Video Content Marketing: How to Repurpose Video Content

It’s no secret that video content marketing is now one of the most, if not the most, effective and popular forms of marketing today.

92% of marketers believe that online video is an important part of their marketing strategy. 

From explainer videos to product demos, from how-to videos to event and webinar videos, this type of content works because it captures attention and engages viewers.

Videos bring concepts to life, making it easier to explain and persuade the audience. 

In an ideal world, everyone would be creating videos but that’s not the case, is it?

That’s because video content marketing is a time-consuming process. There’s a lot to consider with video marketing:

  • What equipment is required?
  • Being comfortable on camera
  • Planning the structure of the video
  • Editing it with legal resources and to a good standard
  • Where to upload it?
  • How do I optimise the visibility?
  • etc etc.

In fact, 23% marketers say that they don’t use video because they lack time. But actually, it’s not all that daunting once you get started, it’s like anything new in life, it just takes a little preparation and practice!

In fact, here’s a recent blog on how to get started: How to Create and Execute a Video Content Marketing Strategy

But this blog isn’t about that, it’s about repurposing your existing video content, so back to the topic at hand.

When you finally get round to creating your video, it only makes sense to maximize its potential to increase reach and boost viewership.  

This is where repurposing video content comes into the picture. 

Why Repurpose Videos for Video Content Marketing?

Repurposing video refers to the practice of converting it into different content formats — one video, multiple uses. 

Unfortunately, marketers are so busy creating new content that they don’t realize the value of reusing their existing content assets. 

Let’s take a look at four key benefits of repurposing video content. 

1. Reach a wider audience

Repurposing videos can enable you to reach a wider audience because you’re not just promoting the video on a single platform, you’re diversifying it into different content formats and publishing it across multiple platforms, thereby boosting reach and visibility on Google.

For example, let’s say there are people who religiously read your blog but haven’t subscribed to your YouTube channel yet. By repurposing the video into a long-form blog post, you’re able to reach that segment of your audience too.

Your audience consumes information in different ways and as a marketer, it’s important to find your target audience, create content for your leading channels and reach people where they are. 

2. Greater ROI

Return on Investment (ROI) is a metric that continues to haunt marketers. With every marketing initiative, the goal is always to improve ROI and boost that all-important conversion rate in order to deliver positive results.

Repurposing content is a great way to maximize ROI because when you find new ways to use old content and amplify it, you’re putting it to good use at much lesser costs, driving more and more people to your landing page. 

3. Strengthen messaging 

Another major benefit of repurposing content is that it reinforces your messaging. Imagine releasing a video and not mentioning it ever again. 

If you’ve forgotten the video you worked so hard to create, how do you expect people to remember it?

However, in the case of repurposing video content, your audience will be subjected to the same message in different ways, thereby making a greater impact. 

It’s interesting to note that according to the Rule of 7, prospective buyers need to hear or see your marketing message seven times before they buy from you — something that content repurposing lets you achieve. 

This same point is also connected to improving your brand awareness. So more content (more types of video) equals a greater chance of people being aware of your brand.

4. Establish expertise 

One of the primary objectives of content marketing is to establish expertise and gain credibility. Well, repurposing quality video content takes you closer to that goal too.

However, it DOES have to be high-quality, as with every content strategy.

Constantly speaking about the same topic in interesting and refreshing ways is an effective way to be recognized as a credible and trusted source in the domain. Not only does this boost brand awareness and reputation but people also start instilling more trust in your brand. 

7 Ways to Repurpose Video Content For Greater ROI

Imagine spending so much time on creating that perfect video only to post it on YouTube and forget about it. 

That’s just a waste of your hard work, isn’t it? 

Repurposing content is a smarter way to create content because it increases the shelf life of the content piece, maximizes its potential and fetches a greater video content marketing ROI. 

Let’s take a look at the seven different formats you can repurpose your videos into. 

1. Mini-video clips 

Every platform has unique requirements. For instance, a 5-minute video might be great for YouTube, but it might not be the best for other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

Hence, a good way to expand reach and increase viewership is by breaking down the master video into mini, snackable videos that can be shared across other platforms.

There are various ways to approach this — you can either create mini-video clips surrounding individual talking points/messaging or create teasers to generate buzz and encourage your followers to view the entire video. 

Let’s say, you feature a couple of customer reviews or testimonials in the master video. One of the repurposed mini clips can just be an amalgamation of all the customer reviews. The idea is to keep them focussed on a single communication. 

What’s more, with depleting attention spans, repurposing into snackable video content grabs attention and gets your message across effectively. 

2. Social media graphics

Another short-form content piece that works well are social media graphics. 

You can pick out important points, quotes or statistics to design graphics for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and even Instagram Stories

Social media graphics are quicker to consume and can serve as a way to generate interest in your audience, compelling them to view the entire video. 

In addition to static graphics, you can also create animated GIFs which let you add more context and easily connect with your audience. What’s important is choosing aspects of the video that will make for eye-catching GIFs that stand out. 

Here’s an example of a GIF from one of HubSpot’s videos.

3. Blog posts

You must have heard of repurposing blog content into videos but the reverse works as well. Converting it into a blog post gives you the scope to elaborate on it and add more value. 

Another benefit is that it helps boost your search engine rankings. What’s important is ranking for the right target keywords and optimizing the blog post for SEO to improve discoverability and attract relevant traffic

The first step to repurposing video content into blog posts is exporting the transcribed text from the video. Once you’ve obtained that, you can make changes to the content, making it more suitable for your blog readers. 

You should also include visuals in the form of images, graphs, flow charts, and GIFs among others to complement the blog post and make it more visually appealing. 

Here’s an example of a blog post created around one of the marketing videos from Moz’s famous video series, Whiteboard Friday.

4. Infographics

A content type that has become hugely popular in recent times is the infographic. The fact that they’re easy-to-consume and present complicated information in a digestible format makes them a winner. 

So, why not repurpose your video content and maximize viewership by converting it into an infographic?

Videos are bound to have a lot more information. Hence, while using an infographic maker to repurpose it, it’s important to condense that information and pick out data points, steps of a process, key findings or trends that would make for an eye-catching and effective infographic. 

5. SlideShare presentations 

YouTube is to videos what SlideShare is to presentations. Owned by LinkedIn, SlideShare lets people upload, share and discover presentations. 

While you can upload your video as in on SlideShare, it’s recommended to repurpose it such that it suits the medium. 

Create short, simple and visually-appealing SlideShare decks that reiterate your message and get it across effectively. It’s also a good idea to add a powerful call-to-action button at the end and encourage users to take the desired action. 

Apart from giving your communication an additional boost, SlideShare also offers SEO benefits, expands reach and helps you build your email list

6. Email content 

We can all agree that email marketing is the most effective marketing channel and in order to leverage its potential, marketers need to constantly deliver informative and engaging emails to their subscribers. 

One of the best ways to keep a steady flow of email newsletters is to consider repurposing some of your existing content such as videos as part of your future marketing efforts. 

Instead of sending the entire video in one email, why not break it down into smaller parts, create an email series around it and send it over a couple of days (or weeks)?

Not only does this give you enough and more content to share, but it also keeps the excitement alive. So, choose the appropriate newsletter template, embed the mini-video and create content around it for your emails. 

7. Podcast

22% of Americans listen to podcasts at least once a week and this number is only expected to grow, making it a potential platform for content marketing. 

Being an immersive content format, podcasts are engaging and strike a deeper connection with listeners. It’s a good idea to repurpose your video content into audio podcasts because it helps you reach a wider audience and boost loyalty in the process. 

As podcasts are expected to be lengthier than videos, while repurposing, it’s important to elaborate on the video content and offer additional value to keep listeners engaged. 

Another aspect to consider is the audio quality. It’s the most important aspect that binds you and your listeners so make sure the audio quality of your podcast is top-notch. 

Here’s an example of Social Media Examiner’s live video broadcast, repurposed into a podcast.

Repurposing Video Content: The Takeaway

Now that you know what formats you can repurpose your video into, you must approach this process in a strategic manner. 

To avoid getting overwhelmed, you can mind map your video content to visualize the different types of content formats you can repurpose the video into. This lets you organize your plan and brainstorm productively. 

It’s also essential to develop a powerful content promotion strategy to promote each of the repurposed content pieces you create, helping you gain added traction and drive more traffic. 

So, the next time you create a video — instead of just posting it on YouTube, think of different ways to repurpose it to increase its life and maximize viewership.