Your content can work harder for you. I’m going to share how.
I believe we are creating too much new content, which is time consuming and can be overwhelming. Instead, if we strategically create with intention, and then reuse and repurpose content we already have, we will not only feel better about our content creation, but it will connect and convert more effectively.
Small business owners and entrepreneurs usually see content as a consumable. You create once, you post it, you share it, then you leave it.
Repeat.
The better way to create content is to look at every piece like a content asset and that asset has more than a one-time-value (usually). Like investing in stocks, the intention of the asset is growth over the long term.
Creating content for the long-term that saves time
This means you can create the content that serves in the moment but also put it to work in the future by reusing it, resharing it, speaking about it differently, and repurposing it to save you time.
To do this effectively, before you worry about creating social media content, start with your anchor content. Anchor content is the content that clearly shares your message, your position, and gives insight into the work you do. It’s your core messaging, your cornerstone frameworks and your ongoing position or point-of-view.
Anchor content to me is usually longer-form. It’s the YouTube video, the podcast, the blog post. This content can all be turned into multiple pieces of content and reused in some way.
Reusing and repurposing content saves your time and if your content is all interconnected, with the right messaging as it should be, then you don’t have to start from zero over and over again.
There are a variety of ways to reuse and repurpose content.
How do you decide what content to reuse for your business?
Seasonal content can often be reused and updated year over year. Search in your newsletters, blogs and your Canva files for previous holiday and seasonal content. Update the text and imagery as needed.
Another way to decide what to reuse is by looking at your data and analytics. This will give you a clear story and indication on what content has been connecting with your audience. Based your ‘best of’ content on not only reach but conversion actions like profile visits, comments, replies and clicking of links.
Sometimes, current trends can help you identify what content to reshare. If something is having a moment and you’ve already written about it, have a video about it etc. then it’s time to reexamine and reshare it.
How can content be reused and repurposed effectively?
There are a variety of ways you can reuse and repurpose your content in your business, whether it’s short form or long form.
Here are a few examples:
- Search for topics in your newsletter archive and update previously sent newsletters.
- Look at your Instagram Insights and see the post with the most reach, or the most clicks to your site in the past 3-6 months. Reshare that with an updated video or image as needed.
- Theme together some blog posts that all interconnect and create a new post or a downloadable guide inspired by that series.
- Turn a popular Instagram post or carousel into a blog post or podcast episode. Expand on the topic further.
- Use a blog post or podcast episode as the basis for a pitch (think about collaborations, newsletter guesting, podcast guesting etc).
- Turn your podcast topics into blog posts.
- Take your newsletter highlights and turn it into a carousel post on Instagram.
These are just some ideas, but there are many more ways that continue!
A reminder: Don’t stress about repeating yourself. People need to hear your message over and over again to be reminded of it. Or, perhaps when they first heard it, they weren’t ready to take action.
Have you considered how you want to create, use and reuse your content?
I have a free Content Repurposing and Reusing Checklist and Guide to help you get started.
With this checklist, you will rethink how you are creating each piece of content and how it will be used again in the future. Plus, I offer surprising ways on how you can use anchor content over and over again.
Download your free guide here.
If you want to explore a more intentional and sustainable way to create your content strategy, book a free connection call with me and I can help you untangle your content plan, and decide what you should create next.
For more free content tips, listen to my podcast Plot Your Content
