How to Repurpose Old Content into Fresh Ideas

Let's Repurpose Old Content into Fresh Ideas

MaiLy Thao

9.10.2024

As a social media manager, juggling multiple platforms and staying on top of content planning can feel overwhelming. With so much to manage, coming up with fresh ideas regularly can quickly become a challenge. But what if you didn’t need to constantly brainstorm new content?

Repurposing old content into fresh, engaging posts allows you to stay active across all your channels without the pressure of always creating from scratch. In this article, we’ll explore how you can transform existing content into new ideas that keep your audience engaged and your workload lighter.

What is repurposing content, and why is it important?

Repurposing content is the practice of taking existing material, like a blog post, and transforming it into multiple social media posts across different platforms. Essentially, it's about recycling content you've already created and adapting it to various formats, maximizing its value and reach.

For instance, you could break down a blog post into a Twitter (now X) thread, or convert it into a video for YouTube. This approach allows you to generate a variety of engaging content from a single source, extending its lifespan and reducing the workload of constantly coming up with new ideas.

Repurposing content is crucial for maintaining an effective and efficient social media strategy.

Saves Time

Repurposing content allows you to avoid spending hours brainstorming new ideas for each platform. You can reuse existing material, streamlining the content creation process.

Eliminates Content Fatigue

By having a library of content ready to be repurposed, you can say goodbye to creative blocks. There’s always something available to adapt into new posts.

Maintains Brand Consistency

Posting similar messages across different channels ensures your brand remains consistent, reinforcing key messages and a cohesive identity.

Helps Your Brand Show Up Regularly

With a constant stream of ready-to-go content, you can maintain a regular posting schedule, ensuring your audience stays engaged with frequent updates.

Encourages Engagement

The more you post, the higher the likelihood of increasing engagement rates. Consistency and variety help keep your audience interested.

Reaches Different Audiences Across Multiple Platforms

Repurposing content enables you to connect with people who prefer different mediums (text, video, visuals) without overextending your resources.

Consider:

Convert survey results into infographics
Turn insights into an X (formerly Twitter) thread

Katelyn Bourgoin shares an X thread of her latest post, packed with videos and visuals.

Create a video or video series
Animate tutorials and guides
Highlight key quotes and share them
Engage by asking questions or creating polls
Turn key points into Reels or Stories
Share responses through Stories or Reels

Red Antler turned their annual gift guide into a multi-slide Story on Instagram.

Supports Multi-Channel Posting

Tools like SO9’s bulk import feature make it easier to post across platforms by preloading ready-to-use content, further reducing workload.

How to repurpose content with a structured 5-step flow

Repurposing content for social media is a fantastic strategy, but it can quickly become overwhelming without a solid workflow.

Here’s a straightforward, step-by-step approach to get you started:

1. Identify Your Key Platforms

Start by deciding which social media platforms you’ll focus on. It's nearly impossible to excel on every platform, so choose the ones where your audience is most active. For instance, if you’re selling recipe boxes, LinkedIn may not be the best fit. However, if you're an HR company, LinkedIn should be a priority.

Check your social analytics (or check out your SO9 report) to see where you’re getting the most engagement. Focus on 2-3 platforms and study the types of content your audience prefers on each one.

Here’s how you can gather insights:

Analyze your own social media metrics to identify high-performing posts.
Review your competitors' content strategies to see what works for them.
Directly ask your followers what kind of content they enjoy.
Run a social media audit

You may find that your audience enjoys multiple types of content on the same platform. For instance, Instagram followers might love your Stories, infographic carousels, and reels, while LinkedIn users may engage more with videos.

Now, decide how you’ll repurpose your evergreen or blog post content across platforms. This will form the foundation of your content marketing workflow for every new piece.

For example:

Twitter (now X): Create an X thread and a 20-second video snippet.
Instagram: Share a Reel.
Facebook: Post a two-minute video along with an infographic.

With this approach, every blog post or long-form video you create will also generate several pieces of micro-content tailored for social media.

SPARK uses short stop-motion videos on Facebook but opts for more graphic-driven visuals on Instagram. By tailoring content to each platform’s strengths, you’ll maximize engagement and reach.

2. Build Your Team

If you're planning to create various types of content, you’ll likely need a diverse set of skills.

While you're an expert at deciding what to post and when you may need additional support for tasks like video production or infographic design.

Since you’ve already determined the type of content you want to repurpose, it’ll be easy to identify the team members required for each task.

Once you’ve assembled the team, ensure you set aside time each week or month to collaborate and produce the content you need.

3. Establish a Timeline for Each Content Piece

While it’s tempting to post all your social content immediately after a new piece goes live, staggering your posts can ease your workload and improve performance.

However, you don’t want to miss out on sharing important pieces like infographics or Twitter (now X) threads. This is where a social media content calendar becomes essential, allowing you to plan when each repurposed piece will be posted.

Let’s say you’re repurposing content into a Twitter (now X) thread, a 20-second video, an Instagram Reel, a two-minute video, and an infographic. Your schedule might look like this:

Same day: Twitter (now X) thread
Next day: Instagram Reel
Two days later: 20-second video
One week later: Two-minute video
10 days later: Infographic

You can extend this schedule over several months, which can increase click-throughs, impressions, and engagement.

Source: How to Increase Social Media Engagement By Repromoting Content

For example, you might repost certain content each month for six months while it’s still relevant.

Be sure to factor content creation into your calendar so you’re not scrambling to post, like realizing the day you need to share a two-minute video that it hasn’t been made yet.

Waypost Marketing, for instance, turns its blog posts into actionable, visual takeaways to share on Instagram.

4. Build Your Content Repurposing Toolkit

When working with various types of content, investing in the right tools is essential, especially for creating visuals like infographics and videos.

Consider what tools will streamline your process and ensure that your team has access to them. Your content repurposing toolkit might include:

A graphic design tool like Canva
A video editing tool like Adobe Premiere Pro
A social media scheduling tool like SO9
An animation tool like Stop Motion Studio
An infographic creation tool like Visme

For example, Pentagram shares quotes from its podcasts on Facebook, accompanied by attention-grabbing visuals.

5. Monitor Your Performance

The last step in the process is evaluating which types of repurposed content resonate most with your audience—so you can create more of it!

In the beginning, it’s normal to experiment and find out what works best. While you may start by creating infographics from your key social media posts, you might discover that they don’t get the engagement you were hoping for. If that’s the case, there’s no need to stick with it.

By tracking your performance, you’ll gain valuable insights into the kinds of social media content your audience prefers. This helps refine your repurposing strategy, saving you time and yielding better results.

Each month, review the analytics on your chosen platforms, paying attention to metrics like:

Likes
Comments
Shares
Click-throughs

If you have specific goals, like driving website traffic, incorporate that into your tracking as well.

Waypost Marketing, for instance, shares employee quotes on Instagram to engage its audience.

Best practices for repurposing content

Plan Your Repurposed Content Before You Write

Stay ahead by identifying which sections of your upcoming pillar post can be repurposed before you even start writing. This approach ensures that content creation feels more natural, rather than trying to force unrelated pieces together.

Cross-Promote Across Platforms

Just because you’ve made a video for YouTube doesn’t mean it can’t be shared on Twitter (now X) or Facebook as well. Don’t restrict yourself to one type of content per platform—many types of media work effectively across multiple channels, so diversify your content distribution.

Batch Your Tasks

Streamline your workload by focusing on similar types of content at the same time. Create all your infographics in one go, film your videos in one session, and write all your Twitter (now X) threads while you're in the writing flow.

Once you're done, take advantage of tools like Sendible's bulk upload feature to schedule everything quickly and efficiently.

Keep It Simple and Visual

Repurposing content doesn’t have to be time-consuming. It can be as easy as turning key points from a pillar post into visual content.

For example, brands often take quotes or testimonials and place them on branded backgrounds. It’s a quick, simple way to create content that’s engaging and shareable.

Link Back to the Original Content

Always remember to direct your audience back to the original pillar content. By connecting all your repurposed content to a central piece, you create a cohesive ecosystem that improves your search engine performance and delivers a unified brand message.

Linking back to your original blog post from repurposed pieces will drive traffic and strengthen your SEO over time.

Simplify Your Work with Content Repurposing

As a social media manager, you have enough on your plate—so take the stress of generating new ideas daily off your list.

Instead, leverage existing content to create various formats for different platforms. Content repurposing not only saves you valuable time but also ensures consistent branding across channels while engaging diverse audiences in multiple ways.

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