A lot of business owners have a hard time sustaining an online presence over time. Coming up with new ideas and enough content for every platform is a full-time job on its own. They think a content plan needs all new ideas all the time. Add it to the growing list of to-do’s, and it’s usually the first thing to go to the wayside.
The thing is if you’re not posting consistently on your platforms (whichever ones you choose), you’re hurting your business. Here’s why:
- Posting less means algorithms forget about you: You won’t show up on your followers’ feeds regularly and they’ll forget about you, too.
- You’re losing valuable connections: When your followers forget that they follow you, you’re going to the back of their minds. They’re less likely to come to you when they need your service.
- You’re wasting opportunities to grow: Creativity feeds on creativity. If you’re constantly researching and creating, you feel more engaged and it’s easier to come up with new ideas. On the flip side, if you don’t exercise this muscle, it’s harder to create new content once you decide to do it.
The secret to posting consistently on the platforms you choose is to create a robust content plan so you’re not improvising or starting from scratch every time you sit down to post something.
First things first, what is a content plan?
A content plan is simply planning out the content you share with your followers to build a relationship and eventually, get them to buy from you.
Your content plan can include:
- Your blog
- A YouTube channel
- A podcast
- Social media
- Your email marketing
A content plan is key in your content marketing, which simply means promoting yourself by offering valuable information (or content) to your users to encourage them to follow you and interact.
If you want to learn more about content marketing, check out Hubspot’s amazing Guide to Content Marketing in 2021. For now, let’s dig deeper into how to repurpose your content and get more out of every piece to grow your audience and drive traffic to your website.
3 steps to repurposing your content for every channel
For the sake of this example, I’m going to use “blog,” but you can do the same content plan with a video or podcast episode.
When it comes to repurposing content, it’s worth revisiting old favorites. Check your website analytics for what drives the most traffic and find ways to recreate it. Does your audience like checklists, reviews, long-form content? Also, see what topics tend to do better. For example, industry overviews might be more effective than a closer look at niche topics.
Start with the longest form of content
When creating content, plan the longest form of content first. Most times, it’s easier to turn one big piece into small snippets than to try and turn a social post into a blog.
One blog or video can easily turn into a week’s worth of social media on multiple channels. Plus, once you have blog snippets like your favorite quote or the biggest takeaway, you can direct users to your website to read the full piece.
Create your social posts
Find the most important headlines and conclusions from your blog or video. Transcribe podcasts or videos to share as a blog post. Make graphics with short quotes.
From a regular 1k word blog, you can easily make 3-4 posts for IG or Facebook, 5-8 pins for Pinterest, and maybe a reel if you’re into that. Plus, you can send an email to your list. That’s at least 10 pieces added to your content plan from one blog!
Make sure to tweak each post to fit the platform and get the best performance possible. In general:
- Pinterest: Use short captions and add a keyword on the graphic if applicable. Remember to link back to your blog or video and use different (always relevant) boards to reach more users.
- LinkedIn: Here, text posts tend to do better than images. Go for a caption like this one and consider adding a hashtag or two.
- Instagram: On Instagram, the first 1-2 lines of your caption are key. Catch your follower’s attention with a good hook and make sure to include a CTA.
Spread out your posts
This may be tricky when you’re starting and don’t have a lot of content. But schedule related posts further out to avoid getting repetitive — and to get the most out of every blog. Posting 1-2 pins per week for one blog gives you about a month’s worth of fresh traffic, but posting all 8 pins at the same time would make the pins compete with each other for attention.
Over time, you’ll be able to mix fresh and existing content and drive traffic to more pages of your website.
Bonus! Update old resources
If you have successful blogs from the past, get the best out of them by refreshing with yearly trends, updated information, and even expand them with newer keywords. This makes your highest-ranking content remain relevant. Over time, you can start ranking in search results with these pieces and drive more traffic.
Another thing you can do is compile your highest performers into a download to use as a lead generator.
You can do this with yearly reviews, adding resources, updating stats, or adding new information such as launches or new downloads. Later blogs are a good example of frequent updates.
Your content plan is key in driving traffic to your website and building brand loyalty
Unless you’re using paid ads, repurposing content is one of the best tools to drive traffic and attract leads to your business. Content marketing goes beyond promoting yourself and helps build a relationship with your followers. It also makes it easier to reach a broad audience by:
- Improving your SEO: Your blog is key in growing your audience online because every topic you cover is another opportunity for someone to find you.
- Showing up in new spaces: If you have a YouTube channel or podcast, you’re tapping into the audiences in those platforms (YouTube itself or Apple podcasts, for example) and attracting them to your brand.
- Establish your expertise: Constantly providing value to your audience before they hire you helps highlight your services and your knowledge. And makes it easier for them to feel confident in hiring you.
If you’re constantly providing valuable resources, your audience gets used to coming to you for answers. You become their go-to expert in whatever you do and stay top of mind when they’re looking for a solution. A great place to be for a service provider.
Follow along