So you’ve sweated away and now you have a great piece of storytelling. Maybe it’s a beautiful coffee table book, a blogging series or a killer viral video. You invested a lot of time and resources to develop your piece, and it’s a big hit. Everyone loves it. Don’t just store it somewhere on your website. Reusing content is a common practice in the publishing industry as a way to leverage the maximum impact of your work and research. With a little savvy, you can get your storytelling to perform again and again.
Create Once, Publish Many Times
Content was made to appear on many platforms. Your research and story development that brought about publication can be reused. It’s not necessary to spin out a new piece of content every time you have an opportunity.
- create a bunch of branded social media graphics using quotes from your blog post for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest
- lift the opening chapter of your company history book for a mini-magazine updating stakeholders
- repurpose your CEO’s talk into short YouTube videos and a Slideshare
- add a touch of bonus material and turn your blog series into an ebook
- turn old photos into eye-catching displays, social media posts and short videos commemorating long-term employees
- old speeches and annual reports can be packaged with new content to demonstrate company values and fuel internal storytelling
Reusing content is often just a matter of considering how the same story can be told somewhere else in a way that is suitable to that platform.
Be Pragmatic
Remember, bring the same quality control to your new efforts as you did to the initial incarnation. Remember that copyright permissions may need to be re-negotiated for text or images. If you are looking to develop a strong visual identity for your brand, work carefully within the guidelines set up by prior publications. Consider what new aspects you may need – have you edited the text for SEO? What about the headline?
Remember that this is also an opportunity to amend content or update it for a new audience. At Echo, we’ve successfully repurposed work from older publications to new books. Reusing content doesn’t just mean yesterday’s blog post. Remember to consider all your options.
Oh, and remember to proofread!
Recognize Quality
Treat high-quality content with the respect it deserves. Remember, your content should be generated with a goal. Consider how content can be used (and reused) all through your marketing funnel. Use premium content judiciously. It can be used as effective mid-funnel content. You can also consider repurposing part of the content to serve as a teaser or early-funnel content.
Don’t abandon your content. Reusing content can be an effective way to make the most of your hard work. Be creative, be consistent and remember to stick to your goals. It’s the road to content success.
