Creating videos for marketing and advertising? Here’s how to repurpose video content for more reach.
Videos are extremely powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. What was once a crop of cat videos on YouTube has evolved into short-form content, long-form documentaries and films, and everything in between. It is a great way to boost brand awareness and sales while getting an edge over your competitors.
One of the best things about video content is that it can be repurposed for multiple channels and a variety of audiences. This causes it to be a cost-effective means of communication with a much wider reach.
Apart from serving as an entry point to new audiences, repurposing video content has other significant benefits. According to surveys, over 90% of marketers use video as an important part of their strategy, with a majority of them agreeing that it gave them a good return on investment (ROI); and almost all of those marketers said that video content helped increase their brand awareness.
By creating even a single video each month, you can enjoy a pool of content for other platforms. For example, a video on ‘Harness the Power of Storytelling to Boost Conversions’ can be repurposed to become a long-form blog on your website, an infographic on Instagram, or a podcast. This makes repurposing video content a time-saving part of your marketing strategy, which also helps strengthen your messaging.
In this blog, we will look at how you can repurpose video content along with actionable tips and the best tools of the trade.
Ways to repurpose video content for higher ROI
Whether you are turning your engaging videos into bite-sized clips or other formats, there are multiple ways you can repurpose your video content. Here are some of the quickest and easiest ways-
Video to blog
You can recycle your video content into informative blog posts, especially for knowledge-rich videos like webinars, how-tos, training videos, etc. Blogs allow people to be in control of the information they receive. Some people prefer reading, while others can skim through and reach the important bits of your content.
Ultimately, by targeting the right keywords that you have got from your video content, you can improve your SEO strategy and enjoy returns on the effort you put into creating original, engaging content. You can even embed your video on the blog post so that a site visitor may spend more time on your page.
Since you already have a script and the message that you want to put across, all you need to do is add images, suitable keywords, and structure for easy readability.
Video to email marketing
When created well, videos can definitely grab your audience’s attention and make your content much more exciting, vivid, and easier to consume. So, including a video in an email tends to capture the interest of possible buyers because video emails allow them to establish a connection with your brand.
In the case of SaaS audiences or niche service buyers, being educated by the content in the video email should take priority over repackaging it as merely entertaining.
In addition to having an ‘exciting’ element, repurposing video content to emails gives you leverage in these ways-
- Higher open rates
- Boosts click-through rates
- Provides higher ROI by cutting costs per lead
- Aids in SEO efforts by contributing to site traffic
- Of course, it also gives you a higher chance to convert a viewer into a buyer because of the visual (and educational) aspect.
Here’s a quick tip that will help you further: Add the word ‘video’ in your subject line to boost the open rate.
Video to social media content
Let’s say you’re sharing ‘five tips on redesigning a logo’ in your YouTube video. How do you repurpose this content to make it friendly for other platforms?
- You can showcase these in a nifty carousel graphic on Instagram that displays one tip at a time for users to swipe through.
It is a great strategy to get more likes and shares on your post. Additionally, saves are an excellent indicator that people find your content valuable which can help you reach more feeds and explore pages.
- If you’re looking for quicker exposure on social media, then repurposing your video content into bite-sized snippets is sure to set you apart from the competition.
The popularity of 30-second Instagram/ Facebook reels to 60-second TikToks has shown us the power of video-based social media content. Think about it— most people prefer to consume value-packed short videos on the app itself instead of leaving the platform since it takes less effort. To add to that, the current algorithm prioritizes these types of videos. So, including high-quality video content helps get your name out there sooner.
- Once you’ve reached a broad audience on social media, you can repackage this content into other forms like Twitter threads or LinkedIn posts so that visitors who missed the video updates can get the full scoop.
At Promo.com, they take the guesswork out of video creation. Whether you’re promoting your business or looking to create informative product videos, their platform lets you make professional-looking videos using their library of fully customizable templates.
They understand that every business is unique and that creating engaging content is crucial for building a brand identity and reaching out to consumers. You can now create free advertisements for your business using their aesthetic templates.
Move up on the search engine results page and improve your brand awareness by using engaging video templates from Promo and create quick but effective results for your specific niche. What’s more, these videos can be used on multiple platforms, making video creation versatile and user-friendly.
Video to GIF
Since marketing is good storytelling, your top priority should be keeping it brief, relatable, and conscious of what you want people to remember. GIFs do exactly that in a matter of seconds! While you might find it challenging to size down your 5-minute video to a 5-second gif, as long as you have an idea about the message you want to put across, it should be as easy as pie.
Think of it as the classic Hemingway shortest story “For sale: baby shoes, never worn”—short yet effective.
While other forms of media, like videos, take some time and many viewings, GIFs aren’t as difficult to master. They could just be a series of stills or shorts from your video or a compilation of infographics that convey your message. They are not only easy to consume but can also have an impactful, emotional connection.
A quick trick that can lead to your gif going viral is by using GIPHY, Animoto, or other platforms like Imgur.
(Also read: 8 Biggest Content Marketing Trends You’ll Be Seeing in 2022)
Things to consider before you repurpose video content
Let’s look at the top 2 factors to consider before you repurpose video content-
Aligns with your overall marketing goal
Content can fill up each phase of a marketing funnel and direct your audience through their buyer’s journey. Creating meaningful, repurposed content for each phase of the funnel helps steer a visitor from merely being at the discovery phase to reaching the conversion phase.
We believe it’s vital to understand which stage of the sales funnel your video content is aimed at. This way you can measure your campaign’s effectiveness, and ROI and consider what tone/ feeling it should have relative to the platform. This is because the tone of the content will vary depending on the kind of platform it is recreated for. Another thing to determine is whether or not any further research is needed before committing any further time, budget or effort into repurposing the video.
So, next time you want to repurpose your video content, identify which stage of the funnel it is being created for-
- Awareness or discovery phase
- Interest and engagement phase
- Decision-making phase
Based on where the user is in the funnel, you will repurpose your content accordingly. Here are some examples-
- Awareness or discovery phase- social media posts, infographics, blogs
- Interest and engagement phase- demo videos, case studies, eBooks, landing pages
- Decision-making phase- sales pages, free consultations, sign-up pages
Before you repurpose the content, remember to ask yourself one important question— How is it adding value to existing or new audiences?
Has internal and external stakeholder content
Repurposing your video content is a powerful way to increase your reach across multiple channels. It can help with optimizing your conversions and building a brand that’s providing value to its audience. But before jumping into repurposing, you will require permission from internal and external stakeholders. Here’s why-
- Internal stakeholders- These include the employees, managers, and owner/s of the company. It is important to consult your superiors from departments like sales and marketing so that you can ensure you’re not divulging any trade secrets or confidential information when you put the content on a public platform.
- External stakeholders- These include your clients and customers. In case the video content you’re repurposing uses testimonials or has interviews, etc., it is necessary to obtain written permission before releasing the content publicly.
Before approaching the stakeholders, it is crucial to know the answers to the following questions—
- What is the intent behind repurposing the content?
- What mediums are you planning to target?
This is to ensure that the stakeholders in question are not only making an informed decision but can also give necessary inputs that can add value to the repurposed content pieces.
Ideas to repurpose video content
Video is an excellent way to increase engagement, conversion, and click rate. With repurposing, you can take that content and use it in a variety of other ways, including blogs, landing pages, and social media. While there are many ways to repurpose content, it boils down to 3 ways-
- Repurposing to long-form content
- Repurposing to short-form content
- Repurposing from long-form to short-form content and vice versa
Long-form repurposing
A long-form content strategy is one tactic that brands can consider to establish themselves as industry experts or authorities over time. Any detailed, educational videos you create can be repurposed to various long-form content formats like podcasts, blogs, how-to guides and tutorials, e-books, webinars, etc.
Repurposing long-form content is important because it allows you to conserve your time, energy, and resources by recycling content for new audiences. The idea behind this is that in doing so, you’re continually piquing their interest since the repetition makes it easier for them to find a connection with your brand.
A well-written blog, for example, allows the brand to share their insights into a particular industry and teaches without relying on social media quotes or weekly fads which tend not to last as long or be as substantial. Free E-books are excellent ways for businesses to market themselves through their expertise in an entertaining way.
For the ones who prefer audio over text, turning existing videos into value-adding podcasts is a great option. Not only does it open new avenues, but it could also be the step that leads to a conversion.
Regardless of the format you use, remember to add an impactful CTA at the end with relevant links.
Bite-sized repurposing
The goal of short-form content is to get one point across. It needs to be quick and easy to consume, so you don’t want viewers having to spend too much time viewing it before your message hits home.
These content formats include tweets, carousels for social media, infographics, e-mails, teasers, reels, etc. A benefit of creating short-form content is that it can bring newer ideas to the forefront. Not just that, it’s a great way for marketers to beat their creative blocks and still put content for their audiences to view.
When you create short-form content that follows the same tone as your long-form content, people going through both formats will start to recognize who you are as a brand and what you’re about. Remember though, you should have a pointed message at the core of every recreated piece rather than a rambling narrative for the sake of remaining active on different platforms.
While repurposing videos to short-form content, remember that your audience’s attention span is less than 10 seconds. So, you need to have a strong hook and get to the point immediately.
Repurposing to a different length
Worried about how to repurpose long-form content to short-form content or vice versa? The beauty of transforming existing content is that it isn’t unidirectional.
The opportunities with repurposing content are endless if you are aware of your goals, have a clear angle, can provide value, and weave an engaging story. While on most days your repurposed content can go from point A to point B, on other days it can be an endless cycle that keeps on giving.
The top reason marketers repackage existing videos into content pieces of varying lengths is because it allows them to tap into new audiences and gain visibility. Whether potential buyers enjoy, text-based content or audio/ video formats, you can extend the lifespan of top-performing videos by repurposing them to a new format.
For example, you can take an explainer video and repurpose it into podcast content, or a webinar that turns into an e-book which then becomes multiple pieces of audiograms for social media.
Best tools to repurpose video content
Let’s look at some of the top tools that can help you increase the shelf life of your content and are loved by marketers –
Video to podcasts
To turn your videos into podcasts, use Audacity. It is a highly used free, open-source audio software tool that retains the quality of your audio and is also rich in many other features like editing and effects.
Video to blogs
To rank higher on search engines, you can turn your videos into educational blogs. A highly-trusted platform most people use is Rev. With their nominal pricing and speedy delivery, it’s no wonder that they are trusted by top companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Viacom.
Video to social media posts and stories
To turn your videos into social media-friendly posts or stories, simply put the existing content on Canva. It has existing templates that can help even amateurs design professional posts. What’s more, you don’t need to worry about dimensions since Canva takes care of it for you.
Short to long videos
Many platforms allow you to stitch multiple short videos to create one long professional-looking video. A top choice for iPhone and Mac users is iMovie because of its ease of use, filters, soundtracks, and more. Another top choice for Android and iPhone users is InShot for its intuitive design and feature-rich software.
If you’re working from a desktop, try Camtasia. You can start with a trial version and pay for a license once you get comfortable using it.
A great tool most marketers use for repurposing their video content and publishing it to various platforms is Repurpose.io. If you’re looking for a repurpose io alternative, the ones that come close are Seio.io and HashCut.
(Also read: The Visual Ninja’s Toolkit: Tools To Create Visual Content)
Summing up
Now that you’re familiar with the different content formats you can use and the tools needed to repurpose video content, it’s important to know how to approach each and what your end goal is likely to be.
When giving your old videos another chance at life and turning them into other types of content, be sure to do so in a strategic way. Come up with an execution strategy for the type of content you want to produce by pre-visualizing and formulating a plan. Figure out how you can leverage your video assets for both– traffic and profit.
Has your business invested in a bunch of high-quality videos? If you are looking to get more mileage out of your content and reach a wider audience, reach out to our experts at Contensify!