How to Recycle, Repurpose, and Refresh Your Content

Your content can be amazing (and it probably is), but that doesn't mean it's timeless.

In fact, even your best blog posts may last up to 2 years — and that's pushing it. As time rapidly changes the nature of our business and interactions, two years can seem like a lifetime. It's hard to make content that can withstand the test of time.

Content marketing on other platforms lasts even less. Pinterest posts are relevant for about four months, YouTube videos around 20 days, LinkedIn posts for 24 hours, and Instagram for twenty-one. Even less than these are Facebook (four hours) and Twitter (18 minutes!).

Because of this, it's essential to know how to recycle, repurpose, and refresh your content. This strategy keeps your business on the map, appropriate for the timing, and evergreen (as in, good forever!).

Here, we explain the three R's of content marketing, as well as how to do it, how often, and the compelling benefits.

How to Recycle Your Content 

One excellent way to recycle your content is to bring back your evergreen content and reuse it — almost as if you were upcycling it (finding creative ways to reuse something). What have you written or posted that is essentially timeless? Whatever checks that box, repost it as often as is relevant. 9

How to do it: Dive deep into your archives and find content that hasn't gone out of fashion. Then, see if any of those topics relate to currently trending topics. Repost your evergreen content with a nod at the current news you're connecting it to.

Additionally, post that content on different platforms. If you posted it as a blog on your website the first time, then consider posting it to Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn next.

How often: Not too often, as you don't want to bore your audience with more of the same-old. Do so whenever you've made accurate predictions, your ideas have held up to today, and it's trending.

Benefits: You don't have to write new content — you can recycle things you've already spent time on and continue to gain exposure, engagement, and relevancy. 

Other methods include things like Throwback Thursdays or Flashback Fridays. You can also produce follow-up content that stems from the original idea and builds on those subjects.

How to Repurpose Your Content

First, when creating any new content, you can produce it with repurposing in mind. This mindset makes the repurposing in the future a little less tricky. Your audience won't feel short-changed either.

Then, consider where else your content can be used. If you're making a post that's inherently visual on a site that's text-friendly, such as Facebook, is there a way you can make a YouTube video as well? Then, you can share that YouTube video on other social media platforms, and suddenly, your one idea has several different avenues of viewing and reading.

You can also consider doing something like an eBook, which is especially great if you have multiple posts that cover the same subject. If an eBook is too much, consider something smaller, like an e-newsletter you can send out to your email chain. 

How to do it: Consider your post and how you can make it both visual- and text-friendly. Turn text into videos and videos into more broken-down pages on your blog. Share your posts across all platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and whatever else your business utilizes.

How often: You can repurpose your content as often as is available to you. If your post would look great on both Facebook and Instagram and can cater to both audiences, then post it for both audiences. It largely depends on the nature of the post itself.

Benefits: You only have to produce content based on one theme or idea, but you'll get multiple uses out of it. You'll also be able to reach a broader range of audiences, ages, demographics, and more.

How to Refresh Your Content 

Now that you know how to recycle and repurpose your existing content, how can you make it like-new?

How to do it: Rewrite your existing content in fresh ways by including optimized keywords, headlines, and other SEO tactics. You can even check out its spelling and grammar, the inbound and outbound links, and make sure everything's in line.

If you have any stats that have been debunked or are currently incorrect, swap them out with correct information.

How often: How do you know when it's time to refresh your content? It's usually pretty clear, but these guidelines should help you understand for sure:

• If you haven't updated in years
• If your information is outdated, irrelevant, or perhaps even wrong based on new evidence or updates
• If your company itself has made some changes that make the original post unsuitable for your product, service, or brand
• If your older posts are no longer getting views, engagement, and traffic
• If a Google or SEO update has made your post hidden beneath the algorithm

Does this sound like your content? If so, it's time to hit the refresh button.

Benefits: The obvious benefits of refreshing your content include staying relevant to the times, to your audience, and the scope of the world at the present moment. You want something that's going to matter to your audience today, not five years ago. It may have been applicable then, but that doesn't mean it's pertinent to today's conversation! 

The Three R's of Content Marketing: Get to Know Them!

Keeping these three ideas in mind, your content marketing campaign is on its way to being successful and as timeless as possible.

You can't always produce evergreen content — after all, your posts may be specific to a particular event or point in history — but you can recycle, repurpose, and refresh it to make it relevant weeks, months, and years down the line.

For help optimizing your marketing, advertising, and sales campaigns, check out our services pages for more. ProSales Connection can help your business grow into 2020 and beyond. Contact us with any questions!