Jay Leonard
There are good posts, and then there are gems! If you have a post that you particularly love or worked incredibly hard to create, why not repurpose that post all over the place? I don’t think anybody would want to take the time to do this with all of their posts, but I guess you could. You know which posts are the best, and which you are glad to see roll off into oblivion. I’ve also included some tools and tips to help facilitate the process.
Let’s start off with the basics – which you should probably do for all of your posts.
1. Bookmark with services like Onlywire. I dig Onlywire because it is so cheap and easy. I highly suggest you spend the time to fill out your profiles completely and add some unique content to each of your profiles once a month. The setup takes a while, but after that it is simply a click to do your bookmarking.
2. Create a podcast. If you are using WP site, there are mounds of plugins that can easily work for your site. We use Buzzsprout (very economical) and have the post author record each post they do. Podcasting can be a super simple way to get some serious traffic. It’s a slow burn for sure but reading your posts out loud can help you connect with your audience and it’s a great way to hone your writing skills.
3. Email as a newsletter. There are a ton of email marketing services out there. We use Delivra for our stuff. You can’t assume that your audience will read your blog each and every day. So, make sure to include your top or more popular pieces in your newsletter.
4. Print out in an offline newsletter. If your business caters to the offline world then why not create a simple offline newsletter and add your top posts. If you have a brick and mortar, you can hand them out at the register or just mail them to your frequent visitor. This is one of those connections that small business can do better than big business. Would you read a newsletter from Bayer? Yeah, that’s why they don’t send you one. But by sending a newsletter with practical advice to the previous clients of a small business you can make that transition from user to advocate much quicker!
5. Add to a drip marketing campaign – just be sure to segment it to a group other than your email newsletter.
6. Create an “updated version” each 6 months with new info. Be sure to let people know it is updated when you share on social sites, etc.
7. Post in a Squidoo lens.
8. Add the post as “related info” on a product page.
9. Use in a guide as a full chapter. Chances are that your post will work perfectly in a guide as a section or chapter.
10. Use as a source on your resource page or FAQ.
11. List your post in your email signature.
12. Rewrite or revamp for a guest post.
For those of you who are graphically skilled (I am not, can you tell?) here are some things you can do.
13. Make your post into a slideshare presentation. You’ll see that Altimeter Group uses this incredibly effectively for their case studies and such.
14. Use the article in your print magazine. This type of content repurposing – making a quarterly magazine – is not nearly as expensive or difficult as you might think. And it leverages a huge amount of authority.
15. Make a slideshare type video with Brainshark. This is a very economical option that lets you pay per presentation and provides analytics. Again, not for every post but if you have a few gems this is a great way to showcase them! Plus – it doesn’t take as much graphic related skills as you might think.
16. Create a banner on your site with the post as the landing page.
17. Upload to doc sharing sites like DocStore and Scribd.
18. Make sure that your content is easy to share. Especially if you have a graphic. Provide a “share this easily with the following code” box so people are more inclined to share and give you props.
If you are longing for ways to use your individual blog posts to make a personal touch, here are some options for you:
19. Send to a potential client as help. As a small business owner you will know things that are bothering your clients. Instead of a newsletter you hope they will read, send a genuine email with a little note and the post that answers a problem you know they have. Hint: If you don’t want them to know you are giving them advice you can ask them to “proof” the article or provide feedback. That’s the way we do it in the South :)
20. Use as a point in a live lecture or presentation
21. Use on the phone with a potential lead. “Hey there, just checking in. We recently put up a post about X on our site. You should check it out.” It’s always a good thing to have something of value to offer a lead instead of just “checking in” for no good reason. And it’s always easier to send people to your main URL than to a long URL.
22. Leverage a new connection with flattery. Write a post about a company or person that you admire. Make it marketable to the general public but also be sure that person or company is aware of your efforts. We do this often with our weekly case study posts and other projects.
23. Keep the hyperlinks to these posts on your desktop or somewhere within easy reach. That way when a potential client asks a question or you get an email from someone you can answer their question immediately and with a powerful post.
For those of you longing to network or expand your social footprint, I suggest you implement one or all of these tips:
24. Use the post as a sample to get syndicated. Or, if you are already syndicated by other sites of value, then wait until that happens and then go to a potential syndication partner and show them your post and all the other places it has been.
25. Search on social feeds for the question your post answers. Then, provide your post as the perfect solution. This is incredibly useful on Twitter and Quora.
26. Use the sources of your post to impress someone. A few months back I found myself in an impromptu business meeting. The group of people were from completely outside our industry and were asking about content marketing. Since I had recently finished a post with a quote from Forbes about the Director of Content Marketing at Kraft Foods (Julie Fleischer) I impressed them like crazy. They don’t know what backlinks are, but they do know Forbes.
Kudos for making it this far down the list! The last bit of ideas are what I consider the more advanced options of content repurposing, but I have total faith you can pull this off:
27. Revamp or rewrite the same core content for a different audience profile. Oftentimes this is a simple change in perspective and terminology.
28. Create a worksheet or add to a type of workbook. I’m often impressed with how Ilise Benun does this for Marketing Mentor.
29. Quote your best piece of advice from the post on your site or in promotional material.
30. Use the post on a microsite or on a site that is segmented to a particular audience.
31. Create a mobile application and optimize your post for mobile by making it searchable.
32. Use your post as a landing page for paid search (Adwords) or paid discovery (StumbleUpon)
33. Use a widget on your site as “top post in X category” or “latest in X” sort of thing.
34. Read the post over the phone to someone completely outside your industry to gauge its clarity. I do this to my dad all the time. Especially if you are selling to newbies, this is incredibly helpful!
35. Keep track of the comments on your post and then leverage them for an “updated” version.
36. Leave the second half of the post as private and monetize it. I can’t say I am a huge fan of this technique but it’s out there. See it in action at Get Content Matters.
37. Send a tweet to @Content_Money about how many of these steps you went through and I’ll do something for you… not sure yet what it would be… but something!
Wow! That’s a long list! And I hope it is helpful to you. Everybody knows by now that blogging is vital to the success of your site and business. And thanks to the Caffeine Update you need to be posting at least 3 times a week (our site posts 3x a day!) which means it doesn’t take long for your star posts to gather dust. Use these tools to keep the really good ones alive and kicking!
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Jay Leonard.
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Very interesting and informative post. I already use many of these methods, but there were a few that really got my attention. Particularly the ones that put your blog posts to work offline, in print newsletters or even a magazine. I’ll be taking advantage of this real soon. Thank YOU!
Thanks Bill :) Yes, offline can definitely come in handy especially if you find yourself targeting offline prospects :) Thanks again!
What great ideas! Reminds me of the “Recycling” info I provide to folks who take my “Succeeding As a Magazine Writer” class. One other pointer I offer is about “tweaking” a story so you can reach a wider market(s). Example: If you’re a CPA and written something generic for doctors, changing a few words and/or sentences can now make it viable specifically for dentists, veterinarians, cardiologists, etc.
Thank you very much Bill this is wonderful information. Of course I will need to read a couple of times. I like to soak this kind of info in and root it deep.
Yes Wendy :) #27 is all about revamping the content for a new audience – good catch! :)