Content marketing is here to stay - but there's one caveat: it's not getting easier. With everyone doing content today, the bar for what "quality" content is not getting any lower, and the unlimited supply of content make it more difficult for marketers to stand out.
The "secret to success" in making your content work for you is to build consistency and longevity by doubling down on the areas your company needs to build to thought leadership in. A great way to do this is to repurpose existing long-form content pieces.

This is article part of a larger series on repurposing content in 2020.

Repurposing your content marketing assets into smaller content pieces across video, audio, written, and image helps you double down on the topics you've set out to create thought leadership around in the first place without deviating from the main topic but rather going deeper to highlight key parts of a content piece you've already created.

It is possible that people may come across some of the smaller microcontent you've created which would then lead them to checking out the longer, pillar piece if content that was created in origin.

Repurposing your content marketing efforts to create more content pieces hold several benefits beyond building thought leadership. It also helps you to get more output by working less, and save time as you create ever-green content pieces in various formats.

It always helps to start with a long-form piece of content - ideally in video or audio. Ebooks and other longer articles could also be repurposed - but it is likely you can do more with video or audio. Consider starting a video original series.

When it comes to repurposing your past content marketing efforts, there are 3 things to keep in mind:

1. Make sure to repurpose with context

Are you repurposing for the sake of repurposing, or are you selecting content pieces that are attuned to your buyer persona? Make sure that the smaller microcontent you create deliver stand-alone value in and of themselves. 

2. Make sure it's Process-driven

Do you have a process or tool to help you repurpose your content? Did you find a clever way to chop up videos or audio content?

Make sure to document those steps so that you can scale your efforts more easily and also share your knowledge with the team so they can also follow the same process.

Here are two easy ones you can start with:

Turning blogs into audio podcasts
Turning blogs into video content

3. Make sure to give it context

When you repurpose content, make sure to have a plan for what content pieces will go on what social networks. It is possible that the same content pieces go on the different networks too.

In either case, make sure to leverage your understanding as a content marketer of the different audiences and styles of communication on each platform to ensure that your content isn't the odd one out - but rather is naturally weaved in with the type of mindset people approach different social media channels with.

For example, if you're posting the same square image quote on LinkedIn and Instagram, you may use business language on LinkedIn and more casual, laid back lingo on Instagram. You get the idea!