Creating content for your business can be time-consuming. There’s your blog, your social media posts, an email newsletter, videos, opt-ins, resources, website copy, sales pages, the list goes on. And you have to know the “rules” for each platform so you can get the biggest bang for your buck. (Rules. Yuck.)
But reusing the same content over a variety of platforms is the fastest way to push out more content with the least amount of effort.
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I’m not suggesting that you push out old content, just for the sake of getting content out there. But I am suggesting that you take some of what you’ve already written and reuse it. Turn a blog post into a video. Pull a few sentences from your blog and turn it into a social post. Use some of the pain points from your sales page on your about page. You get the picture.
They key is to customize the content for the platform. Don’t copy and paste a blog post into a Facebook update. And tailor your videos into manageable pieces, rather than read your blog post word for word.
Here are some tips for writing content for each of the places you’re posting.
Your Blog
As a writer, this is generally where I start because blogs are the easiest things for me to write. Longform content gets more attention by search engines than shorter posts, so work on blogs of at least 750 words. Longer is better, as long as you still have something to say. Don’t write words just to make your post longer.
Facebook limits a status update to 63,206 characters (as of this writing). That’s a lot of content! Because Facebook limits your ability to create pull-quotes, click-to-tweets and other formatting options, a post of this length isn’t skimmable by any stretch of the imagination. So the likelihood of someone actually reading it is slim to none. Instead, focus on a short post that grabs your reader’s attention and include an image with it. And be sure to avoid posting business-related content on your personal profile page. That’s a huge no-no on Facebook.
With its 140-character limit, Twitter is perfect for quick posts or a series of quick posts joined together by a common hashtag. I love posting an image with my own Twitter content because it takes up more space in the news feed, increasing my chances someone will click on it. Keep in mind that each image also takes up some of your characters.
While you can use 2,200 characters in an image caption, Instagram will cut your caption off after three lines in your viewers’ feeds. Make sure those first few lines really count! And because Instagram doesn’t allow clickable links within the captions, include a bit.ly link or note that any link is in your bio. I keep my link pointing to my blog and add custom bit.ly links in updates and graphics as needed.
Many B2B folks use LinkedIn to network online with great success. Here, you’re limited to 600 characters in your status update. If you’re in a more conservative business, this is a great place to market yourself. You can repurpose your blogs here, starting with a short intro and then linking to the full blog post.
YouTube
Video is huge these days! With YouTube, you can add a visual and auditory element to your blogs and other content, simply by getting in front of the camera. Just be sure to add an optimized title, tags and a quality description to each video. You can embed the video to your website, so those who would rather listen than read, can!
Emails
Your email list is one of your most powerful marketing tools. The people on your list have bought into your brand (literally or figuratively) and are your ideal audience. Don’t abuse this privilege but churning out crap. Send informative information and added value—not just a copy-and-paste from your blog.
Opt-In
This is where you grow your email list! When you add value to a blog post with upgraded content (your opt-in), you can gather email addresses in exchange for the additional content for your readers. It’s a win-win!
Courses
Courses come out of your audience wanting and needing more. You can build a course around a series of blog posts, but be sure to add value to them that your audience isn’t getting anywhere else. Maybe you’re expanding on information, adding an accountability piece to actionable steps, taking it a step beyond what you can cover in written form, etc. But if your clients are paying for a course, be sure they get their money’s worth.
Have you identified ways you can repurpose some of your hard-created content? If you’re still struggling, download the Content Repurposing Worksheet to help!
