Most folks understand that having fresh content for their website, blog, newsletter or podcast is important. They know they need something to engage customers with on social media, to feed SEO or to attract the interest of earned media. But the stumbling block is often actually producing that new content.
While fresh is great, recycling, leveraging and reusing content can also work. Here are 3 things you can do to leverage your existing content:
1. Look up blog posts that generated comments or the most social shares. Come up with 4-5 new snappy headlines that could go with the content and share the link on your social channels. Keep the headline short and post an image with the link on Twitter and Facebook. I bet you’ll generate considerable views or more followers. You could also refresh the content with a timely update as the introduction, while using a new image and headline and repost that to your blog and then broadcast out on your social channels. This technique can be good for revisiting trends and predictions, or following up on an event.
2. Take a look at topics trending on Twitter or showing up in your Facebook feed. Check #hashtags, then go back into your content as see if there is anything you could creatively attach to that topic. Then re-post the link to your content, using hashtags of course. Again, you could also refresh the content and repost it and then broadcast it out. For example “climate change” is topical again in Canada, or maybe you had great tips for navigating family gatherings that could have saved a few American Thanksgiving dinner table conversations this past weekend.
3. Read the paper and watch the news. Find out what is big news. Then try to attach your content to it. If the writer gave a Twitter handle in their article (most do) be sure to tag them in your Twitter post about the topic along with a link to your old content. The added benefit of this tactic is you will be viewed as an expert in your field, and the media might seek you out in the future for quotes. I have a client that was doing very progressive work in education around the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations. They were able to generate several pieces of content about the work, which drove people back to their website through social media sharing, as well as achieving earned media for their efforts.
The successful building of brand awareness through content marketing utilizes 4 pillars of media: owned, rented, earned and paid. But it all starts with anchored content on your owned media. Generating that content is key. Link here to a past blog post to learn more about the 4 pillars of your media empire.
