The Best Way to Repurpose Old Content

Funny enough, this article started as a LinkedIn carousel I created.

I figured since people found it helpful on LinkedIn (and it’s a topic I’m interested in), I’d take the content from that carousel and beef it up with an article.

So, why not take my carousel on repurposing content and repurpose it into an article?

Still, I almost always advise my clients to repurpose their existing assets so they can get the most reach for them.

While I am an SEO first, I think content repurposing still benefits me because I don’t have to create entirely new content for their website.

We have an entire library of content that we can pull from that will help us scale up content before we even need to write something new. 

I think the problem is that most brands think they need to be active in every inbound marketing channel to see success from it. 

Not only that but their content and results suffer because of it.

Since they’re stretched so thin, they end up half-assing every channel they’re posting on.

Obviously, it’s going to be hard to replicate HubSpot’s inbound strategy, but you can at least set up a system for yourself that allows you to get the most reach possible with your content.

Almost 46% of marketers believe that repurposing content is more effective than starting from scratch. And, 65% also agree that it is more cost-effective to repurpose your content than to create new pieces constantly.

So, this repurposed carousel will show you all the different ways to repurpose your content and the best ways to go about it. 

Why You Should Repurpose Content

One of the main things I recommend to my clients is to repurpose what they already have. 

They have tons and tons of old ebooks, videos, podcasts, and posts that no one will ever see. 

If no one actively sees them, why not turn garbage into gold and post it where people can see it? 

These ebooks and videos are usually packed with value, yet they’re getting no visibility at all.

Sure it’s hard to create unique content for each channel, so we have to find an engine or system that works for repurposing content.

Not only is it much easier to repurpose your content, but you’ll find you can:

• Get more reach out of that content on different channels: Usually, I recommend to most clients that they stick with 2-3 marketing channels and go hard on them. If you try creating new content for 4+ channels, you’ll easily burn yourself out. But if you have a solid engine for repurposing content, you can use that content for different channels while getting reach with what you’ve already created and staying consistent in terms of quality.
• Increase your overall output while staying consistent with quality: Similar to what was mentioned above, quality will be the biggest thing here. If you’re stretched thin trying to create unique content for each channel, you’re either going to burn yourself out, or the quality of your content is going to suffer. When you have this engine for repurposing, you can at least ensure the value of your content is being distributed to other channels. But another thing to keep in mind is that you don’t want to just copy and paste your content. If your audience is engaging with you on LinkedIn, email, and your website, you want to make your content unique enough that it’s not just saying the same thing again. With this article in particular, yeah my carousel covered the majority of this information, but carousels are limited by space. I’m taking what I already posted and doing an even deeper dive into it with additional sections.
• Build yourself as more of an authority around the topics you’re covering: Overall, the more you cover a topic, the more you’ll be seen as an authority around that topic. If someone finds your video through YouTube, your content through search, and your post through LinkedIn, you’re increasing the familiarity people have with your brand, especially if you can maintain quality across those channels. 

Quick Word of Advice on Repurposing Content

The biggest piece of advice I can offer around repurposing is to avoid half-assing it.

Don’t try to cut corners here by just copying and pasting what you already have for that channel.

I see marketers commonly posting their articles on LinkedIn, thinking that it counts as repurposing.

Not only does it not work that way, but LinkedIn actually kills your reach when you post a link leading off their site.

So not only is it not effective with your audience, but it’s just not effective with reach either.

If you’re repurposing content to another channel, format your content to the channel you’re actively posting on. 

I use the DISH framework, which helps me when I repurpose content:

• Digestible – is this content easily consumable for the channel I’m distributing to?
• Informative – Is this content packed with information? Is it worth reading?
• Sharable – Will readers be encouraged to share this content for me?
• Helpful – Is this genuinely actionable content for my audience? 

In addition to that framework, here are a few best practices to keep in mind when you’re actively repurposing content:

• Don’t copy and paste to each channel: Take the overall value from the content you’re repurposing and then mold it to the channel you’re distributing to. If it’s an article from your website, take the H2s from it and cover it with a carousel. Not only will the carousel get you more reach on LinkedIn, but it will actually be easily engageable with your audience.
• Maybe stay away from non-evergreen content: If you have a trend report from a previous year, maybe stay away from repurposing that. It’s outdated, so it’s not going to do you much good posting it in 2024. Only post content that’s either fresh or evergreen (meaning it hasn’t changed at all, and best practices still apply).
• Use data to guide your strategy: This isn’t a must, but it is a best practice. I recommend looking into the data for each piece of content you’re thinking about repurposing. Was it a popular post on LinkedIn? Was it a popular ebook in terms of downloads? Are people frequently visiting this article on your website? Is this infographic being linked to other sources? Use data to guide whether that piece of content is actually worth repurposing and if it will resonate with your audience when you repurpose it. 

How to Go About Repurposing Content

AI

While I’m not the biggest fan of using AI to generate content, I think AI has the most value in helping you repurpose your content.

It will be the easiest way to convert what you have into a nice first draft.

When I’m repurposing my content into articles, AI is almost always where I start.

I never post the actual AI content, but I’ve found it’s helpful to take a transcript or previous ebook and ask Claude or ChatGPT to convert it into an article.

I’ll still most likely edit it to add a human touch to it, but it’s a good way to get 75% of the way there.

Say you have a transcript from a recent podcast you did. You can take that transcript and have AI:

• Condense it into a LinkedIn post
• Create an article with it
• Turn it into bullet points for a carousel
• Autogenerate clips with it

Canva

Canva is also my best friend when it comes to content repurposing.

Not for any AI-related reason, but I’ve found it’s the easiest way to turn a carousel into an article or an article into an infographic.

It’s a good starting point for storing all your materials in one place.

8 Best Ways to Repurpose Content

So here’s my personal favorite list below.

I’m sure there are probably more methods for repurposing content, but these are the ones I’m the most familiar with.

And have seen the most success with.

Each one will make it much easier to create a mini content repurposing engine for yourself.

Especially coming from a solo consultant. 

There are only so many things I can do (between managing clients, bringing on new clients, and creating content), so it’s important to have an engine for repurposing where I can get the most reach out of my content.

1. Old Ebooks

If you have old ebooks collecting dust (and not any driving leads), why not repurpose them where they might get more visibility?

I’ve seen cases where we have 1+-year-old ebooks that are not doing anything yet are packed to the brim with useful information.

I  think the best starting point for repurposing your content starts with older ebooks.

People likely aren’t reading them, so wherever we publish them, people will see it as unique content.

You can take that ebook and:

• Turn it into a fleshed-out article: Take the contents of that ebook and plug it into ChatGPT. Ask it to transform it into a 2,000+ word article that’s helpful to your audience. From there, you can edit the rough draft to fit your brand voice and everything. 
• Turn it into a carousel on LinkedIn: Carousels get a ton of reach on LinkedIn. Maybe your audience hasn’t even seen your ebook yet, so this will be a good opportunity to pack your carousel with value.
• Make a video covering the overall topic: You don’t want to make a video on the ebook itself, but the actual contents of the ebook. Again, take the value from that ebook and make a video of it. Taking HubSpot’s example above for “Instagram for Business,” they can easily make a carousel using the contents of that ebook showing you how to market your brand on Instagram. Even better, after they create that video, they can probably plug in their ebook and sell it as a more in-depth resource on that topic. So not only are you getting more reach for your brand, but you’re also getting more reach for the resource you wanted to promote in the first place. 

2. New Ebooks

“But people won’t download them if they’re free.”

Yes, they will. 

I don’t think you should pour your entire ebook into an article, but you should at least pull the main takeaways and make an article out of it.

I think Semrush is the best example of this. 

They have a popular industry report dedicated to the state of search, but they know how to repurpose and distribute it to get more reach out of it.

They:

• An article covering a portion of those findings
• A carousel/infographic on those findings
• A webinar on those findings

Not only did the resource itself have 50 websites linking to it, but:

• Their article covering their findings got them 250 referring domains 
• Their LinkedIn post using an infographic from the report got them almost 400 likes
• They probably sent it out to their email audience, too

So, not only will your fresh content have the most impact, but by promoting it across different channels, you’ll increase the likelihood of people finding that resource.

3. Podcasts and Webinars

Video content will usually give you more reach for repurposing. 

Especially for podcasts and webinars where you have plenty of useful info to pull from.

You can:

• Take a clip and post it on social: You can use Descript to generate clips that you can then redistribute to social (or YouTube)
• Take the transcript and reformat it into a blog: Take your transcript from that video and plug it into ChatGPT. Ask it to turn this episode into a fleshed-out article, but don’t mention any of the speakers. Just create an article covering the information in the transcript. You could upload the transcript itself, but you’ll get way more reach with it if you turn it into an article talking about that overall topic.
• Take the topic and turn it into a carousel: If you used timestamps for your podcast, you could use those as headers for each page of your carousel. Again, take the overall topic discussed and plug it into your carousel so it has actionable information and takeaways. You can also ask ChatGPT to pick out specific topics from that transcript to use in your carousel.
• Take a clip and upload it to your newsletter: This will probably be the easiest thing to do. You can take the clip you uploaded to social media and add it to your newsletter. You can even promote your podcast in that piece and use the clip as a tease for what’s on it

4. YouTube Videos

I think YouTube videos will give you the same potential for repurposing as your podcast and webinar content. 

There are so many avenues for repurposing here.

You can:

• Again, take a clip and upload it to social
• You can post the full video to social (if it’s short enough)
• Turn the transcript into a blog and embed the video on there 
• Send a clip or the full video to your email audience

5. LinkedIn Carousels 

While it’s not my top choice, I think LinkedIn carousels will give you a solid foundation for repurposing for other channels.

Your carousels are usually going to be extremely detailed information condensed into a small few pages.

You can take your carousel and use it as a starting point with your content.

Whenever I repurpose my carousel into an article, it will always get me around 50% of the way there. 

The main information has already been covered; now I just need to beef it up a little bit.

As mentioned earlier, that is literally what I’m doing with this article right now.

So I got the benefit of getting reach on LinkedIn, and now I’m getting the reach of an article on my website.

I do think carousels are pretty limited in terms of reach since the only real outlet you have is to just repurpose it into a blog article.

6. Infographics

Infographics are also a personal favorite of mine when it comes to reach.

I think that, next to video content, infographics are at the top of the list when it comes to repurposing. 

Not to mention, they’re easy to engage with and easily shareable.

People can share them on LinkedIn, and in some cases (this actually works really well) others can use that infographic in their article.

So you get the value of brand reach + a backlink, too.

With infographics, you can:

• Make a LinkedIn post using your infographic: Post it on LinkedIn and cover the infographic in a text post.
• Add an infographic to an article: This is where you’ll likely see the most value from it. Once you add to your article, you’ll not only make it more engaging, but you can optimize that image so it has some reach potential on Google Images. This has the most potential for earning you a backlink. People are looking for images to use in their own content, and we’re now just making that image easily accessible.
• Take a previous infographic and flesh it out with an article: If you don’t have a dedicated article to go along with that infographic, you can take the overall topic and flesh it out with an article. Even better, once you have that article created, we can plug the infographic into the page.

7. Articles

So, while videos and infographics will be the easiest to repurpose, I think your blog content will have the most avenues for repurposing content.

After all, your articles are comprehensive roundups of a specific topic.

With articles, you can:

• Take your article and make it into a LinkedIn carousel: Here, you’ll want to take your H2s from your article and make them titles for each page on your carousel. 
• Take your article and make an infographic (that you can then use in the article and social): This is pretty straightforward, but you can take the high-level information from your article and transform it into a 
• Take your article format and make a video (embed the video in the article): Not only will you get the reach on YouTube, but it will make your article more engaging. You’re giving readers multiple ways to engage with your content.
• Make your article into a regular social post: If you don’t feel like creating a carousel for it, you can either take your article and make a full social post with it, or you can take one H2 and cover it as a post.
• Summarize your article to your email audience (make it worth reading; don’t just copy and paste): The biggest thing here is to not just plug in your article and make a summary of it. Actually take the insights from it and turn it into a quick write-up for your email audience.  

When you’re looking for articles to repurpose, I’d use these suggestions to help you out:

• Use GA4 data: I’d probably start by looking at GA4 to see which content topics resonate with my audience. I can see topics that have driven conversions. Topics that are actually being read. Articles that are getting solid traffic.
• Use GSC data: I’d probably put more weight into GA4 (mostly because of user engagement metrics), but I think GSC is also helpful for identifying articles on my site that are getting clicks and impressions. With impressions, it will help validate that people are actually searching for your topic, so there has to be some interest in it.

8. LinkedIn Posts

While not my favorite, I think it is worth looking at posts that have previously done well and then maybe fleshing out the topic with an article.

Once you have the article, you can follow the steps above.

I think this is where my previous point about data comes in.

LinkedIn has some awesome analytic features you can use to find content pieces that have done well in the past.

You can also filter by who’s engaging with your content. Was it SEOs? Was it CMOs? Was it CEOs?

So not only can you find the posts that have done well in the past, but you can also find the ones that have resonated well with your ICP.

Make Your Life Easier and Start Repurposing 

Whether you’re an established company or a solo team, you’ll want to find some kind of engine for repurposing your content.

While you don’t have to use all the methods above at once, you can use this to find easy opportunities to get more reach out of your content.

You don’t have to stretch yourself too thin trying to create new content for each channel.

Instead, use your existing assets to get more reach and visibility while making your life much easier.