What's the deal with repurposing?
John Lacey
Showcase your expertise through content creation | Co-host of The Video and Livestreaming Show | Host of Build A Presentation Muscle Podcast | Author of Learn Livestreaming and Learn OBS Studio LinkedIn newsletters
Content repurposing
The Internet's worst kept secret
Hello, my name's John and [audible gasp] I'm an introvert.
It takes a lot of energy and yelling and screaming to get me in front of a microphone or a video camera most weeks.
Don't get me wrong, I'm usually happy enough to be there a few minutes in, but I always feel this resistance. It never comes particularly easy to me. And I've been doing this, in one form or another, for many many years.
Most weeks I'd rather pen something from a room without a camera or a microphone (possibly hiding in a hoodie) and call it a day.
So why do I do it?
Well, I think it's important. I have a voice, literally and figuratively, and I feel like I should be using it.
I like to imagine when people see and hear me that they'll get to know me.
But, honestly, who knows?
We live in an 'attention economy' and I've never been particularly popular. I'm not sure what to tell you.
"So what is the point of this story?" you might wonder.
Well, for better or for worse, I put myself into all the things I create. There's no wild retelling of Wikipedia entries here. Not even a sprinkling of AI.
And the truth is this is hard. It requires effort. So when I do create something, I want to make sure I'm getting the biggest 'bang' for my buck.
Creators can feel a pressure to be constantly creating, constantly reaching for the new thing, the next project. And this is often a route to burn out.
What if, instead of staring at another blank page, we revisit something we've created earlier? Something you likely put a lot of work into. Something that never really got the attention it probably deserved.
The four R's of content repurposing
This week on The Video and Livestreaming Show, we'll be talking about content repurposing as an opportunity to give your content a longer shelf life.
Reframe your content
Is there an opportunity to examine the same content from a different perspective?
Before we even created The Video and Livestreaming Show, I interviewed Sam Proof about the work he does for CuteAvalanche and the role video and livestreaming played in the work Sam and Amanda and their family do to support stray kittens find their 'fur-ever' home.
I asked him for his advice to people wanting to go live for the first time. He explained it in encouraging terms. The interview snippet was really about just getting started. It was motivational, but it was also educational. He outlined the basics of what you needed and how you'd use them in general terms.
Later, I tried to combine the ideas with some more specific instructions about how you could do this with OBS Studio.
Reframing is really about exploring the content from another vantage point, and often juxtaposition or going to extremes can help you explore more thoroughly.
Consider:
Your ideas likely have explored depth and dimension, get a little creative and see where you end up.
Remix your content
Combine different elements of your content together in new and exciting ways.
As a somewhat fanatic music lover, I love music, but not just the singles you might hear on the radio or the tracks on the album. I want to go deep. I want to hear the demo recordings, the live recordings, the alternate mixes and the remixes.
Now, you don't necessarily need to throw a dub step beat underneath your tutorial video, but you could.
You can look at your library of resources —you do have a content library, right?— and combine video, audio, images and text in new and exciting ways.
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You could combine recent footage with archival footage. You could show progressions. You could show before and after.
You could find themes and threads that bring pieces of content together.
Repackage your content
People tend to content consumption preferences, and those preferences may vary depending on the context they find themselves in. (I often like to listen to podcasts while I walk or work, for example.)
But creators tend to think first and foremost in content formats.
I'm not going to take this opportunity to contemplate the philosophical differences of content types, but if you have a message that is worth sharing, I'd encourage you not to silo yourself away in a single content type or destination.
Could you bring an existing piece of content to another content type or destination?
Consider:
I've enjoyed being on Link?Ability Radio with Lynnaire Johnston . Though this is a LinkedIn? Audio Event and by definition you can only really experience them by joining them live. This can motivate people to attend through the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), but it also means that your content has a very short lifespan indeed.
Through recording this content, she and I both have been able to make videos for people who weren't able to join live.
That one piece of audio could easily become:
Resurface your content
Sometimes you just need to let your (likely growing) audience that something exists and that they might want to check it out.
Some social media platforms can be incredibly ephemeral and your content can be there today and gone tomorrow. In these instances, you might need get some traction by just re-uploading a video again.
Other times you can post a link to an existing piece of content (perhaps from a new, reframed perspective).
On YouTube, you might like to use the Community Features to post an older video and add some context for it.
Platforms tend to come and go, and some fall in and out of favour for a variety of reasons. You might like to bring some old content to a new platform.
Join us live
Join us live this week as we explore this topic further. Check out the event links for the date and time in your local time zone.
Have a great week!
I hope you have a great week! Remember, if you're interested in video, livestreaming and content creation:
Have a great week. Look after yourself! As we're in the middle of the calendar year, introverts, ambiverts and extroverts alike all need to manage their energy.
BONUS: Screen Capture, Screen Sharing and Annotation
Last week we spoke about:
Showcase your expertise through content creation | Co-host of The Video and Livestreaming Show | Host of Build A Presentation Muscle Podcast | Author of Learn Livestreaming and Learn OBS Studio LinkedIn newsletters
8 个月LIVE SHORTLY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkS1UInBfFE
Helping Clients get Results on LinkedIn?? ?? Link·Ability Membership site manager
8 个月We've been making a huge effort to embrace repurposing content more just recently. Not only for us but for others who may only see it if we make a video post about it, rather than an image post or only mention something in an event!