Producing new content takes a lot of time and money. With so many facets of the business contributing to content production, waiting for new content can be a massive bottleneck for marketing teams looking to increase ROI. The savvy marketer employs a cheaper, faster, and equally effective strategy to boost their return: repurposing existing content. Repurposing content is the key to maximizing value that drives sales. This blog will provide you with:
- Content definitions
- The Reason and Benefits of Repurposing Content
- Six Best Practices to Repurpose Content for Maximum Value
- Conclusion and Examples
Content Definitions
User-generated content (UGC) is any content created on the internet by a user, but in a marketing context, it’s content generated by a user with the focus on a specific product or service or set of products or services.
Influencer-generated content (IGC) is nearly the same except for one obvious detail: the content is created by an influencer or professional content creator, whereas UG comes from the unpaid audience member. This content comes in a variety of mediums including in-feed social media posts, reviews, ratings, blog posts, and videos.
The Reason and Benefits of Repurposing Content
The beauty of both types of content is that they can often be repurposed and recirculated. Whenever evergreen content is available (meaning, content that is always relevant and timeless), it’s the gift that keeps giving. The best part is that content generated by both influencers and consumers helps support a brand authenticity that may be challenging for brands to achieve on their own.
Why? Because influencers can be a helpful avenue to inspire consumers to create their own content. In addition, brands can use UGC to find potential new creators for their campaigns. And thus another influencer is activated and the cycle begins anew. Not to mention recycling content is an economical, time-saving method that is a massive SEO boost. “That doesn’t interest me,” said No One Ever.
So, why repurpose old content? A better question may be: why not? If your creator and user content is still relevant and aligns with your brand messaging, you’re getting more bang for your buck by repurposing it across more channels. To ensure you’re getting repurposable content from your creator partners, set them and your brand up for success from the beginning with the following tips.
Six Best Practices to Repurpose Content for Maximum Value
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- Commit to airtight communication with your creators. During your initial brief with your creators, make sure your directions are clear and concise. When you discuss copy and imagery, emphasize that it should work for any time of year. Specify if the content should be tailored to a particular campaign. The more information you can provide your creators, the better they’ll be able to generate the content you want from them.
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- Make a content plan for redistribution. Did your creators provide amazing Reels content? Repurpose that on TikTok or for an Idea Pin on Pinterest. Is there a beautiful image and story that is performing well on Facebook? Post it to Instagram, too. Every redistribution is an opportunity to grow your brand’s influence and social proof. But consider your strategy thoughtfully and be sure to reshare content on channels you know your target audience will most likely be to interact with it.
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- Don’t forget to utilize your ambassador program. An ambassador program is a brand’s secret weapon for when content production with contracted creators may be slow or your brand needs a boost for the day. Express capitalized on its ambassador program, especially during the height of the pandemic as in-house photoshoots were no longer a possibility. With a 168% spike in ROI, we’d say it paid off.
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- Promote your ratings and reviews. For the 2.14 billion worldwide online shoppers, trustworthy reviews can be more beneficial to them than recommendations from family and friends. When partnering with creators for ratings or reviews, try offering smaller incentives to those willing to submit a review in addition to the content they’re creating. They already have the product in hand for content creation, so why not tack on a request for them to review it!
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- Put an emphasis on community engagement. Get connected! Engaging with consumers across social platforms instills an authentic connection. That evolves to create lasting short-term and long-term impacts on your business. Try incorporating UGC within your email marketing campaigns. You could also incorporate images across your brand.com or syndicate content with third-party product pages (like Amazon). By repurposing content across organic and paid brand channels you create a lasting impression for returning or net-new customers.
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- Seize the opportunity to generate more content. By compensating consumers for creating content, brands can increase the content they can repurpose across their marketing initiatives. Plus, amplifying and repurposing IGC can increase the number of potential consumers who see this high-quality content and thus want to generate additional content for your brand organically.
Conclusion and Examples
Repurposing content is about adaptation. In a perfect world, you would see an unending stream of new content that consistently performs well. Luckily, your current reality is not as drab as it may seem. You already have good content that resonates and engages with your audience, so don’t reinvent the wheel and maximize its value by repurposing it. If you’re still feeling drab looking for examples of great content, check out the unstoppable tactics and IGC of Mavrck customers Express’s and Rosefield’s scaled influencer programs and the full guide to repurposing content here.