Seven Easy Ways to Repurpose Your Content

I recently presented a webinar for GuideStar called Taming Your Communications Calendar Six Months a Time (which I am now teaching for CharityHowTo). Due to the large number of people who attended, I just couldn’t answer everyone’s questions live. Guidestar asked me to do a couple of follow-up blog posts answering two questions that tended to pop up most frequently. The first question was “How can I repurpose my content in a fresh way?” I get asked this a lot so I thought I would share with you too! (See what I did there – repurposing!). I’ll share the other question and answer later this week.  ~Kivi

Repurposing is an essential part of a manageable communications plan, because it allows you to get more mileage out of your writing, while reinforcing your key messages with your readers.

Here are seven easy ways to repurpose your content:

• Make short pieces longer. If you started with a 200 word blog post or even a quick tweet or Facebook update, flesh that out into a newsletter article by adding some examples. Add more descriptive details, get quotes from people, or share opposing points of view.
• Make long pieces shorter. Pull the headline and use it as a status update. Reduce your paragraphs to bullet points. Publish a teaser and link back to the longer piece.
• Change the lead. Simply start the article in a whole new way. Move something that was lower down in the article to the top. If you didn’t use a quote in the first paragraph before, use one now. Open with a trend or other big-picture explanation.
• Round it up. Group several like items together into a new piece with a theme that you can use in a new headline and lead paragraph. This is great way to use “left over” content like quotes from an interview that didn’t make it into the main article you wrote about the person you interviewed.
• Integrate the comments. This works great on content that was originally posted in social way, such as a blog post or Facebook update, where people could add comments. As you repurpose the article, fully integrate some of what you heard in the comments into the newer version.
• Add your opinion. Much of what you publish is likely “just the facts, ma’am.” Repurpose a newsy article by adding your commentary to it, or opinions or reactions from others.
• Recast it.  Take something completely unrelated and tie it into your content. Tabloid magazines are great inspiration for this method. Can you tie the latest hot superstar, scandal, or headline to your content in some unexpected way that gives you a fresh new lead paragraph or more interesting headline?

Embrace content repurposing, and you’ll save time and energy while still sharing content that your readers will enjoy and appreciate.

This post originally appeared on GuideStar.com.