How to Plan your Online Content with Repurposing in mind
When it comes to planning online content for your website, email marketing, and social media there are major efficiencies to be gained by considering the ways in which that content can be repurposed from the outset – in fact, at the planning stage. By repurposing I mean not only sharing the same content across different channels but also in different formats for different audiences.
Repurposing is not only sharing the original link or content across multiple platforms, it is taking segments of that content and posting multiple times over a long period of time. Furthermore, a topic can be repurposed by delivering both short-form and long-form content.
Channels include:
- Social media
- Websites
- Your own blog
- Guest posting
- Medium
- Substack
- LinkedIn newsletters
- Community platforms
- Discord
- Quora
- Audio platforms
- Your own podcast
- Guest interviews on podcasts
- Clubhouse
- Video format
- Youtube
- TikTok
- Email newsletters
Formats to hit all the senses
By thinking about how different audiences consume information before you create it will ensure it resonates. For example, I like to read, others like to listen and some like to watch.
Therefore plan for:
- Written word
- Audio
- Video
These three formats can be consumed as follows:
- Written word including images
- Website/blog post
- Email newsletter
- Social media
- Other online publishing sites. E.g. Medium, Substack, Ghost, etc.
- Audio
- Website
- Podcast
- Social media
- Video
- Website
- YouTube
- Social media
(Note: there are situations where all three media will be used in the same piece of content. For example, a blog post may also include video, or a podcast will have accompanying show notes)
My advice is to start with the written word as this is where ideas are best formulated.
Messaging for customer journey phases
Your message or content should also appeal to clients or customers who are at different stages along the customer journey:
For example:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Decision
- Delivery
- Use
- Loyalty
- Advocacy
Download a detailed template of a customer journey map here
Planning your Content
With the multiple permutations described above it is easy to overcomplicate the planning stage.
The easiest way to understand how to plan for repurposing is by the use of the following example which shows how a single topic, ‘How to Nurture Lead on LinkedIn’ will be repurposed.
Topic | How to nurture leads on LinkedIn | |
Customer journey phase | Decision | |
Original content format | Written | Long-form |
Repurposed format | Written, video | Short-form |
Distribution channels | Blog post Newsletter LinkedIn article LinkedIn posts Facebook group LinkedIn video YouTube | Long-form Short-form + link Long-form Snippet x10 Snippet x10 Snippet x10 5-minute video 5-minute video |
In sketching out the content, I would be mindful of the 10 social media snippets and consider the different images which will accompany those posts. For the 5-minute videos I will consider the content for each minute and the style of delivery; will I speak to camera or use a PowerPoint or Canva slide recording?
By completing a table as above for each of my weekly or fortnightly posts, I can allocate sufficient time to writing the original content ensuring it meets my objective of helping my audience make a decision as to whether to work with me.
If you are looking for help planning your content, book a free, introductory strategy strategy session: Strategy session
