12 Powerful Benefits of Repurposing Content That'll Transform Your Creative Workflow Forever

You might've heard someone recommending "content repurposing" as a crucial part of modern content marketing strategy. This term has been circulating in the marketing social media bubble for a long time – and many myths about this topic have risen.

Everyone seems to have their system or framework. And they want you to believe their system is the best.

This might make you wonder: "Isn't repurposing content just another marketing buzzword"?

Well… only if you overcomplicate it.

In this article, we will break down the essential benefits of content repurposing to help you decide whether to include it in your content marketing strategy.

What Is Content Repurposing?

Content repurposing is about reusing one piece of content multiple times in many formats. As a result, you can publish the same amount of content across all social media platforms without having to think about new topics for each.

Let's say you're publishing a weekly newsletter. After finishing your latest issue, you can reuse its topic and adapt it to a written social media post.

For example, in my newsletter, I have a section titled "Content Kings of the Week," where I share the best examples of content marketing I found in the past seven days. Every week, I repurpose this section by turning it into a long-form LinkedIn post:

I know this post will appear weekly in my content calendar, so I don't have to worry about what I post that day.

Speaking of "not worrying," let's get straight to the benefits of content repurposing.

Benefits of Content Repurposing

While trying to compile the list of benefits of content repurposing, I noticed three main categories I could assign to each use:

• Optimization: Repurposing content is a way to optimize your content production workflow. You spend less time coming up with ideas and the content creation itself.
• Diversification: Content repurposing is a helpful tool to reach broader audiences and deliver equal value to them across multiple channels.
• Authority: As content repurposing strengthens your message, you become a trusted resource in your niche.

To keep things clean and simple, we'll go through the benefits of category consecutively. Let's dive in!

1. Save time on content production

Content creation is probably not the only thing you need to do if you're a busy online entrepreneur. And taking into account that writing a blog post takes 4 hours on average – it's unrealistic to assume you'll be able to produce 30 blog posts a week and share them with your audience.

A much easier approach is to produce one blog post a week and repurpose it into all the other channels you're creating content for.

For example, this blog post will be repurposed into several formats:

1. An infographic: Because it's a list, I can quickly create a simple infographic in Canva.
2. A long-form LinkedIn post: This post will aim to build my expertise and provide in-depth information about content repurposing to my audience (similar to this blog post). I'll also include a link to this article in the first comment to bring over my LinkedIn audience to the channel I own.
3. A LinkedIn carousel: A more digestible yet still in-depth visual format that helps me highlight the main benefits of content repurposing (and add some fun memes in between).
4. A long-form video: Again, since the format of this blog post is a list, it can be easily repurposed into a YouTube video script.

As you can see, by investing only 4 hours in the blog post and another 1-2 in the other formats, I can generate five different content formats for all channels I use.

2. Simplify consistency

You've heard it: "To grow on social media, you must be consistent."

This is true, of course, but it doesn't make it any easier.

Consistency of publishing when you have to develop new ideas for content daily is impractical. You'd have to spend much of your day brainstorming or finding inspiration online.

And what about the days when you feel tired of creation and want to focus on something less demanding? We're not some endless ideas machines. Forcing yourself to create something "groundbreaking" all the time is a straight road to burnout.

Repurposing content can help you maintain consistency without risking "repeating yourself." It simplifies the creative process by giving you the essence of what you'll discuss in the piece. The only thing you have to worry about is adjusting the final draft to the requirements of each channel.

3. Free up your schedule

Let's be honest for a second: creating content can be time-consuming. Ideation, creation, editing, adding it to your CMS… It all steals time from your already busy week.

Repurposing content simplifies creating content in batches. You can write a LinkedIn post about one topic, reuse the same topic as a script for a video/podcast, or expand on your thoughts and write an in-depth blog post. Everything will be connected to the same idea, so you don't need to think twice about unique insights (or any insights at all).

This gives you more time to analyze your current content performance or grab a drink of choice and spend the Friday evening not crafting another bunch of content for your personal brand.

It suddenly becomes the focal point of all your daily activities. You churn out piece after piece, aiming to outrank your competitors or overdeliver on value for your audience.

In reality, content should be the tool that helps you grow your business, not the goal itself. When repurposing your content, you can regain the time needed to manage your business's other parts.

4. Extend your content lifespan

Did you know that the average lifespan of a Tweet is… 18 minutes?

Twitter growth experts suggest posting thrice daily to drive traffic to your profile and grow your following.

Doing a quick math:

• You post 3 times a day for 7 days = 21 posts
• Each post lasts 18 minutes maximum
• You get ~6 hours of "air time" on the platform each week

That's less than an hour a day…

If you don't repurpose your Twitter content, you allow your content to disappear in the noise after minutes. But if you take each of your tweets and repurpose it into a:

• In-depth tweet thread
• Long-form LinkedIn post (~24 hours of life span)
• Detailed blog post solving the problem from the tweet (24/7 life span)

You gain much more from your hard work on content.

5. Reach a broader audience

Each time you publish content on a new platform, you can attract more eyes to your content.

We know that some people prefer to consume video while others are all for long-form written content. Opting for just one format limits your content potential.

And hey, sometimes one thing doesn't work on one platform but goes viral on another. Content repurposing can be a great method of identifying topics that resonate better in a specific format or on a particular platform.

Also, publishing content in multiple formats helps you learn more about your audience. You can use those insights later to polish up your content strategy and ensure that each content piece you publish gives you a satisfying return on investment.

6. Make your message stick

There are multiple ways to ensure your marketing stays in your customer's heads for long, but repetition works best.

We can't just publish one social media post or even one in-depth blog post for our customers to remember us. Like you, your customers are constantly bombarded with content everywhere. You can't expect them to read one of your posts and think: "Wow, this person is exactly who I'm looking for."

Now, when I say "repeating," I don't mean copy-pasting your previous content to the T. Instead, we can repurpose your content from one channel to another, amplifying your message's strength.

Repurposing can and should happen within one platform as well. When I plan my weekly content for LinkedIn, I try to tackle the same problem from multiple angles.

For example, after writing this blog post, I'll devote my entire LinkedIn content calendar to content repurposing. To make it interesting throughout the week and maintain the same message of my content, I'm going to use angles like:

• "How I do it": This format builds my expertise as a content marketing professional while serving actionable steps for my audience. This content should attract new followers and nurture my potential leads by giving them insight into my work systems.
• "How they do it": I analyze someone else's content repurposing system here. This again showcases my expertise, but this time goes outside my way of working.
• "Biggest mistakes": Posts from this category build FOMO and can generate significant engagement. Nobody likes to be in the wrong. And if I promise to save my audience from wasting time, money, or resources with something beneficial, they'll reward me with their attention.
• Frameworks: Systems of all kinds are sexy. We like to organize our work, so posts like this attract many people. And if I have a unique system, a post like this can quickly become a goldmine of value for my audience.
• My lessons: Showing up only as an "expert" can quickly turn into showing up as a "guru." Posts with addresses show what I do, how I do it, and how I got to where I am today. This builds a relationship with my audience and encourages them to share their stories.

And just like that, I have generated five precious LinkedIn posts. With only one blog post. Not bad, right?

7. Generate fresh content for longer

When you embrace content repurposing and incorporate it into your daily workflow, you will notice it generates numerous ideas that don't fit into your weekly schedule.

Don't throw them away. Note them and plan to use them in the next few weeks or months. Once they pile up, you'll have weeks filled with content ideas – all you have to do is write content based on them.

I use my Notion content management system to store all my repurposed content ideas. I include the estimated date of publication there as well. This way, the topic automatically shows up on my content kanban board when it's time to take care of it:

But if that's not working, you can go for something as simple as an Excel sheet. I'd not advise dropping all your ideas into an Apple Note or any note-taking app. These notes get messy quickly, and you might lose some of the fantastic ideas you came up with (speaking from experience here 🤣).

8. Stop relying on algorithms

Going "viral" is probably the most repeated goal of people starting in content creation. Unsurprisingly, we love seeing our work appreciated by the masses.

This text isn't about why going viral shouldn't be your goal. When repurposing content, you increase your chances of your message exploding on the platform.

Virality has two major elements that drive it:

• Volume
• Accident

You can't predict if your content will go viral. But you can control how often you're discussing a certain topic. And when you post about the same topic enough times, you're taking advantage of the illusory truth.

In a traditional sense, this bias relates to false information and manipulation. But it applies as well to content marketing. Each time we repeat the same information in different forms, we increasingly convince more people to trust us.

Research suggests that the illusory truth effect occurs after only two repetitions. This means even if you repurpose your content once (and repeat one message two times), more people start to resonate with it, and you get more attention to your content.

Think of virality as a whirlwind. Content repurposing is the wind that powers it up.

9. You create better content

Having a bigger backlog of content gives you peace of mind and lets you focus on the quality of each piece. Instead of trying to squeeze out ten fresh content pieces, you can create two of exceptional quality and repurpose them to other formats.

When you look at the biggest creators in your niche, you'll quickly notice that most of them are constantly repurposing content. For instance, Justin Welsh, one of the most prominent LinkedIn creators now, built an entire system for repurposing his newsletter content to social media.

At the time of writing, this repurposing system helped more than 4,000 creators worldwide and got Justin more than 400,000 followers on LinkedIn.

As you can see, the proper repurposing system can bring some incredible results.

10. Strengthen your online authority

Have you ever noticed that we associate certain people with certain jobs or roles? Beyonce is The Queen of Music, Joe Pulizzi is The Content Marketing Godfather, and Ali Abdaal is The Productivity Guy.

Those people have consistently delivered beneficial things to their audiences over the years. They stuck to their expertise and built trust with millions of people by doing what they do best – and showing others how it should be done.

All of those actions can be categorized as building authority. Now, I know you've already seen thousands of tips on how to make your authority online. I'm not going to dive deep into it, but I need to highlight one major point of this process:

Authorities do and discuss things they're the best at. And they discuss it over and over again wherever they go.

You don't see Ali Abdaal talking about Chemistry or Beyonce doing math equations (although I think she would be great at this). Similarly, you shouldn't jump from topic to topic while publishing your content online. You should find a way to repeat the same few messages thousands of times without getting bored.

11. Become a go-to resource for your followers

This one is a part of your overall online authority. When you repurpose content that showcases your authority, your audience remembers you as the "person talking about it often."

Give it a few more months of repurposing and actively helping your community in the comments or DMs, and suddenly, you'll become the "go-to" person for your niche.

This might be the most valuable stage in every creator's journey. When your audience trusts you enough to be sure you'll answer their questions well, you've done an excellent job.

To become the go-to resource, show your followers how deeply you care about this topic and how insightful your content can get. There's always a space to dig deeper – use content repurposing as a tool to uncover still untapped aspects of your niche.

12. Boost your chances of selling products

One of the most important goals of online content creation is to gather around people willing to listen to your advice. People who actively consume your content, engage with it, and connect with you in the DMs are the biggest value of your business.

Content repurposing helps nurture your followers with fresh content without a huge effort from your side. Your repurposed content still focuses on solving their problems, and different formats are great at helping them understand the details.

Now, those people are most likely ready to buy from you. They've heard your advice enough times to be sure you know what you're doing. Some of them may have even successfully applied it. When you see this happening, it's time to introduce your product.

Content repurposing simplifies selling because you don't have to rely on salesy, pushy content to convince more people to buy from you. You're still creating valuable content that solves problems – only now, you introduce your product as the potential solution.

Additionally, well-performing social media content repurposed to blog posts can attract more new eyes to your product and give you an extra boost to your products' sales. With SEO, you can connect with people actively looking for solutions to their problems. Buying a product from you will seem like a no-brainer in this scenario.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is content repurposing?

Content repurposing is reusing a single piece of content in multiple formats. It allows you to publish the same content across various social media platforms without generating new topics for each platform.

What are the benefits of content repurposing?

The benefits of content repurposing can be categorized into three main categories: optimization, diversification, and authority. It helps save time on content production, simplifies consistency in publishing, frees up your schedule, extends the lifespan of your content, and enables you to reach a broader audience.

Additionally, it strengthens your online authority, generates fresh content ideas, reduces reliance on algorithms, improves content quality, and boosts your chances of selling products.

How does content repurposing save time on content production?

Content repurposing saves time on content production by allowing you to focus on creating one high-quality piece of content and then adapting it into multiple formats.

Instead of creating new content from scratch for each platform, you can repurpose the existing content to suit different channels. This way, you can produce a variety of content formats while investing less time in the overall content creation process.

How does content repurposing simplify consistency in publishing?

Consistency is important for growing on social media, but constantly developing new content ideas can be challenging and time-consuming.

Content repurposing simplifies consistency by providing the core ideas and topics you can adapt and repurpose across multiple platforms. It streamlines the creative process, allowing you to maintain a consistent publishing schedule without constantly brainstorming or seeking new inspiration.

How does content repurposing extend the lifespan of content?

Content repurposing extends the lifespan of your content by leveraging different formats and platforms.

While some platforms have short content lifespans, such as tweets that last an average of 18 minutes, repurposing allows you to transform that content into more in-depth formats like blog posts or LinkedIn articles, which can have a longer lifespan.

By repurposing your content into different formats, you maximize its reach and ensure it stays visible to your audience for longer.

Final Thoughts

Repurposing content has emerged as a valuable strategy for businesses and content creators. It offers many benefits, including extending the lifespan of content, reaching a broader audience, strengthening online authority, saving time on content production, simplifying consistency, and encouraging engagement.

By repackaging existing content into different formats, businesses can maximize their return on investment and establish themselves as reliable sources of information. So, don't let your valuable content go to waste—repurpose it and unlock its full potential.

And if you need help with building your content repurposing strategy, book a free consultation with me.