Content creators, at least those who know what they’re doing, understand that repurposing their content is essential. The problem is that many creators feel that repurposing their content is equivalent to wearing their dirty underwear again — and they don’t want to do it. But, when you think about it, it makes sense that they have this attitude toward content repurposing. Creators enjoy being in “creative mode”, as their passion is to deliver new content to their viewers and listeners, not to edit pieces they already unleashed out of their system.
Furthermore, content repurposing is neither easy nor cheap. Sili dancing videos on TikTok are as easy to copy to Instagram as they are to any of the new distribution platforms, such as Google Web stories or Youtube shorts. But repurposing long-form videos or audios, on the other hand, will be much more difficult. If it’s a complicated subject, hiring a copywriter to listen to a 20-minute video or an hour-long podcast episode can cost around $200 per piece, and it requires knowledge and specialty.
So why do creators repurpose their content?
As the director of product management at Munch, I had the opportunity to speak with dozens, if not hundreds, of content creators, both big and small. There is a clear line between the successful and the rest of them, in my opinion — it’s all about being professional about it.
“In short and flat — SEO, platform “score”, and reaching new audiences”
Successful content creators knew everything there was to know about Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and any other content distribution platform. They stressed the importance of posting consistency and treating content as an asset! And, like all business people, they want to squeeze the most profit out of their assets. One of them told me that the three main reasons to repurpose content are:
- SEO.
- Increasing your “score” in platforms.
- Reaching audiences that aren’t on your leading distribution platform.
Now, let’s elaborate on each of the three reasons.
Platform “score”
Content creators realize that they are competing against each other for our (content consumers) attention. But it’s not only about our eyes; it is also about what the platform wants. Content distribution platforms, like Facebook and TikTok, incentivize content creators to post more content by giving a higher probability to be shown by posting consistency. That means that if you post more, it would be more probable to appear on views’ feeds. The leading content creators realized that they must use their already-made content to increase the number of posts per time. They change it to appear as a new piece and then post it again in a different context.
Reaching new audiences
It is difficult for anyone to be successful on a single platform. However, creators acknowledge that to reach their full potential in content distribution and follower generation, they must be present on as many platforms as possible, at least those containing their target audience and type of content. Content repurposing can be used to bounce between platforms without having to create new content. Assume you’re making marketing videos for YouTube. You have a lot of videos that explain various marketing techniques.
I’ll give two examples of how an intelligent content creator can use these videos on other platforms. One option is to convert a YouTube video into a blog post for LinkedIn, a popular platform for marketing content. Another option is to convert a YouTube video into a Twitter thread or multiple Twitter threads. Instead of only one platform, you now have at least three content pieces to post on.
Some tools and platforms can make these types of processes relatively simple. Some provide free video transcription for turning a video into a blog post. Others provide video editing to cut videos into social media posts, while others provide complete automation for content repurposing. For example, Munch uses AI to convert videos into social posts and blog posts automatically. That ability allows content creators to upload a video and then receive at least 15 new pieces of content to post across all popular distribution platforms.
SEO
I recently realized that not all content creators know that videos and audios, except for their headlines and descriptions, are not searchable on search engines. That fact alone may strongly motivate converting videos to textual content. One simple method, which many people use, is to include a transcription alongside the video or audio (Example: podcast episode). However, if you want to truly engage your readers, you should turn the video into an article, as if it were written for them in the first place. Another option is to extract highlights from videos or audio and post them. When you do this, search engines will be much more helpful in assisting your audience in finding your content.
Creating is not enough
To summarize, creating content is challenging in many ways. You can post a piece of content and hope for the best, hoping that people will like it, or you can act like a professional and do the hard work of reposting. Nowadays, technology makes it easier to reproduce content, but you must first gain the knowledge and expertise to know what to do and how. You must primarily consider three factors: the needs of the distribution platforms, revealing your content to other potential followers, and assisting people in finding your content.
