How many ideas do I need to have?!?
If you’ve ever sat down at your desk, taken a look at your To-Do list, and then dropped your head into your hands while muttering “Dear God, why?”, you’re not alone.
As a business owner or solopreneur, you’ve got enough busy work to keep you chained to your desk until the cows come home (assuming you’re waiting for some cows). You keep hearing that you need to write blogs, send out a weekly newsletter, write a book, do videos for YouTube or Facebook Live, host webinars, post on social media, and more. Where, you might ask, is all this content supposed to come from?
First, take a deep breath.
Have you ever looked at the content out there? It’s poorly written, regurgitated information from other sources, and downright dull. I’m not telling you this to suggest that you should add to the pile of steaming dog poop that’s already out there. I’m just saying that there’s a very low bar. If you can create interesting, well written, useful content, you are already light years ahead of most.
Second, pat yourself on the back.
You are an intelligent, eloquent chap with a lifetime of experience and knowledge to share with the world. Your content needs to reflect that. Everything you put out there should have a personal story or experience attached to it. That is how you avoid the poop trap.
But I promised to talk about repurposing, didn’t I?
Here’s the thing. People like to consume content in different ways. Remember that commercial, “How do you like to eat your peanut butter cups?” Some people like to read, or watch videos, or listen to audio, or interact, or they like their information in 140 character snippets. And some people require a glass of milk and like to nibble around the edges.
The point is this: I really want a peanut butter cup.
Oops. The point is that most people won’t look or listen to everything you create. That means that if you write a blog post about the price of widgets in Japan, those people who prefer to listen to content or watch it… they’ll probably never learn about your brilliant widget argument. Now, if you took that same widget information and created a blog post and a short video or audio, your audience just doubled and your widget story is now sweeping the nation.
Are you following? You may be most comfortable working or creating in one medium, but that may not be what your audience is most comfortable consuming. (As I write this, I’m thinking I should probably take my own advice and get some videos up on YouTube.)
Here are a few repurposing ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
1) Break up lists into individual “Tip” videos or social media posts.
2) Include your blog as part of your newsletter with some added features like “Where in the World Am I” or other pertinent information for your audience.
3) If you do podcasts or have been interviewed on any shows, use the transcriptions as blog posts.
4) Add time sensitive information to old blog posts and post them again. (Not like a week old blog post, like a year old). This keeps them front of mind for your audience and provides a new take.
5) Record all of your speeches and presentations and use short clips as teasers on social media or your website.
6) Take quotes from your blog posts and post them on social media (bonus points if you link to the full article on your website).
7) And my absolute favorite… repurpose your blogs into a book!
Please keep in mind that this is a call to repurpose, not copy and paste. Different mediums require different styles, some need visuals, some will have a more conversational tone, etc. You will need to tweak your content, you just don’t need to reinvent it from scratch.
One more note to be aware of, Facebook and YouTube are owned by different companies and they are not besties. If you are going to use the same content, create the video on your phone or camera and then post to YouTube and Facebook separately. Or, do a Facebook live and then upload that video to YouTube. Otherwise, your YouTube link may not show up in people’s newsfeeds, and if it does, it won’t look quite as pretty as it could.
You’ve got great ideas to share with the world and you should. Creating quality content (no matter what mediums you choose) only makes your business stronger.
If you’re not a fan of creating content, don’t worry… I am. Email me at sheryl@sherylgreenspeaks.com and let’s chat about working together.
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