How To Repurpose Your Content and Use It ‘Til It Tatters
I’m not a once-and-done outfit girl. When I buy a new piece of clothing, I.wear.it.out. I’m picky about what I buy because I know it’ll be in the rotation until it tatters. I get multiple wears out “that same white button-down” (yep, it’s the one in the picture. I bought it in ’07) by varying how and where I wear it. If you’re a would-be fashionista with limited time and money like me, you probably know this drill well.
As small business owners, we’ve got some time and money barriers to posting brand new content all.the.time. Right? You need to be able to repurpose your content as well as you repurposed last season’s off-the-shoulder, hot-pink shift dress.
Content doesn’t have to be new to be noticed. Here are a few tips for wearing it out, while you keep it fresh!
Don’t cross post, but do post on multiple platforms.
It’s really tempting to cross post across social media platforms because it saves time and keeps your accounts active, but it’s not the best way to get mileage out of your content. You’re going to have some audience crossover, platforms are noticing and taking action to limit it, and your content may not render the same across platforms. However, a few tweaks to your core message, and you can post multiple places. Change the image and edit your caption to fit each platform. Below is an example of how you could announce you’re running a special across platforms:
- Instagram: Twirl into 2020 with your content calendar D.O.N.E. Q4 is the perfect time to plan your content for next year, and I’m going to make it easier (read: cheaper) for you to start today! Head to the blog for savings on multiple content strategy packages!
- Facebook: Savings alert! Watch the video to learn how you can save 25 percent on content planning for 2020.
- LinkedIn: Working on a tight budget and tight deadline in Q4? I can help you wrap up your 2020 content planning on time and on budget! Visit the blog for big savings on content strategy services.
- Twitter: Content planning doesn’t have to be hard or expensive! Head to the blog for big savings on Q4 content strategy services.
Comment in a video.
Videos are an awesome way to connect with your audience and create content quickly. And all you need is your phone and something to say. Choose a topic you’ve already covered, and pick a section to discuss in the video. Add some commentary to your point, and you have new content to share! The best performing videos are 30 – 90 seconds, so you don’t need much new content, maybe a sentence or two. If you cover five concepts in one blog post, that’s five videos from your one post.
Repackage and reuse.
This post is about repurposing content, and I’ve compared it to re-wearing clothes (because relatable, right?). I could take the same information in this blog post and reframe it. For example, a new intro could be:
My first job in marketing was for a small tech company with a marketing budget of less than $250k a year. We were competing against multi-million dollar companies with huge budgets and content teams. As a team of one, I couldn’t possibly compete with their content output. By pure necessity, I learned how to Gumby-style stretch one piece of content. I also learned a very important truth: Repurposed content gains just as much traction as new content. With little creativity, you can use one piece of content all year long…
Switch out the title and images, reword your sub-headers, and you’ve got a new blog post from the same information. Put some space in between it and your original, at least 90 days.
Get a second opinion.
Ask a colleague or a customer their opinion on a subject you’ve already covered. Post their response on your social media platforms (remember to tailor it to each platform), link it back to the same post. Social content done! You can also do this in email sequences and newsletters.
Make it personal.
For email or DM content, ask your recipient if they’ve read your previously promoted content, and then pick out a section that is relevant to them. Make it personal, such as, “I thought of you as I was writing this” or “You do this so well. I would love to get your thoughts.” You can group your customers and create multiple messages to really customize it. Nothing new to share, just a new way to share it.
Creating quality content is not easy or fast, but restyle it wisely, and you can use it until it tatters. Go look in your files. I bet you’ll have some so-last-season content that you can reuse today!
Pen & Purpose

