How many times have you looked at your content calendar with dread? You wonder how you will be able to meet all your deadlines, maintain consistent brand messaging, monitor key KPIs, and deliver new content that is relevant to your audience.
How can you always be on the lookout for excellent material when you have a team to manage, deadline to meet, and A/B testing to run?
You’re not alone. Many marketing and communication managers struggle with maintaining a stable supply of content that can be used across social media platforms and channels. Happily, the solution is likely more straightforward than you think.
Ever heard of evergreen content?
Take a look at these examples of evergreen — or always relevant — content:
- Content that helps users become familiar with a product or service (ex: an FAQ response or product guide)
- Statistics or evidence-backed information (ex: infographics and long-form case studies)
- Content that discusses a recurring or hard-to-solve industry issue (ex: a podcast or video interview)
- A checklist or spreadsheet tool specific to your industry
- Regularly updated lists of external resources or tools that customers can reference long-term.
Evergreen content is powerful because it deals with topics that are always relevant to your readers.
Recycling the (Ever)Greens
These examples are the types of material you want to recycle or repurpose to use again. And best of all, evergreen content can be used throughout the year to fill in the gaps that inevitably arise in your annual content plans.
Now read on for six ways to save time and simplify your content creation process by utilizing evergreen and relevant old content.
1. Release Evergreen Content During a Relevant Industry News Happening
Has a new report or product been released that has everyone in your industry talking? Is there an upcoming conference or significant event that many in your sector attend? Take a look back through your evergreen content —which you should be keeping track of using a content calendar or other content management tool—and find material that can be relevant to these events. See how you can connect this content with a topic that is currently grabbing the attention of peers and customers in your industry. You never know when an issue addressed by past content will arise again to give you an opportunity to engage your base.
2. Expand Upon a Blog Post or Article with a Video Message
Including a video on a landing page can increase conversions rates by 80 percent. So there is definitely some incentive to include video in your content marketing strategy. But creating new video content can be daunting. You can save some time on creating an entirely concept and scripts for a marketing video by repurposing a previously published blog post as the basis for your video. You already have the topic, layout, and ideation through the blog. You can use a video to expand on the concepts presented by the blog post, or even show quick examples that can accompany the original material.
3. Archive Webinars and any Live Video to Easily Share This Information
Unfortunately, everyone cannot attend your webinar or live video streams. The good news is that this content can be archived and repurposed as high-value gated content, then shared as an incentive for an email list sign-up. Gated content is a powerful way to build your customer base, so make sure you’ve got tools in place to capture their inquiry, and track the various content you send them. Or share this engaging material on your YouTube channel or other social media. You could also break the webinar into shorter clips that could be shared over a set period of time to engage your base further.
4. Turn a Webinar into an eBook
Webinars are excellent ways to teach your customer base something new or orient them to a new product or service. However, everyone is not a visual learner. Some prefer the book to the movie.
You can accomplish two tasks at once by transforming webinars into written form for constituents who better grasp information in this medium. By repurposing previously researched material for which you’ve created visuals and copy, you can create a new form of content. Again, you already have the concept, layout, and ideas in a form that is easily transferable to a book. Much like a webinar, an eBook is an excellent form of content to use to incentivize individuals to sign up for your email list or accomplish another type of lead generation activity on a landing page.
5. Transform A Blog Post Or Video Into An Infographic
Infographics are all the rage and for a good reason. Savvy marketing managers know that infographics package information in a way that is visually appealing and easy to understand. However, instead of having to find new data or build one from scratch, take a look at your most recent blog posts, video messaging, or case studies.
Did you conduct a poll a year ago that is still relevant today? Can you compare the results of a survey you conducted this year to another that happened five years ago? Are there marketing trends you covered earlier this year that can be repurposed?
These are all great starting points for developing infographics that get seen and shared.
6. Organize Content into a Knowledgebase Library
Many technology and marketing-based organizations have recognized the importance of establishing a space on their websites where customers can go to learn more about their products beyond standard marketing content. A knowledge base or online resource library is an excellent way to enhance the customer experience, provide ready-made resources, and develop online real estate where helpful and relevant content can reside.
This tactic is one of the best ways to repurpose old and evergreen material, especially if it directly relates to topics such as how to use a product or how your product/service can help them accomplish their own goals.
Final Thoughts
Content management and can be tedious and overwhelming. As a manager, it is essential for you to find easier ways to curate and create content. If your content strategy has been in existence for over a year, it is more than likely that you have some evergreen content that is usable in a variety of ways. Not only does it make it quicker for you to create solid material, but evergreen content enables you to extend the useful life of past content and provide even more value to your customer base. Just because something may be a year old doesn’t necessarily mean it’s any less relevant than something that was released last week.
Always make a point to build out your evergreen content repository so you can reuse content when appropriate. It pays off to work smarter not harder, and evergreen content is one of the many ways marketing managers can make content strategy and execution easier.