5 Successful Ways of Repurposing Content for Social Media

The average user spends over 2 hours on social media every single day. That is 2 hours users could (and should) be spending enjoying your content. But how is it possibly realistic to keep up with the demand? Especially when users are seamlessly bouncing from platform to platform looking for something new. Or are they? 

The great thing about social media is that users aren’t necessarily looking for something new after all. Yes, they’re prioritizing social entertainment and entertaining content, but who says that needs to be through net-new assets on every platform? Repurposing content that performs well is not only a great way to save time and resources, but it also shows consistency and helps brands tell users a cohesive story on every platform. 

In this blog, we discuss: 

• Why brands should repurpose content,
• 5 tips for your content repurposing strategy,
• How to repurpose video content,
• Repurposing content with Dash Hudson.

Why Should Brands Repurpose Content?

There are a plethora of reasons brands should be repurposing their content. As mentioned above, repurposing content is a massive time, resource and budget saver for cross-channel marketing but that’s not the only benefit. 

Improved Engagement and Impressions

We've analyzed the data and found that brands who engaged in cross-channel campaigns experienced a higher average engagement rate and higher average impressions. Brands that posted on six channels received an average engagement rate of 4.14% versus an average engagement rate of .86% when only posting on one channel. If you want to increase your brand’s reach, posting on multiple channels is the answer.

Reaching Different Demographics

Repurposing content allows brands the bandwidth to post to channels you may not have considered before — and with new platforms comes a whole new social media demographic that you may not have targeted before. For example, if your brand is mostly focused on Instagram and starts repurposing Reels for Facebook, you will then be accessing a more mature audience that you hadn’t previously considered. 

The same goes for repurposing blog posts into a TikTok video or YouTube Short. The audience that would seek out your blog content is likely different from the audience that would watch the short-form video, so it will also give you insight into how these different audiences feel about your content when broken down into different mediums.

Brand Consistency

It’s a known fact that users like to do quite a bit of research before making a purchase. In fact, users typically view 13 pieces of content before making a purchase. This means they will definitely be checking out your various social channels, as well as your website, and any supporting pages and content you have to offer. 

By repurposing content and telling a consistent story across all channels, users will become familiarized with your marketing and your products, which in turn builds brand awareness and authority. This positively impacts the level of trust they feel with your brand.

In short, repurposing content saves your brand time and helps you become recognizable and an authority figure to your target audience and new users. It’s a win-win.

5 Tips for your Content Repurposing Strategy

While a lot of discussion around repurposing content relates to social media, it doesn’t just start there. There are plenty of ways to repurpose other types of content to get the most out of your marketing efforts. Below are some of the most effective ways on how to repurpose content.

1. Reuse Podcast and Webinar Material

Webinars and podcasts are effective pieces of marketing material, although time and resource-consuming. Repurposing this type of content is necessary to get the most out of your efforts and budget. Luckily, a good podcast or webinar is usually easy to break up, and post across social media. 

The best way to ensure you have a good amount of content to repurpose from each podcast or webinar is to have different segments that can be broken into short 1-2 minute videos and shared via TikTok, Reels, or YouTube Shorts.

Be sure to also post your full podcast episodes to your brand YouTube channel to reach a different user base than what typically uses Spotify or Apple Podcasts.   

2. Rethink Blog Content 

Blog content is already a great starting point for repurposing content, but once you start creating these pieces with shareability and reusability in mind, you will have a surplus of assets that can be repurposed anywhere. Of course, you can promote your standalone blog posts on your social media and through email or ads, but you can also break down these posts into notable quotes, DYKs (did you know), tips and more that can be shared through your stories or static posts.

3. Share UGC 

The content you choose to repurpose doesn’t always have to be your own. UGC is a gold mine for amazing content that can be utilized in countless ways beyond just sharing on social. Some of the best and most unexpected ways to repurpose UGC is through paid ads, email marketing and even your blog. 

By repurposing UGC in these ways, you’re building brand authenticity and also showing users that you see them and you’re listening. This will promote more people to create UGC for your brand in the long run. 

4. Curate Twitter Threads 

Brands can use a new WordPress feature that allows brands to easily share blog posts as Twitter threads. Twitter is often a forgotten social channel when it comes to repurposing content but it can be a great way to reuse shorter blog content. Don’t fret if you don’t have access to WordPress — you can still use this tactic to repurpose blog content on Twitter by just copying and pasting straight from your site to your Twitter account.  

5. Shift to a Cross-Channel Mindset

The easiest way to get good at repurposing is to go into content creation with a cross-channel mindset. To do this, consider how a piece of content you create can be altered or adjusted to work well for another platform. Take it a step further by identifying which platforms you want to focus on first, then work on your creative with that in mind. Once your brand gets used to planning and creating for multiple channels, repurposing content becomes second nature.

How to Repurpose Video Content

It’s a well known fact that video content – especially short-form video – is the most important piece of content brands need to be creating right now. Because of this, it’s crucial to know how to repurpose video content for each platform to save both time and resources. Below, we’ll discuss how to correctly repurpose videos for TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube.  

Repurposing TikTok Videos for Reels and YouTube

If there is one thing that is well-known about TikTok, it is that it’s all about quantity. This means that brands have plenty of amazing videos that can and should be repurposed for Reels and YouTube. 

When it comes to how to repurpose TikToks for Reels and YouTube, it's fairly simple. The most important thing to remember is to remove the infamous watermark that appears when you download and save TikTok videos. Luckily, TikTok is launching a new feature that gives you the opportunity to save videos without the watermark. 

Another way to do this, if it’s not currently available to you, is to create your videos outside of TikTok, so you will have a fresh version to share on all of your channels.

Repurposing Reels for YouTube and TikTok

Instagram is where most brands got their start on social media and where they have the best understanding of their audience, the type of content they like and what they respond to. Because of this, repurposing Instagram Reels and knowing how to repurpose Instagram content is extremely beneficial. 

By repurposing the videos you know your audience responds to from a reliable platform like Instagram, you’re not only sharing content you know your target audience will like, but you’re also creating a cohesive brand story across all channels.

Repurposing YouTube Videos for TikTok and Reels

If you’re wondering how to repurpose YouTube videos for TikTok and Instagram Reels, it’s actually very easy. Unlike TikTok and Instagram, the type of content that is typically created for YouTube is long-form. This means there is plenty of opportunity to slice and dice this longer form content into shorter videos that fit into your TikTok and Instagram Reels strategy.

Two things to keep in mind when repurposing your YouTube content for TikTok and Reels are: 

1. Aspect Ratio: YouTube videos are 16:9, while TikTok and Reels are 9:16.

2. Lo-Fi vs Hi-Fi video: Lo-Fi video typically performs better on TikTok and Reels, so consider repurposing that type of content from your YouTube channel first. 

Repurposing Content with Dash Hudson

Repurposing content has never been simpler than with Dash Hudson. One of the most important aspects of repurposing content for social media is knowing what content performs best for your brand. With advanced tools like Social Insights and Trends and Dash Hudson's Predictive Vision AI, you can know exactly what users want to see more of on their feeds and what types of content you should be repurposing. 

Once you have the content you want to repurpose, it’s time to work it into your strategy. Use Scheduler to get a holistic view of your content strategy, and learn how and when the repurposed assets can enhance your existing framework.

FAQs

How to repurpose blog content for social media?

Repurposing blog content for social media may feel daunting, but it is actually extremely easy. One of the simplest ways to repurpose a blog is to break it down into bite sized pieces and share it within a carousel on Instagram. Users are still getting all the pertinent information, but in a digestible way, that is easy to share.

How to repurpose other people’s content? 

For brands, the process of repurposing other people’s content is commonly referred to as User Generated Content or UGC. This type of content can be repurposed into stories and even static posts if that is a part of your content strategy and schedule. Just ensure you get permission to post and give credit where credit is due to the user who posted the content by tagging them in your story or post. 

How do you repurpose influencer content? 

There are many ways to repurpose influencer marketing content. The easiest is to repost it on your social channels. If you want to get more out of your influencer content, you can also consider adding it to your email campaigns, paid ads, your website and/or blog, and even for in-store promotions. If you are interested in utilizing influencer content in this way, be sure to clearly define the expectations in the influencer's contract so both parties are aware of how this content is going to be used.