A Content Repurposing Workflow To Get the Maximum Mileage From Your Content

The Harry Potter franchise is a good illustration of repurposing content to get maximum mileage.

J.K. Rowling published her first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, in 1997. Quickly gaining popularity and success, Rowling released seven more titles in the series.

The novel was adapted into a movie in 2001, grossing over $974 million at the box office worldwide and over $1 billion in re-releases.

Inspired by the success, Warner Bros turned the remaining Harry Potter books into a two-part play and an eight-film franchise.

Besides the films and plays, numerous video games, action figures, amusement parks, and other merchandise were produced. The franchise generated billions of dollars in revenue, making Rowling one of the wealthiest women in the world.

What’s the takeaway here?

You adapt your best content into multiple formats to get the maximum mileage. By repurposing content like this, you reach a wider audience and generate more leads and sales.

In the wise words of content marketing genius Ross Simmonds:

“Don’t let your greatest hits collect dust.”

In this blog post, we’ll break down a real-world content repurposing workflow and discuss the best formats and media to make the most out of everything you create.

A real-world content repurposing workflow breakdown – SparkToro’s zero-click content marketing campaign

To see repurposing in action, let’s follow the work of Amanda Natividad and Rand Fishkin over at SparkToro.

Amanda recently published an excellent thought leadership piece urging marketers to adopt a new approach in a world where social media companies are rewarding native content and media to keep users on their platforms. The way Amanda repurposed and promoted this piece is a master class in content marketing.

Step 1: To start with, Amanda branded the idea itself by coining the term “Zero-click content” to convey the idea that search engines and social media platforms reward native content. Almost every piece of content promoting this idea had the “Zero-click” label, so people could easily recall it.

Step 2: The article had branded graphics, which summarized all the critical insights. These graphics were shared as social media posts on LinkedIn and Facebook. Both Rand Fishkin and Amanda shared it on their LinkedIn profiles.

It was shared with links…

…and without links.

Step 3: Turned the article’s key points into a Twitter thread.

Oh yeah, and some good old-fashioned cross-platform promotion. The Twitter thread screenshot was shared on LinkedIn.

Step 4: Converted the article into PDF format and uploaded it to LinkedIn as a carousel post.

Step 5: Recorded a webinar on the topic.

Step 6: Featured the content in Sparktoro’s newsletter.

Step 7: To amplify the reach, Amanda and Rand appeared as a guest on Youtube channels SparkToro’s target audience watches.

Step 8: Channels on which Amanda appeared repurposed the content in different formats, such as Youtube Shorts.

Step 9: Both Rand and Amanda appeared on various podcasts.

I’m sure I missed some pieces, but hopefully, that gives you enough to spark some ideas.

How to create your own repurposing workflow?

Figuring out your content repurposing flow is a lot like finding the right pair of jeans. You might have to try on a few different styles before you find the one that fits just right.

In most cases, it starts with a long-form piece of content, such as an article, podcast, or video. The original content is then repurposed into new formats, such as social media posts or email newsletters.

So, where do you start?

The truth is, it doesn’t matter where you start. Pick the medium you’re most comfortable with, then branch out from there.

Here’s an example workflow for inspiration if your content marketing strategy involves blogging:

Here’s another content repurposing workflow if your content creation starts with a video format:

Content formats and channels for repurposing

Almost any type of content can be repurposed. The most popular types of content to repurpose are whitepapers, e-books, blog posts, videos, and podcasts because they’re usually packed with a lot of information. However, you can also repurpose smaller pieces, such as social media posts and email newsletters. Let’s look at some unusual channels and formats you can use to repurpose your content.

Email

Email marketing has always been the cat’s meow in driving traffic and engagement as long as you don’t treat your email list like a dumping ground. Treat it as an opportunity to build intimacy and show your brand personality. Share your best content with your email list. You can use it to announce upcoming events, build partnerships, tease snippets of your content, or even send your entire content to your subscribers. Email series, newsletters, and outbound cold emails are some of my favorite ways to recycle content using email.

The idea of the email series is to break your content down into a series of emails sent one by one over time. You can use marketing automation to automate the entire process. Drip-feeding an email sequence is a great way to keep your audience engaged and stay top of mind. It also serves as a lead magnet to grow your list.

Story-based email newsletters are a creative way to recycle content without being overly promotional. The idea is to use stories from your everyday life to segue into the content you’re promoting. Stories add a personal touch and help you build rapport with your audience.

As for outbound emails, let people know if you’ve mentioned them in your blog content. This is a great way to get more eyeballs on your content.

Social media

There are many social media platforms you can use to repurpose your content. Some of the most popular ones are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and TikTok.

For Facebook, you can post a summary of your content and include a link to the full article. Most social platforms try to keep people on their site as much as possible, so split test sharing links vs. uploading native content to see which performs better.

Twitter is great for posting short snippets of your content along with a link to the full article. You can also use Twitter’s poll feature to ask followers what they think about your content. Twitter threads are also a great way to repurpose long-form content into bite-sized pieces.

LinkedIn is perfect for sharing interesting findings from your research or data from your case studies. Start conversations with your connections about the topics you’re sharing to get more engagement.

Instagram and Pinterest are great for sharing visual content. You can also use Instagram’s Stories feature to create short videos about your content. Use Pinterest’s Board feature to create boards around the topics you’re sharing.

TikTok is great, especially if you’re targeting younger audiences. The organic reach on TikTok is huge, so it’s a great way to get your content in front of new people.

Your social media post doesn’t have to be a direct promotion of your content. You can also post interesting behind-the-scenes photos or blooper videos to give your followers a peek at your content creation process.

Influencer marketing

You can reach a wider audience by partnering with influencers who will share your content with their followers. Interviewing or co-creating content are two approaches to getting experts involved.

Podcast (audio content)

Podcasts are versatile. You can host your podcast, be a guest on someone else’s podcast, or create a podcast mini-series. If you’re a guest on someone else’s podcast, you can talk about your latest blog post or link to it from the show notes.

Video

Video is an extremely powerful medium for repurposing content because it can take many forms. For example, you can create a video series, mini-courses, or webinars to generate more leads. Shorter video content — like reels, YouTube video shorts, or stories — is perfect for sharing key insights and invoking curiosity to drive people to your main content. Long-form videos like Vlogs or interviews are great for YouTube.

Slide deck

Use presentations to share content with a larger audience, such as at a conference or event. Put together key insights from your main pieces of content like a report or an e-book, add some visuals, and voila! You have a slide deck that you can use to deliver your content. Decks can be easily amplified by using them as a foundation to create other formats. For example, you can use decks to create storyboards for videos. You can also upload these decks to slide-sharing platforms like Slideshare to get maximum mileage.

E-books

E-books can be used as a format to repurpose content in a number of ways. For example, you could take an existing blog post and turn it into an e-book. This would involve adding additional content and restructuring the original content into chapters or sections. Alternatively, you could take a series of blog posts and turn them into an e-book. This would involve creating a table of contents and linking the individual blog posts together. Additionally, you could take an existing eBook and turn it into a series of blog posts. This would involve breaking the eBook into smaller chunks and publishing each as a separate blog post.

Memes

Memes are like the inside jokes between you and your audience. What started as a joke on the internet has become a powerful content marketing tool, with millions of people sharing and creating memes daily. For example, if you have an article about a serious topic, you can create memes that lighten the mood and makes your audience laugh. But be careful not to overdo it, as this could come across as try-hard or inauthentic. The goal of creating memes is to entertain your audience and create some engagement around your content. Memes might seem easy on the surface, but you need in-depth knowledge of your industry and a bit of creativity to come up with something that resonates with your audience.

Tips for getting the most out of your content repurposing

Start with your content repurposing strategy in mind – channels and formats

When it comes to repurposing content, it’s important to start with your strategy in mind. What social channels do you want to share your repurposed content on, and what formats will work best for your target audience? For example, if you’re looking to repurpose blog posts on social media, you might want to consider creating branded graphics or short videos as part of your content creation workflow.

Pick evergreen topics

One of the best ways to get the most out of your content is to create evergreen content. Evergreen topics are those that will remain relevant and useful for months or even years after they’re first published. By contrast, seasonal topics only have a limited shelf-life and quickly become dated. When you’re looking for new content ideas, try to think about topics that will be just as relevant in six months as they are today. That way, you can repurpose your content down the line and ensure that it continues to drive traffic and engage readers.

Leverage tools to automate and streamline your process

Automation is a great way to repurpose content. By using tools to automate the process, you can save time and energy and still get the results you want. AI copywriting tools are a God-sent when it comes to content repurposing. You can create a month’s worth of content in a few hours with the help of these tools.

Batch your content production

Batching means grouping similar tasks together and completing them in one go. For example, if you’re creating social media posts, you could batch the task of writing all the copy for a month’s worth of posts in one sitting. Or, if you’re working on blog posts, you could batch the task of conducting research for several articles at once. By batching your content production, you can save yourself time and effort in the long run. Plus, you’ll always have fresh content on hand when you need it. So next time you sit down to write, try batching your work and see how much more efficient you can be.

Create a repurposing workflow

Creating your own workflow to repurpose content will help you to save time and be more consistent with your output. It’ll also make it easier to outsource tasks to others, should you need to. To get started, sit down and map out the steps involved in repurposing your content. Then, create templates for each step in the process. For example, you might create a template for conducting research, another for writing copy, and another for designing graphics. By templating your workflow, you can streamline the content repurposing process and make it more efficient.

Hire help when needed

A perfect segue into our next and final tip… if you find that content repurposing is taking up too much of your time, it might be worth hiring someone to help you with the task. There are plenty of content creation agencies out there that can take care of the entire process for you, from conducting keyword research to writing copy and designing graphics. And if you’re looking to save money, you can always outsource individual tasks to freelancers.

Final thoughts

There you have it — a few strategies to help you get the most out of your content repurposing efforts. By repurposing content, you save time and money while still delivering fresh, relevant content to your audience. So if you haven’t already, be sure to give it a try.

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