Quick and Dirty: Reusing Content the Easy Way

Reusing content isn’t breaking the rules. You make the rules! You know you need to create more social media. You’ve seen customers respond, and you’ve gotten some real interactions and sales. Rockin! But Instagram is starting to eat your life and you’re dreaming in Facebook. What do you do to make this social media thing TAKE LESS TIME?

Reuse what you’ve already made. It’s like turning leftovers into chili.

Only better.

Reuse Your Blog Content

We all know why blogging is so important. It places you as an expert in your field, allows you to build personal relationships with potential customers, shares important information as a resource for the community, and builds that all-important SEO for your website! Blogs are social media campaigns waiting to happen, especially when the blog is well written and formatted for SEO best practices. Blog posts formatted this way will have:

• Clear H2 Headings using keywords
• Organized information including lists or pullquotes
• Photos that entertain and clarify the main point
• Keywords that tie in with the content and your business
• A summary of the content
• A call to action

Each bit of your blog can be snagged to create quick and dirty content for all your social media platforms.

Create Short Tips and Quotes With Your Words

Social media posts are a lot shorter than blogs. A good blog post can easily run 6,000 characters. Twitter only lets you have 280 characters, Instagram limits you to 2,200 characters, and Facebook gives you a whopping 63,206 characters. That means one blog can be turned into a bunch of social media posts. The idea social media post is a whole lot less characters than Insta’s 2,200 limit, usually running from 40-150. That’s characters. Not words. Your ideal social media post should average between 8 and 40 words.

You don’t get many words, which means you gotta make ’em count.

Each reused heading gives you one social media post. Pick one or two sentences or one bullet list to go with the topic, and rephrase it just a bit so that you’re talking directly to your target market. If you’ve got some great pull quotes, use those by themselves. Make sure to add relevant and branded hashtags to each social media post. Where appropriate, include links and calls to action to lead people back to the original blog post or other landing pages. Remember social media should be about 80% content and only 20% sales.

Once you’ve made your words matter, next up: pretty pictures.

Make Graphics to Go With Your Reused Content

Facebook and Twitter don’t require you to have graphics. Instagram does require graphics. All of them ought to have graphics to go with reused content. Square photos are the default these days because that’s what Instagram requires. Facebook can accept a lot of different-sized images. Twitter asks for a 3:1 image ratio which is basically a skinny landscape image. So make sure you know which social media outlets you’re posting to before you go making anything.

Hand Slap Moment: Friends don’t let friends post without graphics.

There are lots of ways to find great images to go with your content. You can actually turn your words into graphics using tools like Canva or Adobe products. Or you can find a photo or template that’s already been made. If you can, add your logo and contact info to your graphics. Each image is an opportunity to make a sale. Don’t be afraid to do something cute or funny. The internet was made for memes and fuzzy animals after all.

Schedule that Recycled Content!

Once you’ve got the words, the hashtags, and the images, you’re ready to start scheduling. It’s worth it to do this part, even if you think you’ll remember to post every day. Life, business, kids, and maybe even the occasional break are going to get in way. Hootsuite, MeetEdgar, Later and Facebook Business Suite are all options for scheduling out your content. Consider the best times to schedule for your industry and niche. If you’re retail you may want to post later in the day. B2B should focus on business hours.

Congrats! You know the dirty little secret now: content can and should get used and reused.

Reusing content should be an essential part of your marketing strategy. You’ve worked hard to make it great. Make your words matter and get your business out on social media so that you can be seen and succeed.

About Zeedia Media: We create killer content for all sorts of things. We know all the words because “words matter!” Contact Zeedia Media for content, branding, and social media management. We can also help you with your online reputation if you aren’t happy about what people are saying about you. Let’s exchange some words–the good kind!
@ZeediaMedia