On average, small business owners spend 20 hours each week on marketing. That’s already 50% of a 40-hour workweek! The crazy part is, for most solopreneurs, marketing is only a fraction of what they need to take care of. They also have to take care of cash flow, building new products, and networking.
If you’re reading this post, you’re most likely a solopreneur or a small business owner looking for a solution to streamline your content creation process so you can shave off some of that time! That’s exactly my goal for you!
If you can turn that 20 hours into just two hours per week, then you get 18 hours back. You then be able to focus on the critical areas of your business. How can you get 18 hours back? Content Repurposing!
The main strategy is to focus on creating long-form content that you will repurpose for different social media channels. You don’t have to create new content every day or even every week.
What is Content Repurposing?
You might have encountered this word many times, but you’re not sure what it means. You know you should be repurposing, but you’re exactly not sure how.
Repurposing simply means finding new ways to recycle content that you already created. For example, one of my favorite ways to repurpose is to trim my old Facebook Live Videos and turn them into short videos.
Content Repurposing Step #1 Do a content and time audit.
Understanding your current numbers before implementing a new content repurposing strategy is crucial. This way you’ll know how many hours you’re saving each week.
How much time do you spend creating content each week? How many pieces of content do you create daily, weekly, and monthly? What types of content are you creating?
What are the results that you are getting for these pieces of content?
An audit is not complete without a Google Sheet. When doing this audit, you can add these elements:
- Post
- Link to Post
- Date
- Total Reach
- Tota Engagement
- Link Clicks
- Estimated Revenue
Doing a content audit might take some time, but it’s totally worth it!
There is usually a gap between what you think is happening and what is actually happening. For example, you might think that you’re spending 10 hours a week creating content, but in reality, you’re spending more. You might be creating Instagram-worthy images, but in reality, they are not bringing in as much engagement compared to a simple text post on Facebook. While this is an important first step, make sure you don’t dwell on it either. Spend no more than two weeks for the content audit.
Content Repurposing Step #2: Choose long-form content to focus on.
After the audit, you can now refocus on content that brings the most value. Most of the time, long-form content brings more benefits. But what is exactly long-form content?
According to WordStream, long-form content is an article with 1200 words or more.
Other types of long-form content:
- Case study
- Ebook
- 30-minute live training or tutorial
Long-form content is usually part of your lead generation. For example, you may have a free ebook that you’re giving away, so people can opt-in for your newsletter.
Depending on the time you have, you can plan it monthly or quarterly. Here’s an example from my experience:
- I create one ebook per quarter.
- I create 2-4 blog posts that lead to that ebook.
- I go live at least once a month and drive traffic to the ebook, so I can get their email.
Your strategy might be different depending on your style and your business. For me, I create a blog post first before scheduling my live streams because I can discuss the topics better when I’ve written my thoughts first. You might do the opposite: You commit to doing live streams and then turn them into a long blog post.
Once you’ve chosen which long-form content you want to focus on, you can now build a repurposing strategy around it.
The goal is not to create new content. You’re just getting pieces from the long-form content, and you will be turning them into shorter posts.
Content Repurposing Step #3: Build your repurposing strategy around long-form content.
After publishing your long-form content, it’s time to build a month’s worth of content and schedule them. To better picture this strategy, I’m going to give you an example from my own experience:
On the BeLive Facebook Page, I go live once a month to teach people how to get sponsors even if they don’t have thousands of followers. I planned this strategy for the first quarter of 2021.
Here’s an example of my content repurposing flow:
- Go live on the Facebook Page
- Trim the Facebook Live and upload them on YouTube using the BeLive Video Editor
- Create a blog post with links to the original Facebook Live
- Turn the blog post into shorter social media posts and schedule them in advance with an automation tool
Content Repurposing Step #4: Take advantage of automation tools.
Speaking of automation tools, invest in one! In my quest to find the best repurposing flow, I recently discovered MissingLettr. It turns your blog posts into a whole year’s worth of Tweets.
Here’s a screenshot of my scheduled campaign from my recent blog post:
There are other tools out, such as SmarterQueue. And as the name suggests, you can automatically queue and republish posts that have gotten the most engagement in the past few months. We also love HelloWoofy which is slightly less robust, but a crazy low price and also has an AI-assisted content writing technology.
Invest in multi-purpose content creation tools.
If your main long-form content is doing a live stream, tools like BeLive are a great solution. You will be able to schedule your live stream on Facebook and YouTube, go live simultaneously, and trim the videos for repurposing.
Additionally, it is also built for live sales. You can upload your products on the Live Sales List. When you show these products, a link will automatically appear on the comment section, so people can go to your sales page and buy what you have to offer.
Lastly, you can turn your live stream into a podcast. You can download an audio-only file after your broadcast.
Here’s how you can save 18 hours per week with this strategy:
| Task | Time Spent |
| Prepare for your live stream | 30 minutes |
| Hosting and producing your live stream | 30 minutes |
| Trimming your live stream | 10 minutes |
| Scheduling repurposed content for the whole week, month, or even year | 50 minutes |
Tasks that this content repurposing strategy will eliminate:
- Time spent thinking about what to post
- Researching for a new topic every time
- Creating new images or editing videos from scratch
- Scheduling so many pieces of content that don’t work
Make Room for Trending Topics
You can follow this strategy, or adjust it based on your time and resources. The important concept is to get the most out of the long-form content.
You can also add extra types of content once you have mastered this strategy. For example, I include a placeholder in the content calendar for a trending topic. You might want to post this on the go, so you can join in the conversation and potentially get more reach and engagement.
Final Note
Lastly, with this content repurposing strategy, you can focus on engaging with other people’s posts as your daily routine. Previously, you might spend too much time creating and scheduling posts daily. But since you’ve already scheduled everything in advance, you can focus on liking and commenting on relevant pages and social media accounts in your niche.
What’s your repurposing strategy? Do you have some hacks that you’d like to share?
If you’re ready to go live and repurpose your stream, sign up for a BeLive account here.
Irene Chan is a writer and live video producer at BeLive. She has been working in the digital marketing industry for a decade and loves the creativity of video production. She has a degree in Broadcast Communication and is always imagining new live videos to produce. She is based in the Philippines and lives with her husband, two kids, and their 11-year-old Chihuahua.
