Social media visuals boost your engagement and increase the impact of your content. Plus, they’re highly shareable.
But how can you repurpose your content into social media images that are in line with your brand values and the personality of your business?
Here, I share how to repurpose your content into social media images that communicate your messages in a way that’s compelling and on-brand.
Plus, I explore seven examples of the kinds of visuals you can repurpose your content into and the free tools you can use to do it!
Why repurpose your content into social media images
If you’re thinking about incorporating more visual content into your content strategy… great choice!
There is a lot of data out there that supports using images to build your brand, add power to your messages and communicate ideas and concepts more effectively. For example:
- Social media posts with images are more engaging (statistically) — According to BuzzSumo, Twitter posts with embedded images drive a whopping 150% more engagement.
- Images help you stay front of mind — Plus, Brain Rules tells us that audiences retain 55% more information when written content is paired with images — so it really benefits the audience!
- Visuals are extremely popular with digital marketers — An infographic is 30 times more likely to be read than an article featuring the same information, according to Demand Sage.
If you want to utilize the power of images on your organization’s social media channels, but are hesitant about what to create and how to develop a plan, then repurposing is a great way to get started.
Not only will it be a much faster process than conceiving social media image ideas from scratch, it will also give you plenty of visual content to share and promote core pillar content.
How to repurpose your content into social media images
I know it’s unlikely that you’ll be repurposing content yourself, but it’s good to know what’s involved so you can appropriately brief your in-house/freelance design team.
To repurpose your content into social media images, you will need:
- Graphic design software — Adobe tools like InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop, will tackle all the image needs you’ll ever have, but they’re more for advanced users. Otherwise, Canva is a great catchall tool for beginners. Keep reading for image-specific tools.
- Knowledge of optimum image sizes on each platform — depending on what platform (and feature within it) you’re creating an image for, you’ll need to bear in mind certain specifications (for example, Instagram story dimensions are VERY different to Twitter image dimensions).
- A creative mindset — don’t worry about repurposing your entire piece of content or every point into an image, be open-minded about what will work, what won’t, and always allow for a certain amount of flex in your repurposing process.
Oh, and one last thing before I dive into the types of images you could repurpose your content into…they don’t just have to be for social media. You could share them in your blog posts, marketing documents, Slack channels, and more!
7 creative ways to repurpose your content into social media images
1. Infographics
Arguably the most comprehensive graphic you could create, this value-packed visual content is a big hit on platforms like LinkedIn and Pinterest, and are also great for including in blog posts/on webpages.
Infographics communicate lots of information in a creative visual way. They’re a great accompaniment to blog posts, videos or podcast episodes, and are a bit like visual long-form content.
But having said that, there’s a lot of flexibility within what an infographic is. It’s simply info…in a graphic. So, you could create a long vertical image with icons and text for sharing on LinkedIn/Pinterest/your blog post, or a short square image suitable for Instagram, or even break it up into a series of images and create an Instagram/ LinkedIn carousel.
Note: this is definitely one for the graphic designers!
To repurpose your content into an infographic, pick out the key points, storyboard them, and keep it simple. Statistics, numbers, and short statements work best.
Consider how the information flows together… Could an outsider understand the key points without extra context? Think about adding graphic elements such as arrows and icons to aid understanding, rather than introducing extra text.
If you’re repurposing a blog post into an infographic, check out our full guide in this post, How To Repurpose Your Blog Post Into An Infographic.
2. Graphs, charts, and diagrams
Similar to an infographic, consider taking just one piece of data and making it a standalone graphic.
Displaying data visually can dramatically change the impact it makes. Seeing 90% written down is one thing, but seeing it in a pie chart hits home a lot more (like the image above).
Venn diagrams, pie/bar charts, and graphs are all ways you can display data and statistics. You might already be doing this in other areas of your marketing, such as in your research reports or presentations.
Think about how you can reformat these images for social media. Or, flip it around, and create these images for your research reports, presentations and social media posts!
Displaying data visually doesn’t have to be dull. You can even make it fun! For example, have you ever seen Meat Loaf’s I’d Do Anything For Love, repurposed into a pie chart?
You can definitely be creative with these types of image too.
If you don’t have a designer on hand to help you out with these, Canva has some great templates you can repurpose!
3. Quote images
Social media images display your content in a different way to a text post, for example. But another great thing about them is they take up more real estate on your audience’s feed.
This is just another reason why repurposing text such as quotes into an image can help get your content noticed.
If you work with guest bloggers or invite guests to webinars, podcasts or videos, you can create quote images to put their words into the limelight. It helps build a stronger relationship with the guest, as you’re putting more emphasis on their words, and also creates a shareable graphic.
Whenever you’re repurposing for social media, keep “shareability” in mind. If the quote is too long, doesn’t stand alone, or is unclear, people won’t be responsive.
So keep it short, clear, and impactful by editing it down (it’s okay to paraphrase — if need be, ask the speaker’s permission). And share with your guests too! Ask them to share the images on their social media platforms to help connect their audience with your content.
Canva has some great quote image templates to inspire you.
4. Question images
From a design perspective, quote images and question images are pretty similar. But I’m calling this one out separately because they have a very different function: engagement.
As well as shareability, you’re looking to spark an audience response here. Perhaps you want to start a conversation, get feedback on an idea, or just get the wheels turning on a concept in your upcoming pillar piece of content…
We often put out question images related to our weekly podcast episode before the podcast episode goes live for this exact reason. It gets our audience thinking about that topic and plants a seed…so when the episode is published, they can find out more.
The best question images use closed questions that are short, easy to respond to, and interesting to your audience.
With all these types of image, think of your audience. It goes without saying but keeping your ideal customer front of mind when repurposing will generate more successful content.
Again, I recommend Canva if you or your team want to experiment with this type of image!
5. Memes
Memes aren’t always suitable for every business and brand, but they are highly shareable and one of the best examples of content repurposing I’ve ever seen!
The trick with memes is to tap into a relatable concept. Pull one topic from your content, find a suitable meme image that communicates an idea/opinion/message about that topic (bonus points if it's humorous) and use a meme generator to put it all together.
Our favorite is Imgflip.
We experimented repurposing topics from our weekly content into memes last year. The result? Our audience love them!
Our memes perform really well on our social media channels, so we’ve kept them around. It’s always worth experimenting and monitoring how well new content does so you can tweak or change your process.
If you want to give memes ago, read this post first: How to Create, Share & Repurpose Memes — 8 Dos and Don’ts.
6. GIFs
GIFs aren’t strictly still images, but they’re not quite video either. In terms of how they communicate a message, I’m going to go out on a limb and say they’re more akin to images, so that’s why I’m including them here.
Like with memes, they might not fit your brand’s tone of voice. But if you have a fun, tongue-in-cheek style, then why not create and share GIFs!
If you want to repurpose a video into a GIF, make sure there’s a reason for it. You might need to include captions, so the GIF’s meaning is more obvious or choose a moment that speaks for itself.
I’m really partial to a GIF and always make sure to include them in my blog posts. I feel it just brings them to life in a lighthearted way and can help reinforce certain points.
There are plenty of GIF creators out there, such as this one from Giphy.
Check out our full guide in this post, How To Repurpose Content Using GIFs with Andrew & Pete.
7. Tweet Screenshots
I’m sure you’ve seen this type of image all over social media. Screenshots of tweets have become increasingly popular and are brilliant if you want to showcase your tweets on more platforms.
I was really cynical of them at first. Do people really want to see an image of a tweet on Instagram or LinkedIn. But the answer was yes! They get engagement and people do seem to like this approach.
This is almost repurposing inception, as you may have repurposed your content into a tweet…then repurposed that tweet by taking a screenshot and posting to more platforms. So it’s a quick way to get more content out of your tweets!
I recommend choosing your tweets mindfully. Think about what works on other platforms — keep it short and impactful.
You could even treat Twitter as a bit of a content playground where you test out your tweets first, and only share the ones that get traction to your other channels.
The best way to do this is to use a screen capture tool like Snagit (made by our friends at TechSmith) to take a high-quality screenshot in the right dimensions.
If you don’t have a Twitter account, you don’t have to miss out. There are tweet generators out there that will create a tweet image for you.
BONUS: Look to social media platforms & tools for inspiration
New image trends on social media are always coming and going, so pay attention to what’s happening there. What visuals are others in your industry posting that are getting traction? What are they not posting that you could test out?
Use the tools to help you. Canva is an excellent resource (I promise this post isn’t sponsored!) that is constantly being updated with trending image types for you to use.
There are lots of other image types out there. These are just a few ideas to get you going and help shake up your content repurposing strategy!
It’s so important not to let your content strategy go stale, so stay on top of it by experimenting in new ways!
I hope this post has given you lots of ideas for how to repurpose your content into social media images, blog post graphics, marketing visuals, and more. If you have any questions about repurposing your content in this way, find me on social media and ask away! I’m @content10x on all platforms.
If you or your team needs help repurposing your content more consistently, we can help. We’re the industry leaders in content repurposing and assist many tech and professional services businesses with their content repurposing processes. Check out our services to find out how we work and what we could do for your business.
If you’re more of a DIY repurposer, learn everything you need to know about repurposing your content in my book! It’s the 5-star guide to content repurposing. Read all about it now: Content 10x: More Content, Less Time, Maximum Results.
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Originally published at https://www.content10x.com on March 10, 2022.
