Many content teams today are responsible for developing a wide variety of assets for their organizations. Content comes in many forms and, depending on your industry and business KPIs, you may find that certain types of assets tend to deliver different levels of value for your organization.
For example, regular blog content is arguably the best for improving search engine rankings and organic traffic. Social is great for day-to-day engagement with your audience. But when your organization is specifically needing your team to create new content to help support a sales operation (WE NEED LEADS!), it’s hard to deny the value of demand generation. Creating a beefy, gated ebook or developing a webinar series that requires prospects to provide some contact info is simply gold for feeding the top of your sales team’s prospecting funnel.
But here’s the rub. Creating that beefy asset is a big commitment. You know that a well-produced, thoughtful ebook can help your target customers solve some of their most nagging challenges (if only they’d download it). So is there a way to create new content assets like these in an easier fashion?
In a recent Content Marketing Institute article, Patrick Whatman shared some of his secrets about leveraging existing content assets that have performed well, and turning them into a larger, gated asset. The great part about his advice? You don’t have to start from scratch. You can use your existing company resources to create new content that is sure to generate demand for your products and services. Here’s how it’s done.
Repurpose Content With a New Purpose
At DivvyHQ, we’re all about simplifying the content creation process. That includes repurposing your own content, doing a little research on others’ ideas on the same topic, and combining it all into a piece of killer content with your unique take on it all. But, it all starts with ten easy steps.
1. Choose Your Topic
Let’s look at the purpose of content marketing. It’s all about helping people conquer especially vexing challenges. Whether it’s a business challenge or a personal challenge, you position yourself as both someone willing to share valuable advice and as an authority in your field when you do that. When they do need what your company sells, you’ll be the first one they think about. Secondly, make sure that the topic for the new content asset aligns with business KPIs.
2. Find Existing Content That Has Performed Well in the Past
Dive into your data to see which articles, videos, or other content related to your topic has gotten the most download, views, or other interactions. When you link to these articles in your new content, you do two things: give potential customers extra information about the same or related topics – and you help boost both your new content and your existing content’s visibility online. If that previous content is evergreen – content that is as relevant ten years from publication as it was on the day you published it – it can stand as an information-rich source for future content for years to come.
3. Research Related Content Online
Respected industry publications can provide a treasure trove of extra information about your topic. Linking to those sources – again – gives your audience more in-depth information about your topic should they want to learn more. It also positions you as an authority on the subject since you have taken the time and effort to find only the best sources to back up your findings.
4. Add Your Insights About Your Sourced Content
Just like it was when you were in school, simply recycling outside-sourced content doesn’t cut it. You must add your own insights and observations to it to add to the overall body of knowledge on the topic. Think of content production as an ongoing dialogue with your audience, as well as industry leaders. Enriching sourced content with original thought makes your work a valuable contribution to that dialogue.
5. Find the Best Format for Your New Content
Depending on what angle you take on your new content, the form might vary from its sources. For example, if your sources are your original ebook, a couple of blog posts from industry influencers, and a podcast, but your new content is a checklist of what you need to do to prepare for, say, a digital transformation, you might choose an explainer video or a listicle format for your new content.
On the other hand, if you want your new content to take a deeper dive into a topic your ebook only touched on, an in-depth white paper or industry journal article might be a better format. Look at who you want your new content to reach and choose the form that best suits your audience and its needs.
6. Create New Content with Quality and Attention to Detail
We’ve always been big believers in the concept that if you’re going to do something, do it right. Since the whole goal of your new content is to build authority even as you draw attention to previous content, you want to put the kind of effort into your new content that will attract the attention of industry leaders.
Add to the existing information about the topic through research. That in-depth attention to detail will often become the source of your new insights into the topic.
7. Collaborate with Other Teams in Your Company for Expert-Sourced Content
Depending on your new content’s topic, you probably have people within your own company with expertise on the topic. Let’s say your new video is about digital transformation. Who better to add expert insights than your company’s CIO or head developer? Content collaboration can help add more authority to your repurposed content.
For instance, if your blog post is about how to write articles that will optimize your visibility in online searches, your senior copywriter and SEO department would be great resources to glean insights from, while your head mechanical engineer would be a rich source of information if you’re doing a how-to for your new widget that’s just coming onto the market.
8. Spread the Word
If you use paid social media posts, YouTube ads, or Google Ads to promote your content, use data analysis and audience segmentation to make sure that your new content reaches the audience to whom the content will be most useful. Similarly, if you have subscriber email lists, send the content to those subscribers who will likely put your content to good use.
If you’ve cited industry leaders in your content, consider sending them a copy as well. If the content would help their own blog readers, there’s always a chance that they might post your content on their own website in a curated form. If they really like your work, they might even ask you to write a guest post – giving your content yet another opportunity to appear in repurposed form.
9. Share Your Content with Other Departments – and Encourage Them to Share, Too
When you share your latest content with other departments in your company, you’re providing them with important information that they can use. For example, your legal team can use your article about your company’s commitment to data security and privacy to make their case to the C-suite, while the sales team could use your blog post about how to use your latest widget to demonstrate to their potential customers how much time and money the tool could save them.
You get the picture. But, that’s only part of the added reach your content can have when you leverage the power of your teams. After all, statistics show that your content has a 561% greater reach when employees share it – as opposed to your company’s social channels. And, when they share your content, those with whom they share it are 24 times as likely to share it than if you share it on your official channel.
When you make company-wide sharing a major component of your content strategy, it can become the most powerful tool in your marketing arsenal.
10. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
After you’ve repurposed a piece of content, make a note in your content calendar to use it again in a future piece of content – whether as the main thrust of the content or as a reference. Keep track of how your repurposed content performs so that you can tweak it to perform even better the next time you use it.
Finally, Make Repurposed Content Your Go-To When the Creative Well Runs Dry
During the content planning process, there comes a time when even the most experienced content creators come up with a blank. There is a solution – your past content.
In addition to being a treasure trove of digital assets that can help you promote your long-form content and drive a key point home, your old content can serve as a springboard for thought, allowing you to chisel out new angles for old topics that will help your audience see your point in a whole new light.
For more advice about how to get the maximum return on your content marketing investment, subscribe to the DivvyHQ blog today. Whether it’s repurposing existing content resources or developing a streamlined process to help your team create new content faster, our team can help you simplify and grow your business!