social media posts. Or, take quotes from a podcast episode and turn them into shareable graphics. 

5. Revisit Old Content

Don’t just focus on your latest content—revisit older pieces that are still relevant. Updating and republishing old blog posts or resharing old videos can breathe new life into them. 

This is especially effective if your original content performed well and you have new followers who may have missed it.

Example Strategy

Let’s say there’s a marketing agency called The Bird’s Nest. They have a blog post titled “10 Ways to Improve Your SEO.” It’s gotten a lot of traffic in the past year, so they’re thinking about ways to maximize the content’s value.

Here’s what they strategized.

1. First, because the content is a year old, they will edit the post to ensure it’s up to date. The world of SEO can change with updates to Google and other search engines, along with how and where people are searching for info. 

   1. Once the edits are made, they’ll republish the article with a note that says something like “Last updated August 2024. Originally published in June 2023.” 

   2. Pro Tip: Don’t just repurpose—refresh! When you revisit old content, update it with new information, examples, or visuals. This keeps your content relevant and ensures that it continues to resonate with your audience.

2. They post key points as a Twitter/X thread (or Threads thread), taking advantage of the platform’s fast-paced nature. They also ensure that the posts are engaging enough to start conversations.

3. They create a short video summary for Instagram Reels and push it to their Facebook page. They also post this to YouTube Shorts. 

   1. Pro tip: Try to produce a video of you talking to the camera and add captions from within the app. The algorithm and Instagram users tend to prefer people over stock B-roll and text-only posts. 

4. They turn the key points into an infographic for Pinterest, where visuals are key. 

   1. And I know the last pro tip said not to overuse text on Instagram, but if you create an interesting infographic, post it there and see how it does. When used sparingly–and with info people are wanting–they can perform well. 

5. They record a podcast episode that dives deeper into each SEO tip, offering more value to their audience.

Note: In this imaginary strategy, the agency is already using all of the noted platforms. They wouldn’t want to create one piece of media to post to a new-to-them platform without a separate strategy for that platform. 

Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

Ready to Recycle? 

By repurposing, reusing, and recycling, you’ll not only save time but also amplify your content’s impact and reach. It’s a win-win for you and your audience.

Wondering how to effectively do this with your content? Unsure where to start or which platform will get you the best results? Reach out to me! I’d love to discuss your content and ways to elevate and repurpose it. 

Take care, birdies! 💙

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PS … I know I started doing podcast eps and then seemed to immediately stop. I’ve had to pause it due to some work and travel, but it’ll be back soon. Pinky promise! In the meantime, if you have suggestions for topics, send me a note!