You already know that creating regular, relevant content attracts new audiences and keep customers engaged. But how can you make each piece of content work hard to maximise return?
Repurposing content creates added value from existing work, and helps you to reinforce messages. Here’s how to do it…
Getting started
A good place to start is to write a long-form blog about a particular subject within your business. Try not to be too broad or sales-focussed. Use what you know about your customers to find a relevant topic and go in-depth – answering questions throughout.
For example, if you run a car showroom, it’s unlikely an audience will engage with a generic ‘why we’re better than other car showrooms’ blog. If you focus on a particular car or car part, service that you offer, or the art of selling or buying a car – that’s far more likely to pique the interest of your target audience.
Remember the 80/20 rule – 80% of your content should be educational or fun. It doesn’t need to directly relate to the product or service you’re selling. Its job is to showcase your brand’s personality and draw in your audience. Only 20% of your content marketing strategy is for product promotion.
Making your content work harder
The whole is not always greater than the sum of its parts
Once you’ve found the topic, researched and written your long-form blog, it’s time to get creative with formats and promotion to maximise your reach and engage your audience.
Blog formats – by cutting down your long blog into several shorter formats, you’ve instantly created four or five bits of content from one blog post. You might go from 1000 words to 500, to 300 to 50 and these different formats can be shared across media and blogging channels.
Budget tip – if you’re not a confident writer, People Per Hour or Fiver provides access to creative talent at reasonable rates.
Video – create a two-minute or 50-minute video – whatever suits your audience and brings them value. Publish it on your website or embed it within the blog post itself.
Budget tip – mobile phone videos
Graphics – using pulled quotes, facts and stats to create eye-catching graphics that signpost viewers to your blog.
Budget tip – Online tools such as Canva and PicMonkey to create your own graphics
Social Media – promote your blog across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest or wherever your audience is. Test what works as loyal customers may respond to a graphic that signposts them to your blog, whereas new audiences may respond to a short video summary.
Podcast – record your blog and upload it to podcast platforms.
Reaping the rewards
So the art of content creation is turning one long blog on an interesting topic into 10 sub-pieces of content, and then another 50 sub-sub pieces of content, and so on. Your long blog post breaks down into a whole range of formats across multiple channels that can be constantly tested and optimised.
And as Google monitors how relevant your content is, your search results organically improve and new audiences become aware of and warm to your brand. Thanks to the art of repurposing content, they’ll receive gentle encouragement to move along the lead generation funnel and become your customers of the future.
I’m the CEO & Founder of Stada Media, experts in video production, content creation and management, SEO, PPC, social media, web design and PR. Find out more here.