Content repurposing is like insurance.
Call it "marketing insurance," if you want. It's there to pick up the slack on the days or weeks when you just don't have the time to create marketing collateral and other content.
Content repurposing is taking a piece of marketing content and turning it into something else—for example, taking an article you published in a trade magazine and turning into a series of blog posts for your company website. Simple, right?
Why repurpose content?
Two reasons. First, it saves you time because you won't always be scrambling to create content from scratch. Second, repurposing content helps you promote and amplify that piece of content further. It gives your content more mileage because you're using different forms to get it in front of more people.
Sure, you'll still have to create fresh content every now and then. But repurposing will give you a breather. Instead of taking 3-4 weeks (or longer) to create a new blog post series, you can take a whitepaper or article you've already written and turn that into a series of blog posts in a matter of hours. You can then promote each piece beyond your blog to get it in front of more people.
Webinars are terrific for content repurposing
A webinar typically contains a lot of content, such as slides that show customer results, product details, industry problems, and educational "how to" info. You've got a product expert talking you through those slides, as well.
There's usually enough material in a webinar to give you a few months of repurposed content.
But let's get specific: You can turn a webinar into a whitepaper, a blog post series, a SlideShare presentation, a press release, social media posts, an article for a trade magazine, an email newsletter, a tradeshow handout, or a speech. And those are just the content types I could list off the top of my head.
Let's talk about how you actually repurpose a webinar, step by step
1. Upload the webinar slides to SlideShare
Uploading slides to SlideShare is the fastest way to get your webinar in front of a wider audience. And considering how easy it is to do, it should be the first step you take.
2. Transcribe the audio
Your product expert will be talking through the slides and giving webinar attendees lots of info. So why not take that audio and have it transcribed to text?
There are transcription services or apps that will transcribe audio for you in 24-48 hours, depending on length. I've used Rev myself, and I would definitely recommend it.
3. Polish the audio text
Transcriptions are rarely perfect, so you'll need to go through it and polish up the text. But that shouldn't take long—a day at most. Make sure the text flows, words are spelled correctly, and everything makes sense.
The transcription and slides now form the basis for every piece of additional collateral or content you create.
For example, the text can be formatted into a speech, and the slides can be used as presentation handouts at a tradeshow event. You've already got the slides, so that doesn't take much time. A speech might take 3-4 days of back and forth to agree on the main talking points.
4. Create a whitepaper
A webinar often starts by highlighting a common industry problem, then goes onto show how a product solves that problem. Whitepapers do the same thing when they're used at the top of the funnel: They take a problem-solution format that educates the reader about the problem, and then shows them how to solve it.
Take the text from your transcription and use it for the whitepaper. Since you're not creating anything from scratch, it should take about a week, at most.
Whitepapers should be objective and educational, so ensure there aren't any sales pitches in there. And don't mention the product or your company until the end.
5. Convert the whitepaper into a series of four blog posts
A problem-solution whitepaper follows a specific format. First, you introduce the topic; then, you identify a common industry problem. You outline what has been done before to solve that problem (and why it has failed). Finally, you introduce a new and better solution to the problem.
So take those four sections from the whitepaper and turn each one into a separate blog post. You should need only a few hours.
6. Format the blog posts into an email newsletter
Sending each of the blog posts as a separate email newsletter will help to put it in front of a wider audience. Some people on your mailing list won't read your company blog; and, of course, the blog posts will reach people who are not on your list.
7. Use the whitepaper or blog posts for a magazine article
You could just publish the whitepaper itself, but some magazines and journals don't accept articles that have been published elsewhere. Some do. The article would have the same format as the whitepaper, only a bit shorter.
8. Write a press release...
Most of the content for the press release can be taken directly from the original audio transcription.
9. ... and social media posts
Take small snippets of information from the transcription and post them on social platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter. Include a link to download the full webinar or whitepaper.
And there you have it: nine types of content in less than two weeks!
Create a content repurposing plan for every webinar
Outline how you're going to turn every new webinar into other pieces of content. Even better, start repurposing webinars you've already created. It's a terrific way to get more mileage from your webinars and get them in front of more people.
Your content "insurance"—repurposing—can be your creative breather whenever you need one.
More Resources on Content Repurposing
How to Reuse Old Content to Boost Your SEO and Keep Your Audience Engaged
