If you want to keep your website visitors engaged you need to provide fresh content. But sometimes you might lack inspiration, just don’t have time to write brand new copy or, dare I say it, dislike writing content! That’s OK because you have the solution right in front of you.
Refreshing and repurposing old content and blog posts can be a quick and easy way to keep your content fresh, your audience interested and give visitors a reason to keep coming back to your website.
Why refresh and repurpose content?
Your content, particularly blog posts can become outdated or stale over time. By refreshing your copy, updating information, including a new testimonial, or putting a new spin on the topic, you can bring the content back to life.
Simply have a look at your older content and blogs to find which ones generated high traffic or good engagement and see if you can update the narrative. Ideally, you want to select evergreen content, in other words, content that is always relevant, regardless of the date or time of year. Evergreen topics and content could include “How to install underfloor heating,” or “5 ways to boost your SEO.”
Refreshing will not only revive your content, but it can also give you new content to repurpose as part of your wider content marketing strategy and get your brand in front of a completely new audience.
Repurposing content is simply a case of taking key points or information from one piece of content and using it in another format.
How can you repurpose your old content?
You’ve worked hard to create content so why not get the most out of it. A blog, case study, or news story doesn’t have to be confined to a single page on your website. Once you’ve refreshed your content, think of different ways you can use it and share it with your audience.
Here are just a few examples of how you could repurpose your content:
Videos – How many times have you watched a “How to” video on YouTube or a product video on a company’s website? Your target audience is just the same, they want to learn, solve a problem, pick up a skill or understand something better. You can turn information from a blog post, whitepaper or even a case study into an informative and appealing video.
Podcasts: Podcasts are incredibly popular at the moment and blogs and guides are great topics for a podcast. You can either use your content as it is or expand it by adding additional information, viewpoints or even comments from outside contributors. People can access your podcast wherever and whenever they want; on the train, in the car or at their desk, giving your content a greater reach as your audience is no longer confined to just reading it.
Once you’ve created your podcast, you can distribute it via your website, social media and email campaigns.
Infographics - According to SocialMediaToday, infographics grow 12% more traffic and a staggering 200% more shares than posts without images. Our brains process visual content a lot faster than text so it’s worth turning your research data, statistics, case studies, and even blogs into an infographic. Showing your information or telling a story in a visually concise way gives you a great communication tool to share via your website, on social media, in newsletters and in email campaigns.
Email campaigns - Email marketing is an excellent way to tailor your messages to specific audiences. I’ve already mentioned sharing your podcasts and infographics via email, but your refreshed blogs and case studies are also the ideal material for email marketing. You could create a series of emails from a revived blog theme or use case studies to show a particular sector how your products or services have helped similar companies save money or solve a problem.
Social media - Rather than simply including a link to your content or blog, you can take snippets, a quote or images from the copy and share it on social media or even create a list of key facts or how-tos from a blog post.
The benefits of repurposing your content
Updating and repurposing your relevant content isn’t just about creating different avenues for your content, there are several other benefits too from reviving older content. For example, you can:
Boost your SEO: Your keywords may have changed since you last wrote your content, or you’ve noticed people are searching for alternative phrases. Refreshing and repurposing allow you to update your keywords. And if you use your new content to create additional marketing material such as an infographic or podcast, these will help you to obtain quality backlinks, build your authority and boost your organic traffic.
Target a different audience: Your original content may have been written with a specific target audience in mind. But as times change, so might your audience. You can update content such as a blog or how-to guide with a new customer type in mind and then share the refreshed content with your audience and target customers. By sharing across different platforms you can extend your reach and engage with your potential customers in the right places, and at the right time.
Save time: You’ve already done the hard work so by updating a blog or other content rather than researching and writing it from scratch you’ll be saving yourself valuable time, allowing you to concentrate on other important marketing activities.
Reinforce your message: Repetition helps people to remember something better, so using different platforms such as infographics, videos, email campaigns etc will help to reinforce your message and gain greater brand recognition.
It’s a win, win solution
Of course new content is best, but sometimes time doesn’t allow you to create brand new copy.
Refreshing and repurposing your content can save you time and help you to reach your audience in so many different ways, reinforce your key messages and engage with new customer types. One simple blog post could lead to so many more pieces of valuable content.
So rather than scratching your head trying to think of new content, think about how you can refresh your older content and make it work again, and better.
If you don’t have the time or resources to write new content or repurpose your old copy, get in touch. I can write unique, relevant and engaging copy in different formats that can make your business stand out and reach new customers.
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