Repurposing content: 13 ways to get more eyes on your content

One of the secrets to content marketing success isn’t what you think. This secret has nothing to do with quantity or quality. Instead, it’s all about repurposing content. Yes, the phrase ​​"reduce, reuse, recycle" can be applied to more than paper products and aluminum cans.

Repurposing content for social media, marketing, and sales will not only save time, but can also help you get more exposure, leads, and conversions.

In other words, you can get better results with less content. Who doesn’t want that?!

But what does it mean to repurpose content? And how can you leverage this marketing strategy to grow your business? Keep reading to learn what content repurposing is and how to perfect it. Thanks to our list of examples and ideas, you might even get inspired!

What is content repurposing?

Content repurposing is the process of reformatting and reusing content for multiple uses.

It allows you to get the most mileage possible out of every piece of content you create, whether it’s hot off the presses or it’s been languishing on your website for years. 

Repurposing allows you to turn one idea into dozens of content pieces. It also helps you rejuvenate old content, so it continues to drive results long term.

Best of all, this strategy can be as simple as republishing your blog posts on another site, like Benjamin Hardy, author of Slipstream Time Hacking, did.

He grew his email subscriber list from zero to more than 20,000 subscribers in six months by reposting his blog content on Medium. He started growing his platform on Medium without any idea about how to get subscribers. 

After one of his articles went viral, he realized he needed a better call to action and a more robust website. As soon as he made those two minor changes, his subscriber rate skyrocketed.

Top benefits of repurposing content

The biggest benefit of repurposing content is accelerated business growth. But generally repurposing content can provide:

• More audience engagement
• Exposure to new audiences
• More leads, which means more sales

You can get these results without pumping out new content daily. That frees you to focus on new income streams, such as online courses or coaching programs.

But repurposing content also helps your customers and fans. As you’ll see in a minute, this strategy is focused on transforming existing content into new formats — say, text to video, or video to audio. 

This is important because people have different learning styles and needs. Some prefer to watch videos, while others like to read articles, view infographics, or scroll through social media. But using a mixture of these formats can also make your content more inclusive and accessible.

Sharing the same information in multiple formats makes it easy for everyone in your audience to enjoy your content. Plus, repetition is known to be one of the best ways to help people remember information. This applies to making your audience remember your brand.

Additionally, depending on how long you've been in business, you might have years' worth of articles, graphics, and videos that your followers have never seen. Update it, recycle it, and republish it, so you can quickly (and easily) keep your content queue full.

How to repurpose content

To get started repurposing content, you need a strategy and workflow that you can easily maintain. 

What’s your repurposing strategy?

While we recommend repurposing content for all of the reasons listed above, it's important to realize that not all content deserves another chance at getting an audience. If you try to repurpose every piece of content you've ever created, you'll simply generate more work for yourself and reduce your ROI.

‍That's not a good way to do business.

Instead, you want to find the best pieces of content you’ve produced — the ones that deserve a new lease on life.

This is why many businesses repurpose older content. They want to know how the original content performed before they invest time or money into creating a new version.

Here’s how to decide which pieces of content are worth repurposing

‍Evergreen content

Evergreen describes content that remains relevant for months and even years. But no content lasts forever. 

Don’t simply re-share older evergreen content. Instead, update it by adding new methods or ideas, refreshing links and statistics, and removing outdated cultural references.  

Once it’s been updated, think about how else you could present the information. An article, for example, could be turned into a video, an infographic, the topic of a podcast episode, and a series of social media posts. 

‍Popular Content 

Popular or promotable content gives you traffic, comments, and conversions. Because it provides good results, it’s worth the effort of keeping it fresh and relevant. It’s also worth repurposing so you get more eyeballs on it.

Analytics will tell you which posts get the most traffic. You can also look for trends in your content. 

For instance, you might notice that your how-to posts get more traffic than your list-based posts. Consider repurposing those types of posts, because you know your audience craves them.

‍Outdated Content

Outdated content isn’t necessarily dead. If the topic is still relevant, an update can make it fresh again. And once it’s current, it only takes a little extra effort to repurpose it for other uses. 

But let’s be honest - sometimes content is so outdated that it would require a complete overhaul to refresh it. If that’s the case, there’s no need to update it or repurpose it. In that case, you may even decide it’s worthwhile to delete the piece of content so it doesn’t weigh down your brand.

Create a content repurposing workflow

To stay on top of your content production, create a content repurposing workflow that fits your goals and content types.

‍Choose your best platforms and types of content 

This largely depends on your strengths and where your audience hangs out online. But your preferences and strengths are important too!

Most creators are best at one type of content: text, video, or audio. Start there. Then try to find a happy compromise between the type of content you create and the type of content your audience likes best. 

If they love TikTok and YouTube, you need to make sure you’re publishing videos. If they like podcasts or books, you need to focus on audio or long-form text.

‍Blend creation and repurposing

Let’s say it’s easiest for you to create video content, but you also want a podcast and blog. Your workflow might look like this:

1. Film a video.
2. Separate the audio and publish it to your podcast.
3. Turn the transcript into an article.
4. Create video clips and quotes for social media.

Or, let’s say you publish content on social media first. This workflow might work for you:

1. Create a social media post.
2. Expand on that post in your blog.
3. Turn the blog into a video.
4. Separate the audio for your podcast.

The idea is to create content however it’s easiest for you. Then reformat it for other platforms and uses.

Optimize over time

To know what’s working, you need to watch your analytics. Notice the types of content and topics that perform best. Use that information to improve and refine your strategy.

Over time, streamline your workflow so you can improve your results without a ton of extra work. That means doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t!

Inspiration and content repurposing examples

Ready to get started? Here’s the inspiration you didn’t know you needed for repurposing your content.

Repurposing content for social media

This is a no-brainer. Your audience is already on one or more social media channels. Repurposing your content should be part of your social media marketing strategy.

And it’s easy to do:

• Pull quotations from your content and turn them into graphics or tweets.
• Turn one of your talking points into a LinkedIn or Facebook post.
• Create an infographic to share lists or statistics.
• Break YouTube videos or webinar recordings into 1-minute video clips for Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or Pinterest pins.
• Create a high-level summary of your articles.

This strategy has tons of benefits. It will help you drive traffic back to your website, build awareness around your ideas, and attract new fans.

Take this graphic, by Amy Porterfield:

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It’s likely a quote from one of her podcasts or courses. By turning it into a graphic, she can share it to all her social media profiles and drive interest in her programs and teaching. 

She could also have created a video clip of herself saying this. Or, both.

There’s no limit to the number of ways you can repurpose content!

Repurposing text content 

Text content can be repurposed for your website, other platforms, marketing efforts, and sales. Here are a few ways to do that.

‍Blog posts to PDFs or ebooks

Most businesses struggle to create powerful lead magnets. But this approach makes it easy. 

If you have a series of blog posts on similar subjects, copy and paste them into a document. Then create chapters, add images and a cover page, and write a new introduction and conclusion.

Voila! You’ve got an ebook or guide.

Upwardli did this by condensing some of their best blog posts into a 20-page guide. Rather than asking visitors to search countless blog posts to find what they need, Upwardli compiled those articles into a free ebook that gives them all the information they need. 

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The guide also helps Upwardli with SEO, lead generation, and list building. Once someone downloads the guide, they’re more likely to continue using the site and its services. The brand has put itself front-of-mind of its target audience, simply by repurposing content! 

Guide or ebook to blog posts (and more)

Maybe you already have an ebook, book, or guide. You can recycle and repurpose any of them in a variety of ways. 

• Create an audio version you can sell or share on your podcast.
• Share quotations and illustrations on social media.
• Turn chapters or sections into blog posts.

Author James Clear does this with his book Atomic Habits: 

Every blog post shares a tip from his book. That saves time on blog content. It also generated interest in the book — and likely helped him sell 8 million copies. 

But even if you haven’t published a book, you can still leverage this tactic. If you have a membership site, pull bits of content and create “lite” versions for blog posts. 

This gives people a peek behind the curtain so they understand the value you share in your membership or course. It also reinforces your authority as a leader in your niche.

Blog post to newsletter

Could you turn your old blog posts into tips for your email newsletter? Even better, could you sell your advice via a paid newsletter or membership site? 

With Kajabi, creating newsletters and building a mailing list of contacts who want to hear what you have to say is easy.  

You can share your entire blog post in your newsletter, or create a monthly newsletter with updates and links to your blog posts, podcasts, and more. 

Here’s how it’s done by Delino, the smart contract review platform for SMBs:

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Note: You can also include links to your content around the web; on social media, guest posts, and anywhere else you publish.

Blog post to video

Video content is easy to create with video apps like Wave.Video. It uses AI to turn blog posts into videos. Just enter the URL of your blog post, and it creates a video with scenes, background music, and captions.

Another tool that makes it easy to produce high-quality videos is Biteable. With this tool, you can use text and animations pre-made with your brand font and colors. You can include videos as well, if you’re looking to add some recordings. They include templates that are easy to customize. So, you can keep your videos consistent across social platforms without needing a videographer on your team!

Alternatively, you could record yourself reading your content. Add images for interest. And download the audio for a podcast. Easy-peasy.

Blog post to webinar

Webinars take a lot of work to put together. But if you repurpose existing content, they don’t have to.

Do you have a blog post that consistently drives traffic to your landing page? With a few tweaks, that blog post can serve as a webinar script. Just add an introduction to the beginning and a sales pitch to the end.

Note: Kajabi makes it easy to create evergreen webinars, which can be reused and repurposed endlessly. This is a strategic way to grow your online course or membership site business. 

The 2022 Demand Gen Report reports that webinars are one of the most successful ways for marketers to generate warm, receptive top-of-funnel leads.

FAQ to blog post

You probably have tons of valuable content spread across your website — your FAQ, for instance. Frequently asked questions make terrific blog posts because keywords are built into them. 

Write a blog post for each question. Then turn that post into a video. Don’t forget to optimize them with the appropriate keyword.

Digital currency site Coinbase uses this strategy in their “Crypto questions, answered” section. Users get their questions answered in detail, and Coinbase earns their trust as a knowledgeable crypto authority.

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Repurposing video and audio content

Video content is one of the most effective ways to attract buyers. And your audience loves it: YouTube is the top social media site for adults, with TikTok quickly catching up. 

Audio has its own fan base. 62% of U.S. consumers listen to podcasts. More than half (65%) listen to the entire episode.

To take advantage of this trend, you need to create both audio and video content — and repurpose it to get the most traction. Here are a few ideas to help get you started!

Webinars to video tutorials

Webinars typically have a large teaching component. Rather than letting all that work go to waste, repurpose your teaching section into one or more video tutorials.

You can create video clips that help your audience resolve a specific problem or reach a goal. Then publish these tutorials on YouTube, in a blog post, or on social media.

Logo design company Looka does this with their YouTube videos. In this example, they teach users how to choose the right fonts for their logo: 

Tip: Remember to remove any references to discount codes or freebies you gave to the webinar attendees. You don’t want your recycled content to feel like a sales presentation. 

Video tutorial to Instagram Reel or TikTok

These days, people are all about quick, bite-sized pieces of information they can learn and apply quickly. Hence the meteoric rise of Instagram Reels. 

If a video tutorial takes too long and your analytics show your users falling off before they complete it, it may be time to turn that tutorial into a Reel.

Reels can be up to 60 seconds long, which gives you just enough time to share a quick and easy tip (pulled directly from your video tutorial). This snack-sized Reel might be just enough to whet their appetite for more! 

‍Tip: This strategy works well for TikTok too, but TikToks can be up to three minutes. Keep your videos to 59 seconds or less, and you can publish them on both platforms.

‍Interview to case study

A great case study can build trust and help you turn prospects into customers. The key is to schedule calls with your customers and get them talking about the transformation they’ve experienced working with you.

If you feature guests on your podcast or highlight successful members in your newsletter, take that interview to the next level by publishing the customer’s story on your blog. You’ll likely need to condense the interview and select the best quotations that demonstrate their transformation. 

‍Note: Don’t forget to repurpose this content for social media too. People love success stories!

‍Podcast to video and article

If you have a podcast, leverage it to create content in every format. Rather than recording your podcast in audio format, make a video of yourself creating the podcast. 

You can set up your camera and record as usual, letting your audience see how you work. Or, talk directly into the camera. Both approaches work well.

If you don’t already have a podcast, no problem. You can easily create your podcast on Kajabi and share it across all major podcasting platforms, including Spotify, Apple, and Google podcasts. 

Repurposing visual content

Your files are probably full of slide decks, infographics, photos you've created for your website, webinars, and presentations. Guess what? They can be repurposed too.

‍Slideshow to infographic

Do you have a backlog of PowerPoint decks from presentations or speeches? Recycle them by using the same data and insights in an infographic. 

Online graphic design tools like Canva, Visme, and Piktochart make it easier than ever to grab a template and create a beautiful graphic, even if you don’t have one artistic bone in your body.

Infographic to social media

Infographics can vary in size, meaning hey will work in their complete form on some social channels better than others. An infographic can work on channels like LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, a Facebook Business page, or shared in your private community.

Plus, you can break the infographic into smaller graphics  that can work well for other channels. For example:

• Turn each statistic or point into a single graphic, and turn it into a Twitter thread.
• Create an eye-catching graphic for Instagram, and include a caption or post that expands and explains it.
• Share a photo with a social media post telling the story behind the picture. 

‍Graphic to video

Talking head videos can get boring. Use graphics, photos, and video clips to spruce up your videos, illustrate your points, and keep your audience engaged. 

Here’s how celebrity coach Roger Love does it:

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Repurposing content: next steps

Repurposing content is a great way to reach new audiences, breathe new life into old content, increase the ROI of your hard work and research, and sell more. 

The key is to have the platforms available for sharing your recycled content. And for that, nothing beats Kajabi.

At Kajabi, we make it easy to reformat and recycle your content. From courses to memberships to newsletters and podcasts, Kajabi lets you reach new customers however they consume content. Try it now for 14 days free!

You've got questions. We've got answers.

It’s understandable to have questions about repurposing content, especially when it comes to repurposing content for social media. Fortunately, we’ve collected the top questions about content repurposing and answered them here to make it easy for you to move forward with confidence! 

What is the difference between content recycling and repurposing?

Content recycling and content repurposing are two names for the same thing: refreshing and reformatting your content so it can be used on other platforms and for other uses.

Does content repurposing help your content marketing strategy?

Creating new content can take a lot of time. Repurposing it can be faster and easier. It also gives you a bigger return on the time you invested in creating your content. 

For example, transforming a blog post into a podcast will help you get found by people who prefer to listen rather than read. Transforming your ebook into a video will help you reach those who would rather watch a video. 

Does it help or hurt your SEO to repurpose content?

Repurposing content, especially from format to format, helps your search engine optimization efforts. It tells their algorithm that you are a specialist in the topics you cover because you pump out so much information on it.

Even refreshing old content with up-to-date changes is great for SEO since search engines want to point people to content that answers their questions. The more current, the better. 

Can you repurpose other people’s content?

You obviously don’t want to rip off other people’s content and claim it as your own. However, you can absolutely use their content as the inspiration for your own, repurposed version. 

For example, if someone wrote a basic blog post on how to draw the human body, you could take that same concept and turn it into a video tutorial. If someone created a video of the fastest way to train your puppy, you could use some of those same tips in your newsletter.

Repurposing content is about NOT reinventing the wheel. But you should never steal someone else’s wheels and claim them as yours. That’s plagiarism, and it can get you into big trouble.