Are you staring at a blank screen, stumped about the topic of your next blog post? Facing writer’s block and struggling to come up with new content? You’re not alone. This happens to all bloggers eventually, and even the most creative minds sometimes get stuck.
So what can you do when you know that you need to stay active online?
One of the easiest tactics is to repurpose your existing blog content. Savvy marketers know that leveraging the power of their best content over and over again is a tried and true way to drive more traffic to their sites and strengthen their brand’s reputation. In fact, if you’re not reusing your content, you’re missing out on a big opportunity.
In this article, we’re going to show you how you can get started repurposing your content, taking advantage of the great work you’ve already done and finding ways to make it keep working for you.
1. Try Outbrain or Another Content Syndication Service
Have you ever read an article online, and had suggestions for related stories appear at the end of the article? Then you’ve seen how a content syndication service works. Outbrain is one example of a network that will place your blog posts in front of people who are reading about other, similar content. Other choices include Zemanta, Taboola, and SimpleReach.
These services will usually charge you per the clicks your article receives. The links provided by these services as “recommended reading” or “related posts” don’t count toward SEO, but they definitely do work to drive traffic to your site. We recommend that you look into the different syndication services to compare their offerings and then choose the one that fits your needs!
2. Don’t Be Afraid to Republish Your Posts
Did you know that you can republish your posts to get them in front of a wider audience? You can! There are a variety of sites that both allow and encourage you to do this, and it’s usually free. Medium, for example, works like a social media platform but for blog posts. All you need to do is sign up (you can do so with a Facebook, Twitter or Google account), and then use your account to publish new stories. It’s as simple as cutting and pasting from your blog and adding credit back to the original post!
Other choices for republishing content include Reddit, Social Media Today, or GrowthHackers, a site that allows you to promote any content related to startup marketing by submitting a URL.
Look around and see what sites and services you can use for free to republish your content!
3. Use Snippets to Create New Posts on Social Media
Of course, you’d like people to read your whole post. We suspect, however, that there are small gems of wisdom or advice within those posts that would serve very well as teasers and attention getters on your social media accounts.
Consider looking at your existing content and then choosing some snippets from that content to use in creating valuable tweets, LinkedIn updates, Instagram notes or Facebook posts. Making use of the good work you’ve already done in writing will add value to any images that you post on social media, and drive interest in your blog content and in your brand generally!
4. Rework Your Content Into Emails
You are likely already using email as a way of reaching both current and potential customers. You may even be using an automated response sequence which replies to new inquiries driven from your internet presence.
Think about repurposing some of your blog content to use in these emails! Whether they are autoresponses, newsletters or marketing blitzes, look and see what parts of your blog content would fit well into the story you are trying to tell.
Remember that the content that you’ve worked hard to create for your blog can be an excellent way to introduce yourself, or remind your clients of the talent within your organization!
5. Reformat Text Into Images or Sound
Look back and your old content and think about how it could be converted from text to images or sound files. Instead of having to write brand-new content or create new images, use what you’ve already done to publish the same information in different places.
For instance, create a slide show using the text you’ve already written and appropriate images, and then publish to a site like SlideShare (a function of LinkedIn) which collects searchable information in slideshow format.
Here are other ideas:
- Infographics: Use your written content (especially numbers and statistics) to create a visual story.
- Graphs and Charts: Use free image creation tools to convert your data or information into a simple visual.
- Memes: Mine your content and create memes with related images.
- Podcasts: Read your text out loud and then publish them as podcasts on a service like iTunes or Stitcher.
- If you already have video or images, use them to create more blog posts.
You’ve already worked hard to create great content. Now let it work hard for you.