Your blog has beautiful social sharing buttons that you can customize and as soon as you publish, you share your blog posts to all your social networks. Check.

You use a social media management tool like Buffer, Hootsuite, CoSchedule, Missinglettr or Social Bee to queue up and reshare your evergreen articles on social networks a few weeks and months later, to help increase the number of people who see the content. Check.

Maybe you even go so far as reviewing and refreshing older content to bring it up to date and then reshare it again. Double check.

Now what?

When it comes to your content, what I’ve outlined above are simply the first steps. They are the non-negotiable steps if you want to get found and seen by your ideal client.

During an interview on MaAnna Stephenson’s #WPBlab Show, we talked for an hour about repurposing your content so you can be found everywhere as well as reach your audience in the way they want to consume (read, watch, listen) to your message. We covered a lot of ground in the show which you can watch below. MaAnna has also posted timestamps for key moments on her blog.

Let’s get two definitions clear that are frequently confused: content syndication and content repurposing.

Content syndication is the process of distributing your content for the purposes of promotion and visibility.

Content repurposing is the process of taking existing content and converting it into new formats, for the purposes of promotion or monetization.

Why Bother with Repurposing Your Content?

Consider how much your time is worth. In order to continually build your audience so you can attract prospects and leads for your business, you need to stay top of mind and continually demonstrate your expertise and how you solve specific problems.

Repurposing your content increases your “return on time” investment, creating more uses for what you’ve created. More content on more channels can give you better search engine ranking, as each type of content is treated distinctly by the search engines.

From the point of view of your audience, by adapting your content to various styles, you’re making it possible for your content to be consumed in the preferred method of your audience. This allows your message to be spread more widely.  There are more opportunities for people to learn who you are and what you can do to serve them…..

If you’re worried about duplicate content, don’t be. Watch the video above at about minute 00:07:00 to get the scoop.

Before you copy and paste an article from your blog as is to another platform, think for a couple of minutes about the audience for that platform. For example, if you want to republish a blog post to LinkedIn Publishing, consider how you might tweak the content for a business-oriented audience. You might want to edit the article with different examples, different images, and possibly a revised title. You’re taking the original content and repurposing it for a targeted audience.

So, how can you reformat an existing article to get more leverage and reach more people? Let’s take a look…

13 Ways to Repurpose One Blog Post

LinkedIn Publishing – as mentioned above, you have an opportunity here to create a new cover image for the article, tweak it for a professional/business audience and add rich media like video and audio.

Medium – very much like LinkedIn where you can republish your article, though the audience on Medium tends to respond best to personal stories. So look at your article through that lens.

Facebook Notes – a simple blogging-style option on your Facebook business page and profile. You can add images and again, create a cover image for the article. Once you publish on your business page, you can also share it to your profile. (this is still a viable option, but Notes don’t get much engagement or visibility so you’ll need to experiment to discover if it’s really worth your time.)

Quora – use the Q&A site to find questions for which you can post your article or selections from your article as an answer.

Instagram – Many people use Instagram to post long-form captions with their images or videos. Summarize your article into a couple of paragraphs, then include a call to action to read the full post. You’ll need to put the URL for the post in your profile. TIP: I recommend using a tool like Shorby to create one URL that links to a page with many URLs.  Here’s an example on my Instagram profile.

eBook – Take a look at one of the categories on your blog. Are there five or six articles that can be bundled together to provide an in-depth look at one of your areas of expertise? With a bit of editing to create flow, natural transitions, an introduction and conclusion, you can create a product to give away or sell on your site and as a Kindle ebook.

Slideshow – create a series of slides with bullet points and quotes from an article. Add a title slide and final slide with a call to action and post it on LinkedIn’s Slideshare.

Video – You can convert your slide show to video or record yourself reading on video and post on YouTube.  Another option for video is using a tool like Lumen5, create a short (less than 60 seconds) video with images that you post on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Audio/Podcast – Record yourself reading your article. Post the recording on the blog post, upload to Soundcloud and create a podcast that’s available on iTunes. Another way to do this is to create an audio-gram and use Headliner to create a video using an audio clip laid over an image from your blog post.

Email course – break down your article into a series of tips (or a selection of articles) you deliver via email over a period of days or weeks. This makes a great lead magnet.

Pinterest and Instagram- Pull key sound bites or tips from your article and create quote or tip images. Post them on a Pinterest board about the topic. Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, as mastered this form of repurposing content. Click here to learn more about how Joan uses Pinterest.

Guest post – Are there blogs in your niche that accept guest posts? Updating and editing an evergreen post can often make great guest posts that will help you get in front of new audiences.

Webinar – You know those slides you created? Turn them into a webinar. Go deeper with the content and teach your audience more about the topic. A free webinar is another excellent lead magnet, or charge a small fee to get paid for your expertise.

Repurpose: From Blog Post to Webinar

I like to reuse and repurpose content whenever possible. Not every blog post warrants the time and energy, but many do.

A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post on how to use microcontent to amplify your message. A few months later, I was invited to contribute a chapter to a new book called Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars (2015). The blog post became the outline for the chapter which I expanded to 4000 words.

Next, I repurposed the chapter into a webinar, teaching the concepts and tactics of creating and using microcontent. I charged a small fee. I’ve delivered the webinar twice and can easily update the content and deliver it again.

7 Ways to Repurpose a Video Show

Another example of repurposing is how I repurposed my former Adventures in Visibility show. Many high-profile podcasters are now recording their shows live on Facebook and then converting to an audio podcast.

1. The content is originally created during the show broadcast live (formerly on Google+ Hangouts on Air and then on Blab, and now on Facebook Live or YouTube Live)
2. The recorded video not only lives Facebook, I also upload the mp4 file to my YouTube channel
3. The video is embedded on a blog post where I recap the show and link to resources mentioned
4. Next, I post the video on Slideshare, after adding a title slide and slide with a call to action
5. Often, I’ll transcribe the show to create more detailed notes or a pdf give-way.
6. I always create visuals for my shows, before and after. Before to promote the show; after to drive traffic back to the blog post.
7. The audio track gets uploaded to my Soundcloud channel where it also gets distributed to iTunes.

RECOMMENDED READING: 

How to Quickly Repurpose Your Facebook Live Videos

How To Repurpose Your Content Without Running into Duplicate Content Issues

Got enough ideas now for how to get maximum leverage out of your evergreen content? I sure hope so! You don’t have to do everything listed in the article. However, I urge you to take the time to extend the life of your content by adding one, two or three of these tactics to your content marketing strategy. It’s faster and easier to reformat content than to create new, unique content. Really. Especially when you put a system in place.

This post was originally published in 2015. Updated with new information in 2021.

Blog photo by Tobias Cornille on Unsplash

The post Repurposing Your Content – 13 Ways to Reach More People appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

In a recent interview on the Thriving Launch podcast, I addressed themes that will be familiar to you if you’re a regular reader of this blog…how to get seen with your online content.

I talked about how to grow your following through adding value to your content and how having value and being clear on your message helps leverage your online presence.

I also explain how online content can be repurposed and republished to different platforms, which results in attracting more people to your business.

The interview with hosts Luis Congdon and Kamala Chambers is short and sweet, about 14 minutes.

I remember being interviewed about republishing and repurposing content back in 2008 or 2009. My message remains the same, though many of the tools have changed and evolved.

You can be organized and efficient with your content development by putting the tools to use for you in a smart way that includes some automation. 

3 Ways to Use Automation for Repurposing

For example, if you repurpose your blog posts to Medium, you can install the Medium WordPress plugin to auto-save a draft of your blog post to your account. That saves you time. No copy and pasting. Simply log into your account, review the draft, add your bio and call to action, choose the appropriate tags and publish. It takes 5-10 minutes max.

Use Lumen5 (free at the time of this post’s publication) to create a video trailer to promote your blog post.  Read my tutorial here.

Use Canva’s Magic Resize feature to quickly create a suite of images for promoting your blog post on all the social platforms.

But first, before you begin, so you avoid sporadic, random repurposing, create a checklist so you are consistent with your efforts. Here’s a sample checklist I created for going live on Facebook.

If you prefer reading to listening, the full transcript of the interview, along with key takeaways is here. Be sure to share your thoughts about repurposing and visibility in the comments!

Recommended Reading

Repurposing Your Content – 13 Ways to Reach More People

How to Quickly Repurpose Your Facebook Live Videos

The post How to Get Your Business Seen with Online Content appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

Do you feel a little anxious and wonder what will happen if your site is penalized for duplicate content? Maybe your site gets shut down or it gets deindexed by the search engines and no one can find you online anymore.

Since you’re reading this article, I’m willing to bet you don’t engage in any “black hat” SEO practices. I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to worry about being shut down by Google. This is particularly true about the content you repurpose and post on platforms other than your own site.

When I shared the results from my recent survey on repurposing content, I mentioned that after “lack of time,” the “fear of duplicate content” was cited by a high percentage of respondents.

During a guest spot on MaAnna Stephenson’s #WPBlab show, we discussed repurposing content and a viewer asked about issues with duplicate content when I mentioned republishing blog posts on LinkedIn. Here’s that clip:

(You can watch the entire show here.)

As you heard, there is no penalty for posting your content both on your blog and then on other platforms. This has been tested by many SEO experts.

The myth of duplicate content

The myth and fear of duplicate content penalties has been around for years. Yet, for years, Google has been telling us that it’s not a something you have to be worried about. The most egregious examples of duplicate content are usually related to people trying to game the system by creating many pages with the same or similar content to funnel people to their sales pages. But Google is smart and knows the games. 

They’re not trying to shut you down. You, the expert in your niche. You, who want to leverage the content you’ve worked so hard to create and want to get in front of new audiences.

If you can handle the tech-speak, here’s Google’s own statement on how to handle duplicate content:

Pay specific attention to the part I highlighted. You can read the complete article here.

Click Here to Get Your Free Repurposing Checklist

I’ve been using a couple different terms and want to make sure you’re clear on the difference between syndication and repurposing, as I mentioned in my article Repurposing Your Content – 13 Ways to Reach More People:

For example, when you copy the content from a blog post and repurpose it word for word on LinkedIn Publishing or Medium, that is syndication. When you do that, make sure to include a link at the end of the article letting the reader (and Google) know, that the original was posted on your site. Link to the actual article, not your home page.

Reformating that blog post into a slide deck and posting it on SlideShare, is an example of content repurposing. You can link to the original post for more details or another call to action.

Now, how to you feel about repurposing your content? I sincerely hope your fears of duplicate content penalties have been dispelled. If you want your expertise to be seen more widely so you can attract more people to your message, then, I urge you to integrate some repurposing into your content marketing strategy. 

Learn more about duplicate content

And, if you’re still concerned, here are some articles I found that explain the myths of duplicate content penalties:

Google’s Matt Cutts: Duplicate Content Won’t Hurt You, Unless It Is Spammy

Syndicated Content: Why, When & How

The Big Question: Does Duplicate Content Hurt You on Google?

What repurposing tactics are you going to experiment with now? Start with one. Make it a habit. Track your results. Then, try a new tactic. Easy!

The post Do You Suffer From a Fear of Duplicate Content? appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

Consistently delivering the content your audience wants is usually top of mind for most business owners. Yet figuring out exactly what you should be creating isn’t always crystal clear. 

This is an issue that’s been top of my mind as my clients and students are experimenting with tools to find out exactly what and how to deliver their content. There are one question polls, asking “I’m curious…” questions on social media, and surveys, to name a few.

Recently my post on 13 Ways to Reach More People got a lot of traction. Not only was it shared widely, I offered a free checklist which quite a few people downloaded. Those are two key indicators that there is interest in the topic of repurposing content. Now, it’s time to find out exactly what that niche audience, and you, want to know about repurposing content.

So guess what? I’ve created a simple, four-question survey on Google docs. It will take less than two minutes to complete and will help me help you with why, what and how to repurpose your valuable, evergreen content. 

Once you complete the survey, you’ll be able to see most of the responses. They have been enlightening to me and I’ll be developing my editorial calendar to address the frustrations and areas where my audience wants more detailed information. 

How to use survey results

If you do survey your audience, then always take the next step and study the results. By offering a couple of open-ended questions, you’ll discover the language your audience uses to talk about the topic. Those become your keywords when blogging, posting on social media and in any copy you create for products and services.

On the question: In what areas could you use more guidance or support around repurposing your content? …

The top response is “creating a strategy.” I can respond with a blog post, a video, a series of tips on ways to create a strategy for repurposing content.

The open-ended question about what frustrates you most about repurposing content is a wealth of info. Content on that topic can include:

• How to schedule your time
• How to figure out the best platforms for your content
• How to tweak your content for various platforms
• Why you don’t need to fear duplicate content

Get the idea? 

Finally, when you create a simple survey, use a free tool like Google forms, Polldaddy, TypeForm or SurveyMonkey. When you ask 4-5 questions, you don’t need to shell out your hard earned money for a fancy survey tool. 

Now, before you take off to create your own survey, will you please take my survey about repurposing your content? I’ll be so grateful and I will then be able to deliver the content you want in order to grow your business. Thank you!

The post Are You Delivering the Best Content Your Audience Wants? appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.