When should you repurpose your content? After you’ve published it…or before?
You may be dying to hit the publish button on that long-form blog post/podcast episode/video that you’ve put your blood, sweat and tears into…but you could be missing out on so many benefits if you publish it and then repurpose it…
But why create all your repurposed content before you distribute your pillar piece? Why not just publish first, and plan to repurpose it in the future?
Here, we delve into why repurposing your content before distributing your core material can optimize your content processes.
We also share tips on how to plan your content repurposingearly and the best ways to maximize your core content.
Why repurpose your core content BEFORE you publish it?
It’s no secret that your pillar content — whether it be a regular piece, like a podcast episode, or a one-off like a webinar — is a huge focus of your energy for the time you work on it.
It can be tempting to get enthusiastic about the work you’ve done and hit publish, just hoping that everyone shares your excitement for your content.
But as amazing as your core content is, you can make it go so much further by repurposing it before you publish.
Think about creating that core piece like buying an expensive jacket and only wearing it once. You put in all that investment and then never look at it again after just one use.
But, when you plan to repurpose your content…or re-wear the jacket…your investment will get greater returns!
And, if you repurpose your content before you publish it, you get even more benefits. Why?
Because you can distribute your repurposed content beforehand, bolstering your core content’s reach and building hype around it — making your followers anticipate its arrival even more keenly.
Tease your audience
Here’s one big benefit to creating all of your repurposed content first: you can post teasers on social media to get people interested in your core piece.
If you’re familiar with the Content 10x podcast and social media channels, you’ll know that our Content 10x Podcast episodes go live every other Thursday.
But if you follow our social media channels, you’ll start seeing content related to that week’s episode beforehand.
That’s because we create the podcast episode, then repurpose it into lots of awesome content for social media, such as teaser videos, graphics, and text posts. Then we distribute it to promote the episode before it’s live.
Social media channels are a great vehicle for promoting pillar content because they reach a wide audience.
But why shout about your content just once? Posts usually have a very short shelf life. The lifespan of a tweet, for example, is only around 15 minutes.
If you’re only publishing a handful of posts promoting your content, you might not be maximizing it. It’s important to keep reminding the audience and letting them know where and when they can find it with a well-thought-out distribution plan. Repurposing your content first can help you achieve this.
As we always say: “Never let repurposing be an afterthought!”.
Help your content reach your audience where they are
People could be more likely to look out for your core piece if you have teased it across your various social media platforms across the days or weeks beforehand.
At Content 10x, we repurpose our pillar pieces into more than 30 pieces of content before we publish the main piece. Sounds like a lot of work, right? Luckily, our team are very efficient!
Using our podcast episode as a base, we create blog posts, show notes, summaries for our email newsletter (The Content 10x Insider), posts for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and carousels for LinkedIn and Instagram. We even sometimes create memes!
A lot of these will go out before the core content.
This is sure to drum up a lot more interest for you prior to the launch of your core piece.
As standalone pieces, you may even find that repurposed versions of your pillar posts resonate more with certain audiences.
You may attract people who don’t listen to podcasts, read blog posts or watch YouTube videos. They may, instead, become captivated by your content on TikTok, Instagram or Twitter.
Of course, the ideal outcome is that they check out your pillar piece too. But, regardless, the worst-case scenario is that you’ve had extra people consuming your content…
Can’t be a bad thing!
Treat publishing your pillar content like a product launch
If you were a business launching a brand-new product, you wouldn’t just get it out on the shelves or on retail websites and hope for the best, would you?
There would be a much more logical plan.
Building anticipation before a new product is launched has always been so important in marketing. Take billboards and television and radio ads for example — they’ve been doing this for years.
So why should things be any different when it comes to content marketing? Just try not to put all your eggs in one basket and repurpose your content into promotional teasers for lots of different channels.
Get more strategic with your content distribution
You may feel like you’ve rinsed your pillar piece of all possible content opportunities when the day finally comes to publish it.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t continue to repurpose or reshare your content in the future.
After all, it isn’t just pre-launch benefits you get by repurposing before you publish. You will get more control and a better overview of your entire distribution plan.
So you can be even more strategic about how you distribute your repurposed content after the pillar piece is published. For example:
If you create evergreen content, it may still be of value to your audience in a week’s time, a month’s time or even years down the line, so you can plan to reshare it over a certain period of time.
If your content becomes relevant to a breaking news story, internet craze or trending topic, then that’s another ideal time to share your repurposed content.
And if it’s valuable, high-quality content, then your audience will likely be interested in it for a long time to come.
This is just another way repurposing your content early will help extend its lifespan even further!
Boost your pillar content’s performance with repurposing
At Content 10x, we 100% believe that effective repurposing is a quality play.
When you’re creating your pillar content and know what the repurposing plan will be, you’re automatically going to be thinking about what the best segments for repurposing are. Then you’ll create them as standalone, high-value pieces.
This is why we always recommend this approach!
Plus, having all your content in front of you makes it simpler to make strategic decisions about what content goes to which platform and when, and also how you can tackle any issues that may arise.
But make sure you don’t get too caught up in creating your pillar content for the sole purpose of making great repurposed work. It’s all about finding that balance!
Although, it’s a good thing if the thought of repurposing your content and maximizing its reach allows you to spend more time and effort to get the pillar piece as close to perfect as you can.
Repurposing your content before publishing your pillar piece is a win-win
So here are the key takeaways:
- It’s great to repurpose your content before your pillar piece goes out so that you can maximize your core content’s reach and make as much quality content as possible.
- Publishing your repurposed content first will drum up excitement around your core piece and may even bring in a new audience who don’t usually connect with your regular content.
- Your pillar pieces could even be higher quality and easier to repurpose as a result of creating content with repurposing in mind.
We believe this approach is the smartest and most effective way to create content.
If your team could do with some help repurposing your content, get in touch. For further tips and advice on content repurposing, take a look at our resource library of blog posts, podcast episodes and free downloads. Plus, get your hands on our book, the ultimate guide to content repurposing: Content 10x: More Content, Less Time, Maximum Results . Our content repurposing services integrate with your existing marketing strategy and maximize your content efficiently. To find out more, click here.
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Originally published at https://www.content10x.com on June 2, 2022.
