Let’s not hide it, creating marketing content is time consuming. Making a valuable post can take up to several hours, and each new article requires the author to spend extra time researching and learning about the topic. For this reason, it’s worth looking into the idea of content recycling and implementing it in your organisation as soon as possible.
What is content recycling?
You probably associate recycling with reusing plastic or glass to save on production. This is just as true for content recycling, as it involves refreshing and remodelling previously written texts and using them in a different channel of communication with the customer.
In the same way that glass bottles can be returned to the shop, content recycling helps to bring marketing material back to life: the bottle remains the same, but the old label is removed and a new one with updated information is applied. The beverage that is poured into it is the same brand, but this time it is fresh and inviting to taste again. At the same time, the bottle with the fresh drink goes to another shop, where another customer can buy it.
This is the nature of content creation for websites. Once created, the material is subject to obsolescence, so recycling content e.g. on a company blog ensures constant access to the latest data. We use the same information, but we update it and “put a new spirit” into it, so that it becomes attractive again and another client can “try it out”.
What is content marketing in social media?
Content marketing is a type of marketing strategy which is based on systematic planning, creation and publication of content. In order for content marketing to be effective, it must be carried out according to a predetermined schedule and be regular. The task of content marketing is to provide valuable and attractive texts which will attract the attention of a specific group of recipients and induce them to take action. These actions are aimed at purchasing a service or a product, or any other action which has potential for the company (e.g. acquiring a lead).
This type of marketing is carried out almost everywhere in the web: on websites, blogs, Google Ads and, of course, in social media. Content marketing in social media is currently booming. However, it is not easy to stand out among the multitude of ads and posts. The creation of content has to carry the final value for the audience. This is the only way to make your content profitable.
This is why it is so important to create expert materials that are simply interesting for the company’s target group. But how many valuable texts can you produce in a month? Surely much more, if you apply the principles of content recycling.
What is content recycling in social media?
Content marketing in social media can also be recycled, and social media is an ideal place for this. As we mentioned, content recycling comes down to renewing and reusing marketing materials. The idea is that you can produce one piece of polished content, such as a blog article or report, and then schedule publications in other media that are based on or inspired by that content.
Such content should be very well written: it should contain interesting data or information, convey relevant knowledge, solve a specific problem or, for example, present a case study with customers. Then it has a chance to interest the company’s customers and people who are not yet customers. The text prepared in this way should be portioned according to the nature of the various social media in which your company is located.
Note that it is not about pasting a link with an incentive to visit a blog or download a report. The content across different channels must be unique. Information should not be repeated, only broken down into smaller pieces and combined in a new way.
Taking a report, you can: extract information on industry data from it and present it on LinkedIn. Then find an interesting insight and publish it as a post with an infographic on Facebook, and then find one interesting fact, prepare a graphic and schedule a post on Instagram. Finally, you can record a podcast discussing the report findings with a guest expert. How the content will be used depends only on the inventiveness of the content creator and which channels the company operates in.
Not all internet users like to use the same social media. Some of them will prefer to read a long blog article, while another part will not even look at a blog because they like dynamic and short content. Content recycling can never be about ‘copy-paste’, as content must first be adapted to the users who are on the media in question.
Is it worth recycling old content?
Content recycling does not have to be based only on new content. You can successfully return to already published information. This is a great method for creative slackness or when there simply aren’t any new and interesting messages coming into the creative department.
The best way to do this is to go through the results of shared entries, posts, videos, podcasts, reports and find those that were most warmly received by the public. The ones with the most comments, likes, downloads, etc. are the topics we look for because the audience has already found them to be of real value once.
They then need to be updated. In the case of marketing content, such a procedure seems almost necessary. It ensures that your audience always has access to the latest information. So what should content recycling look like? Take a look at whether all the information in old blog posts is up-to-date and links are active, and at the same time add new, up-to-date data. This is a very good thing to do in terms of SEO – Google ranks sites that update their content higher.
For content that can’t be easily updated, such as posts, you can think about making it available in a sponsored format or writing a new post relating to the previous one, complete with fresh information. Conversely, content such as podcasts or videos that can’t be updated at all can inspire you to create material on the topic in other channels or to record a new episode that expands on previous content.
Content marketing in social media does not have to be difficult
Recycling content saves a lot of time when preparing marketing content. Instead of using each topic one time, you can squeeze the best out of it down to the last drop. Take a look at your published and scheduled content and see how you can reuse it. Include content recycling in your publishing schedule and you’ll find that it will take you much less time to prepare.
We believe this article will inspire you to implement content recycling in your business. However, if you feel that you need help with your social media content marketing schedule, then please email us office@jaaqob.com!
