How much time should you spend on repurposing content?
This is a question that we get asked a lot and of course, the answer varies depending on the type of content you are repurposing, how much content you have, and where you're repurposing it to. However, there are ways that you can approximate the amount of time it should be taking.
But first, perhaps we should reframe the question, because content repurposing is a form of content creation and you can’t necessarily separate content repurposing from your content creation process as a whole. So the question shouldn’t be how much time should you spend repurposing content – instead it should be, how much time should you spend creating content overall.
If you are thinking, “I have NO time for that” then please take a few minutes to listen to our podcast episode below or carry on reading this blog post….
I have NO time for that!
If your time is spent writing blog posts, creating videos, podcasting, handling social media – it’s a lot – and you may feel that there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to repurpose your content as well. But there is…
Again, a little shift in perspective.
In the first instance, if what you’re doing is constantly putting out new content, but not doing anything to promote and drive traffic to it, it’s unrealistic to expect people to stumble across your content. One tried and tested way is by repurposing your content and making the most of other distribution channels.
Quality over quantity
Back in the early 2000s, churning out daily blog posts was a recommended approach. However, times have changed and this isn’t the most effective strategy now. It is good to publish fresh content, but constantly putting it out there without a strategy isn’t! The focus should be on quality over quantity.
First, before even creating the content, have a plan for how you are going to repurpose it (see The Content Repurposing Mindset).
From great content, comes great content repurposing!
The repurposed content that you create maintains its quality, as it is developed from the amazing first piece of content that you put all that time and effort into. It drives more traffic to your core content and reaches new audiences with your message.
The 80 / 20 rule
Experienced marketer, Derek Halpern, states that you should spend 20% of your time creating your content and 80% promoting your content. Afterall, who wants to create content that no one sees?
At Content 10x, we’d say 20-30% creating and 70-80% a mixture of content repurposing and promoting.
The time trade-off: Original vs repurposed content
Whether it’s fresh content or repurposed content, take that distinction out of the equation and simply work out how many hours per week you spend on content creation.
The next step is working out how you allocate that time between original content, repurposed content and promoting the content.
Creating repurposed content will take less time because you have already put in a lot of hard work. For example, let’s look at these time allocations when you’re creating a video from scratch, as opposed to creating a video-based directly on a blog post.
10 hours per month
Option 1:
5 podcast episodes – 2 hours each
Option 2:
1 podcast episode consisting of...
2 hours on your podcast – prep, the episode recording itself, post interview work
8 hours on repurposing, consisting of:
- 2 hours writing an article
- 2 hours creating a video
- 2 hours creating social media posts and graphics
- 2 hours publishing content on social media, your blog, YouTube etc
This approach means lots of content and lots of links directly back to your website. Your content is more focused on one topic and more people can be reached in different places.
You also use different content formats to reach people – we all consume content differently and we don’t all listen to podcasts. It's important to create content to cater for different preferred learning styles.
With Option 2 you are creating a monthly podcast instead of a weekly podcast - but embracing repurposing and distribution and enhancing your audience reach - this is the way to go.
So, what is your allocation of time when it comes to content creation?
If you need guidance on repurposing your content or your all-around content strategy, get in touch! We have a range of repurposing services that will help you reach your full content creation potential. Click here to find out more.
For more tips, why not check out our library of podcast episodes and blog posts. And you can get your hands on our book Content 10x: More Content, Less Time, Maximum Results.