Content Re-Purposing Tips from Content Mogul Amy Higgins

While there is a pressing need to create and publish content frequently, most companies have limitations in the form of time or resources that may not allow them to do so.

According to Amy Higgins, Senior Manager of Social Media for Zendesk, it’s possible to increase the quantity of content as well as achieve better quality in a few simple ways. At her ‘101 Ways to Repurpose Content’ session, she discusses how proper planning is key to this process.

Let’s take a look at three content repurposing hints that Amy shared during her session:

1. Structure and Divide – The Content ‘Galaxy’

The division of content assets can be described as a galaxy, which will move and evolve, with interlinking connections. Like a galaxy that starts as a large structure and slowly expands by spinning off into smaller ones, start with larger assets and then create smaller pieces from them.

Here’s how Amy explains the division of content assets:

• Large, Core Asset (The Sun) – The ‘Sun’ is the core asset, the best example of which is an E-Book or essential guide, around which the rest of the smaller content assets will revolve.
• Mid-Sized Assets (The Planets) – These are slightly smaller than the core asset, but still meaty and linked to the ‘Sun’, examples of which include smaller E-Books and Slideshares.
• Supporting Assets (The Moons) – Smaller infographics and Slideshares often act as supporting assets for the ‘Sun’ and the ‘Planets’, revolving around them.
• Small Assets (The Stars) – Blogs, social posts and graphics are the smallest, but most numerous, supporting items. They can be re-purposed from the ‘Moon’, ‘Planets’ and ‘Sun’.

Developing the ‘Sun’ and then moving on to the smaller pieces of content linked to it will allow you to maintain consistency of voice, look and feel. The supporting pieces will all lead back to the core piece, and while the content quantity and lifecycle will be different for each business, in one example the ‘Sun’ was broken into 500 pieces that lasted 18 months!

1. Customize the Details

Amy shares two main ways to customize the content to target specific audiences:

• Nurture paths with the ‘Moons’, then further into the content funnel ultimately leading back to the ‘Sun’.
• Determine your top target industries and create content for each one. Revamping and customizing old content would be a good way to get the industry interested.

Revive Old Content

Old content is typically used to define content that is hard to find, out of date or along the same lines as what you’ve already written about over and over. While it might seem like a good idea to get rid of old content, but sometimes revamping old material can end up benefitting your company much more than trashing it!

There are three main ways through which you can update old content:

• Refresh it, turning into something completely new
• Update the included CTA (Call to Action)
• Review the previously-used linking strategy

Maintaining a proper balance is crucial when it comes to the quality and volume of shared content for online marketing, so try Amy’s tips to repurpose and refresh yours!