Breathing life into old content

Breathing life into old content

‘Old’. It’s not a particularly positive word. Old, irrelevant, out of date. We’re always looking for newer, better, faster. But what if we stop for a minute and consider ‘old’. When it comes to content, old isn’t always bad. It just needs repurposed and refreshed. 

There are peaks and troughs in every industry depending on changes, seasons and your audience likes and dislikes. Content is an insatiable beast but you don’t have to constantly create new content. You can breathe life into old content.
 

Have I told you this before? Am I repeating myself?

Well, if you’re good at what you do, you should be repeating yourself. According to Marketing’s Rule of Seven, consumers need to hear your message seven times before they are convinced to buy. So, don’t just publish content then leave it. Repeat, repeat, repeat, so you’re consistently delivering your message to your audience. 
 

Reach out (you don’t have to be a member of the Four Tops)

Sometimes you write a piece of content that you think will smash it and it performs ok. Other times it’s the other way around. However, it can gain a bit of traction over time. When you refresh the content and package it slightly differently, you’ll find you reach new customers. 
 

The organic goal

The majority of website traffic is through organic search. Stats have indicated that organic search holds a 51% share among traffic sources. That’s a chunky number! So, get repurposing that content into different formats to further increase your visibility. 
 

Content choices

How will I know? (sang Whitney Houston) We’re pretty sure she wasn’t talking about selecting content. But how do you know what content to repurpose to positively impact your traffic?

First and foremost, look at the stats for each piece of published content. What content got the most engagement? How can it be updated to reach a new audience? Are any topics that you’ve previously discussed relevant again? 

Once you’ve decided on a few topics, you need to decide how you propose repurposing them to attract and reach new audiences. Here’s a few of our ideas to help you along the way; 
 

Straight to video 

Video is now one of the most popular ways to engage with your audience. You can have fun with a video, keeping it short but effective. Use of graphics, ‘how to’, and interesting stats will entice viewers in. 
 

Blog to pod

Podcasts are becoming an increasingly important way to communicate with consumers as they can access the information while on the move which means it has potential to expand the reach of the content. Depending on the amount of information available, you could create a series which would hook the listener in. If you then pin the podcast to the top of the original blog and share on social and to your database, you’re likely to see a spike in traffic. 
 

People buy from people

For a while testimonials got a bit of a bad rep for being fake. But if you have genuine, glowing testimonials about your product or service, you should be sharing it. It’s that word of mouth referral that encourages new customers to buy from you as they trust you. Having a testimonial at the top of a product page or sharing on social helps reinforce that message. Bear in mind, that the customers that gave you the testimonial are delighted that you’re listening to them (and probably secretly pleased that their words have been published!). 
 

Upcycling

You may have written many blog posts that are no longer current. But it’s likely they contained interesting information that can be updated. Stats or legislation may have changed so it’s good to update the original article – especially if it had good traction the first time around. Let’s face it, who doesn’t love a stat?! Short and easily digestible – people love to remember them and reel them off to impress their peers. (or is that just us?!) Make the numbers more visual by creating a graphic or animation which can be shared on social. As well a being interesting to look at, it reinforces your credibility. 
 

Guest selection

Do you have an influencer who could give their opinion on an industry piece that you’ve written? Having someone external being interviewed on a particular topic or they could put their own slant on the industry topic. Again, working with a ‘known’ in the industry reinforces credibility as well as potentially attracting their audience to your product. 


These are just a few ideas of how to repurpose your content but we’ve a lot more! So, revisit some of your best-performing content and come to talk to us about how we can help you make it even better!