Repurpose Your Content

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Do you follow writers and experts who are always posting content, publishing blogs, and sharing videos?

And do you wonder where they get the time to create it all? Well, they’re got a little secret. And I’m going to let you in on it so you can use it too.

Here’s the trick: They repurpose content.

Yep: you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You just have to find creative ways of repurposing your content to make it fresh and engaging for your audience. It’s that simple. And it can cut down on the guesswork and fill in your content calendar at the same time.

1) Keep it evergreen.

If you tie your content explicitly to something timely, it’ll be hard to repurpose it without significant edits. Instead, focus on what’s evergreen about the topic at hand. What about your advice or idea will stay relevant? That should be the main idea. 

Focusing on evergreen content means that you can pull from your back catalog of content at any time. It makes things a lot easier on you and helps you zero in on the most relevant and grounded things you have to share. 

2) But also consider current events and timeliness.

I know, this seems contradictory — but it’s not! The base of your content should be evergreen, but then you can time when you share content to tie in directly with the here and now.

For example, as a productivity expert, I’ve written many times over the years how to organize gift giving. I often share versions of this content around the holidays since that’s when it’s likely to resonate with people. The content itself is easy to repurpose and update to make sure it’s relevant. But it’s an idea that I don’t have to come up with from scratch — I can repurpose it every year.

This is the same idea that goes into a perfect media pitch — the “why now?” question. Your content should answer this question too. 

For example, I often share tips for travel productivity. People travel throughout the year, so this content is evergreen, but I can also tweak it for specific situations, such as summer vacations, holiday travel, or travel for conferences. That answers the “why now?” question.  

3) Share your content across multiple forms of media.

This is one of the best ways to simplify your content strategy. Blog posts can be repurposed into videos, and vice versa. Podcasts can be released as audio and video. That can then turn into social media content. 

This doesn’t just make it easier on you — it also helps your audience connect with your content on their favorite platform. Some people love video, while other people find it easier to catch up with podcasts. Repurposing your content across various media makes it more accessible. 

I often do this myself. I might turn a blog or a LinkedIn Learning course into an episode of my live-streaming show, or use a media appearance as a jumping off point for a blog. It all gets repurposed! You can also work in the other direction and pull media pitches from your content. 

4) Repurpose your book for content.

For authors, you have a whole load of content waiting to be repurposed: your book! For example, you can take quotes or excerpts from your book and turn them into short-form videos.

You can also read aloud a quote from your book and then offer further insights, or use that as a starting point to talk about specific themes and ideas in depth. 

I wrote all about how to use your book to create video content in my Writer’s Digest column — check that out here!

5) Repurpose with a plan.

Creating an editorial calendar will help you keep track of what content you’ve repurposed — and when and how you’ve used it. This helps you stay accountable to a schedule and also clues you into what you’ve already reused and what you haven’t.

You can check out more tips for creating an editorial calendar here.

It’s also important to take feedback into account. If people are really engaging with a particular topic, use that to guide how you repurpose it next!

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