Stop Wasting Time: How to Repurpose Your Content for More Reach with Less Effort
It’s the dream, right? Greater ROI for less work?
With a little creativity and strategy, you can reach a wider audience without adding more to your plate. #smallbizownerwin
In this article, we’ll find ways to take one piece of content and use it in many different ways across all kinds of platforms to make your content work smarter, not harder!
Note: you do not need to do all the things! This article is not about creating across all mediums. Instead, our focus is going to be on deliberately choosing one and maximizing it.
What’s fun for you to do?
For our purposes here, I’ll assume that you’re clear on your USP and niche, and you’ve got your topics down.
But how do you want to create it? In videos? Articles? A podcast?
Do you love to write? Are you a natural talker? Would you rather pull up your phone and record a quick video? Or would you enjoy the editing process of a longer, more polished video?
You need to ask yourself these questions (and be honest about the answer) because each of these has its own audience, regardless of the latest trend.
Skipping these questions means that your content strategy is doomed.
Starting out with a platform that you don’t enjoy is disastrous. You won’t do it easily. It won’t be fun. And it won’t be sustainable.
And it’s not a recipe for success, either.
Don’t put any consideration toward what other people might want you to do. I don’t care if video is taking off everywhere, if you’re a natural writer, stick with that. There is always room for quality writing. It’s an absolute standard.
How about video? Worried that everyone is switching to podcasts because it’s easier to listen to them on the go, but you love creating candid, personal videos for your audience instead?
Stick with them. There will always be people who gravitate towards video. Honor them (and yourself) by choosing to do what you most enjoy.
But Diane, shouldn’t I do all of them to reach the most people?
No.
First of all, get that lack out of your head (and heart). There are people everywhere, and the difference between where you are now in your business and where you want to be is likely just a few hundred people.
And you’re much more likely to attract those people if you’re doing something you really enjoy doing.
Remember, your ideal clients want the content you want to create and they want it the way you want to create it. If you’re a natural writer? Guess what?
Your ideal clients hate to waste time watching a video and would much rather speed-read an article. (Hello, I’m one of those, in case you were wondering.)
Or, what if you’re a talker, but you hate the production cost of video, so you’re hell-bent on creating a podcast? Guess what?
Your ideal clients hate being shackled to a device with video and would much rather listen to you talk to them while they’re on the go, e.g. working out, walking their dog, driving on their commute, etc.
Or what if you love video, but you loathe the idea of the long, drawn-out process of editing? Don’t worry.
Your ideal clients are happy to watch your quick, casual videos because they feel more connected to you.
There is quite literally a group of people who enjoy every kind of thing, and if you can develop enough trust, you can feel that your people are going to love the way you reach out to them, no matter what it is. You just have to align with what you most want in order to discern what you most want to do.
And then, of course, you need to do it.
Consistently, if at all possible. We’ll get to that.
But Diane, isn’t it just good business practice to diversify?
Not if diversification means doing things you don’t really want to be doing in the long term.
Remember, if you create video, you will attract people who want to consume video, so if you don’t love it and it makes you want to pull your hair out in three months, you risk losing your audience if you stop.
That sucks because at best, you’ll fail.
That’s right. The best possible scenario is that you’ll fail.
The worst possible scenario is that you’ll succeed with a large audience who you will quickly come to resent because you’ll feel shackled to a mode of content delivery that you don’t enjoy.
Don’t do that to yourself.
Get ruthless about doing something that’s fun and easy for you right now. When it gets big and desirable and other people are asking you to do more of it on their platforms, you’ll be grateful you stuck with something you enjoy.
So pick what enjoy doing and only what you enjoy doing.
And choose it every day.
Until it’s time to choose something different.
Where Do You Choose to Do It?
All the same principles above apply to this, too. You know your topics, and you know your medium, now let’s decide where you’re going to put it.
Keep in mind that whatever platform you choose, you’re going to want to engage there. Don’t just get a social media management tool and flood every outlet possible with your content. Choose one deliberately, and engage there there (as much as you can).
Since you’re going to need to use it, pick a platform that’s fun and interesting to you. If you love Twitter, stick with it. If you’re an OG on FB, show up there. If you enjoy Insta, #youdoyouboo.
There is one caveat:
Make sure that whatever platform you’re using has a solid ROI. That is, make sure the logarithm isn’t stacked against you.
How do I do that?
Don’t choose the most popular platform in its heyday moment.
Right now, posting on Instagram is a hard way to promote a business. Posts don’t get easily boosted into people’s feeds like they did a few years ago.
Look for the social media outlets that are growing or that are underused. TikTok may be a better option for you than YouTube. (Although YouTube has a search function–did you know that it’s actually the second-most-popular search engine after Google?--and Tik Tok boosts posts on interests rather than shared followers, so you should spend some time thinking about what your ideal clients will be searching for and how that might affect your content being discovered. YouTube #shorts are also killing it right now. I’m going to stop here on this because I could write another entire course on SEO and that’s not our focus here. Lmk if you want that product, too, and I’ll create it.)
Also, LinkedIn may be better than Twitter, depending on your industry. And FB pages may be making a comeback as the heavy hitters abandon their FB ads.
All in all, just consider the macro of the social media universe. Do some Googling on where you can get the most bang for your effort in addition to considering what would be the easiest and most fun for you.
How to leverage each post
Okay, now that you know what your topics are, and you know how and where you’re going to post them, let’s look at how to maximize them.
Please note that all of these are suggestions. Do more or less of them, mix them up, switch things around, whatever. Just figure out what feels good.
If you’re a writer
Write one blog post a week, anywhere from 800 to 2,500 words. There’s really no right or wrong number here. People will read shorter and longer things, and anything in this range is going to be great for your site’s SEO (although this point doesn’t matter as much if you’re posting on Substack, Medium, or LinkedIn newsletters, etc. You’ll still get hits on Medium and the like, but you won’t get the benefits on your own site, which is hopefully where you’re selling things. Again with how I need to create an SEO course.) Anyway, I think 1,200 words is a sweet spot, but let your gut be your guide here.
Take a big chunk of your blog post and post it somewhere that long-form written content works. Think your FB page, or your LinkedIn profile or newsletter. Link to the original post if it’s on your website.
Write a quick commentary (a paragraph or two) about your post and post it on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Obviously, link to the original post.
If you don’t hate video, make a few quick, candid video commentaries about your post. You can either comment on a particular quote in the post, explain one key point, give a quick story that backs up the point of the post, or go over the entire thing. Bonus: if you create a few that are under 60 seconds, you can use them as YouTube #shorts, which are going gangbusters right now. If not, just post them anywhere video works, Stories, LinkedIn, TikTok, etc.
Pull three to five powerful quotes from the post and put them on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. You can link to your post or these can stand alone.
If you’ve got a bit of an artistic streak and/or you like to fool around on Canva, put some or all of those quotes onto pretty graphics or pics of you instead of just writing them and post those on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, Insta, etc. You can link to your post or these can stand alone.
If you really want to make use of Insta, but you’re not into Canva, take a screenshot of your quote on Twitter and post that on Insta.
If you’re a talker
Create a podcast a week, anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour or more. If it’s on the shorter side, consider making more than one a week. Publish it on Anchor (which is free), or whatever platform pleases you. Just make sure you share it to iTunes, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, etc. If you’re also a writer, look into Substack, or something similar.
Pull three to five powerful quotes from the podcast and put them on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. You can link to your post or these can stand alone.
Pull a few quick and powerful excerpts from your podcast and create a video via Headliner or similar software. Share everywhere.
If you’ve got a bit of an artistic streak and/or you like to fool around on Canva, put some or all of those quotes onto pretty graphics or pics of you instead of just writing them and post those on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, Insta, etc. You can link to your post or these can stand alone.
Transcribe the podcast and create a blog post. Share it everywhere.
Take a big chunk of your blog post and post it somewhere that long-form written content works. Think of your FB page, or your LinkedIn profile, or your newsletter. Link to the original post if it’s on your website.
If you don’t hate writing, write a quick commentary (a paragraph or two) about your post and post it on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Link to the podcast.
If you don’t hate video, do a live-stream commentary about your podcast. You can explain one key point, give a quick story, or talk about your favorite moment from the podcast.
On that note, if you don’t hate video, film your podcast and post it on YouTube. Post excerpts everywhere.
If you like video (and editing it, or can afford an editor):
Make one long-form video per week, either live-streamed or edited. There was a push a few years ago to make videos that are under ten minutes, but videos that are longer are still doing well, so do what works for your content.
Transcribe the video and create a blog post. Share it everywhere.
Take a big chunk of your blog post and post it somewhere that long-form written content works. Think of your FB page, your LinkedIn profile, or your newsletter. Link to the original post if it’s on your website.
Make two to three mini videos with excerpted cuts from your video. Post everywhere. Bonus: if you create a few that are under 60 seconds, you can use them as YouTube #shorts. If not, just post them anywhere video works, Stories, LinkedIn, TikTok, etc.
Take a few screenshots from your video and post them with quote overlays, or info on the episode. Post everywhere.
Make a few quick, candid video commentaries about your video. Talk about something you learned, a point that was memorable, the theme of the video, or anything else. Bonus for YouTube #shorts. Otherwise, post anywhere else video works.
Pull three to five powerful quotes from the post and put them on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. You can link to your post or these can stand alone. Bonus for pretty Canva posts.
One last thought:
From what expectation are you focusing?
After perusing these, do you feel marketing is a chore, or a To Do list item to be checked off and forgotten? Or is it a delicious chance to share the power and joy of what you do? Is it an awesome way to share what you’re doing with the world? Is it a chance to belong to this wonderful place? To make connections? To contribute? To be proud of yourself? To express yourself?
Mindset is everything.
It’s really hard to hate marketing and attract clients.
Clients will be attracted to your joy and exuberance, and your sincere desire to make their lives better. If you’re not anchored in that, you probably won’t do very well, but what’s worse is that you’ll just make yourself miserable.
Get invested in how you feel about what you create.
It matters.
