The power of repurposing content is an infinitely usable lesson I learned from exposure to the inner workings of direct response marketing tactics. Multiply your own productivity as well as your reach across platforms and audiences by repurposing content. Here’s how to get started!
Creating Content From Great Questions
I love it when people ask great questions, or have a problem for us to solve which is of nearly universal concern.
Our example today is from a long time consulting client who is proud to DIY her own Squarespace website, and normally is about 99.999% independent with it. But earlier this week, Google sent her a “Google has Detected a Mobile Usability Issue on YourWebsite dot com” message, and she wasn’t sure where to start. Given the general nature of the notice, she was concerned that her site was in danger of ranking poorly or being penalized in some way by Google. After assuring her this was actually not that big of a deal, we got on a screen share call to walk through the issue to resolve it, and so that she’d know what to do next time.
This would be a quick win. But, I also knew that many people receive these messages from Google. They usually panic, don’t know what to do–or if they need to worry, or where even to start to fix the issue. An employee may have set up the Google Search Console account for them, or they may have set up the Google Search Console account so long ago that they barely remember what all this is about. Life moves fast in small business, especially now.
I also knew that I’ve resolved or explained this same situation about 900 times and that it would make for a great bit of business blog content. The answer to this question would help our target market if they were to find our website because of the post. In that way it could get our company some qualified leads. On the call, I asked permission to record the portion where I explained the situation. The rest of this post is about my strategy for creating and repurposing this kind of content.
How To Repurpose Your Expert Answers
Recognize Your Ideal Question Asker…
We have a great client base of smart, insightful, and creative people. They tend to ask great questions, and follow up questions. I make sure to choose someone who I know will get a kick out of the process — and I will often explain the process as something else we can help them implement in their business too. We like to get meta… have you noticed? When our ideal question asker has asked a great question, and we’ve planned to talk about it, or walk them through the solution we implement the following…
Setting Up Your Recording Session
- Ask permission to record your answer – video, audio, etc… Be 1,000% up front with how the recording will be used. Our clients like to remain anonymous most of the time, so we of course respect that and generalize our answers. In the case of the example above, we only did an audio recording which will only be used in text form.
- Make sure you’ve tested your recording methods before the call – you want to be able to just click record and then not worry about it. Don’t let the extra tech keep you from giving your client your complete attention — otherwise you won’t really provide an answer worth repurposing!
- Offer the recording to your client, some love to reference videos when they solve the problem again for themselves later. This can be a great added value for them, and strengthen your working relationship.
- Don’t limit your imagination for repurposing.
Preparing the Content for Repurposing
In today’s example, after our zoom call was over, I took a few notes about the screenshots and other helpful items I would add to the future blog post (and accompanying social media posts to use over time to draw even more attention to it), I also carefully considered how and where this content could be used. I also came up with the idea for the article you’re reading right now–about documenting the whole process. One thing I remember from an old high school photography class was that you should always “have your camera ready” to take a unique shot as opportunities present themselves. Over the years I’ve applied this to my work life in a huge way. I strive to always have a way to jot down an idea, to capture the moment, to recognize an opportunity and act on it. To snap that idea and implement it!
What To Do After Recording Your Call
- Review the recording and consider the quality. Is the video good enough (if you have permission to use it)? How is the audio quality? Are you able to split out the channels and make it only your side of the conversation?
- Get it transcribed! At the very least you can use it in a blog post and add the bells and whistles later. I love using Temi and/or Rev for this purpose. Very affordable and while I’m actually great at transcription, that’s not the best use of my time.
- Consider all the ways you can use this info. I start with a written blog post and then expand from there… Gary Vaynerchuk has a fantastic slideshare on how to create 64 pieces of content in a day, and it’s an exuberant (and profanity laden, fair warning) example of repurposing… Also note that he’s made this blog post around a slide share and a PDF version of the same info. The whole thing is a great example of repurposing! So meta!
- Jot down your main ideas and turn them into subheadings… an absolute $$$$$ tip I learned from our friend and SEO blogging course creator, Mitchell “Moe” Long, who by the way recorded a recent call with us about how to best use Mangools SEO tools last week. We asked great questions of course and he’s going to have a great blog post around the recording.
- Edit the transcription, add in facts, screenshots, relevant photos.
- Create a blog post from the info and/or a slideshare, PDF guide, etc. etc. etc.
- Promote it all using your email marketing systems, social media, friends, and if appropriate, tag the client in it if they want the recognition. Some clients love this type of traffic and attention and will even go so far as to promote the piece to their audiences.
Challenge: Use This Strategy This Week
Can you do it? We think you can! Even if you’re just jotting down notes when helping a client or customer, or asking your employees to flag particularly great answers to customer service tickets, you can start repurposing the content you and your employees are generating every day. In the case of employees answering tickets, you can also use the opportunity to recognize a job well done. The employee may be so proud that they share the content that highlights them on their own social media accounts and on and on. Your current and future clients and customers will also know that you’re hiring top notch folks to help them. The wins just keep coming.
Stay tuned for the blog post and tutorial about the Google Mobile Usability Error…