So you've worked through the first phases of your Content Strategy. You have a full understanding of your content and content needs; you've probably even started working on creating more. Now it's time to unlock the full potential of your content through content repurposing.

What does repurposing content mean?
Content repurposing is the process of remodeling larger pieces of content into bite-sized pieces that may be shared across the web (however sometimes the opposite is true, with the larger pieces of content coming from many smaller pieces). The remodeling of content would typically start with a substantial piece of content such as an eBook or White Paper. This would then be repurposed into a series of articles, videos, webinars with Q & A's, podcasts or even a Facebook post. Another big advantage of repurposing your content is that search engines will index each piece separately thereby multiplying your ability to be found by users. And of course each piece of related content provides you with more internal links.

It is important to remember that your content user's time to absorb content may be very limited. Some may download and read your eBook, while others would only be exposed to your content if they were able to listen to a podcast of it on their way to a meeting.

Repurposing content is an on-going procedure that should be an integral part of your publishing schedule. Note: When repurposing content ensure you adhere to your style guidelines, changing your voice or tone may confuse the users perception of your content and brand.

The repurposing process:
Your daily schedule for content production contains topical and time-oriented content. Your company may need to write an article, tweet or blog in reaction to a news event, an in-house incident or reply to other articles and blogs posted. Look out for trends in threads you have commented on daily, perhaps there's an article or video there? These tiny daily items can act as triggers for much larger content pieces. Sometimes all it takes is a little creativity.

The weekly schedule includes two to three (at least) new blog posts as well as participation in forums related to your company, services or products. These blogs can be used for pull-quotes that can be tweeted or put on Facebook. These may, in turn, be turned into an eBook, or form part of a case study.

The monthly schedule, which includes longer blog posts or articles, interviews with experts or analyses, can all be broken into smaller pieces and used to fuel blog posts and short articles. Alternatively, you could use this content to reply to comments on your own or other industry-related blogs.

But it is the long term content projects, which are scheduled quarterly, bi-annually and annually that can yield the most content for repurposing. The quarterly and bi-annual plan could include research papers, feature stories, video series, e-books and special issue newsletters, all of which can be repurposed. The annual schedule might incorporate recordings of executive roundtables or annual conferences, launching iPhone or Facebook apps and major updates to your website, which, once more, open up loads of opportunities for blog posts.

Steps to repurposing your content:
1.    Think small. Creating a white paper or eBook might be quite a daunting task. Why not create smaller sized bits of content instead? Such as a series of blog posts, or start a discussion on Twitter and Facebook for user-generated content.

2.    You could also bundle existing blog posts with a common theme to form an eBook or White Paper.

3.    Ignite conversations by means of social media groups. Instead of founding a group that bears your company name, create a Facebook or LinkedIn group centred on a common theme or issue in your particular field. This will unite members as people are more likely to join a group if it has a broad appeal.

4.    You can easily transform published case studies into video testimonials or even a webinar.

5.    Record presentations of important events such as the annual report and add them to YouTube.

6.    When interviewing someone for a blog post or article, capture it on video with a few extra key questions to differentiate it from your story.

7.    Take a recent news release or article from your company and write a short blog post on its significance. But remember don't just repost the article; give the readers a different perspective or your own opinion.

Make sure that whatever you create that it is optimised for search engines. Never simply cut-and-paste, this will negatively affect your SEO. Also each repurposed piece should also contain social sharing capabilities and clear calls to action.

In the end, your smaller content that has been created throughout the year can be compiled into comprehensive eBooks or White Paper. Or the other way around depending on the nature of your content, either way you are making the absolute most out of your content.

Previous article in the series: Content Maintenance Phase; Next article in the series: 12 Steps to Creating a Powerhouse Blog

Got any handy tips for repurposing content? Share them with me here, or on Twitter @JulianKarstel.
The next article will be covering Content Curation.

Julian Karstel is a Digital Marketing Consultant for Sound Idea Digital |@JulianKarstel|Julian@soundidea.co.za | Sound Idea Digital is a full service digital agency |www.soundidea.co.za |