Key Takeaways (TLDR):
Key Summary
Topic: How to repurpose blog content, emails, and social media posts to save time, reach more people, and build a cohesive, interconnected content library without constantly starting from scratch.
What you’ll learn: Content repurposing is the art of taking something you’ve already created and adapting, reworking, or resharing it in a new format or on a new platform. This post covers why repurposing is one of the smartest content strategies available to small business owners, and walks through specific, actionable ideas for repurposing three of the most common content types: email newsletters, blog posts, and social media posts. Includes real examples and a few creative approaches you may not have considered yet.
Who this is for: Entrepreneurs, coaches, service providers, and small business owners who are already creating content and want to make it work harder, reach more people, and stop feeling like they have to reinvent the wheel every single time they sit down to create.
Written by: Emily Aborn, Small Business Copywriter and Podcast Host of the Small Business Casual Podcast, based in NH.
Why Repurpose in the First Place?
Repurposing allows you to recycle, transform, and reshare something you’ve already created into something NEW.
Repurposing blog content, emails, and social media posts saves you time and energy.
In addition, it allows you to reach people in different ways, no matter how they’re consuming your content. Repurposing spreads your message further and wider.
In this blog, and on the corresponding Content with Character podcast episode, we’ll be focusing specifically on repurposing:
- Blog Content
- Emails
- And social media posts
If you’re looking for even MORE repurposing ideas after you’re done reading the blog, make sure to check out the links at the bottom for all sorts of additional resources.
Ready to repurpose some blogs, emails, and social posts?! Me too! Let’s do this!
What is Content Repurposing?
Repurposing content is the art and science of taking something you’ve already created and changing, adapting, tweaking, revising, and reworking it to be used in another way.
It may look like repurposing blog content and turning it into an email, or repurposing a podcast and turning it into a blog, or it may look like breaking down a longer form piece of content into smaller social media posts.
Why Should I Bother Repurposing My Content?
Great question! The answer isn’t just that some random person named Emily on the internet told you to… it’s that it can help you work smarter, not harder when it comes to your content creation. It’s a strategic, intentional approach. Here’s why I LOVE and practice content repurposing on the regular:
- It saves time and having to reinvent the wheel. Create one thing and… voila! You’ve created many things!
- It helps reach people in various ways. Not everyone reads your blog, listens to your podcast, checks social media and emails. Repurposing offers different ways to interact with your business. It spreads your message further, faster, and wider, all with you doing LESS.
- It helps you build a body of cohesive, interlinked, interconnected content.
- It brings a level of cohesion to your content. When you repurpose, you naturally. become more FOCUSED. You can go deeper into things vs. wider on all the things and set yourself apart as the expert you are.
It maximizes the value of your original content and also prolongs its lifespan! Repurposing blog content helps prolong its life for a week, month, and beyond!
Ideas for Repurposing Email Content
- Read your emails aloud to your readers! In each of my weekly emails, I include a read-to-you option. I started doing this because one of my close friends wanted to read my email butttttttt she couldn’t follow because she has dyslexia. So, to make it more accessible and offer another option, I read all my weekly emails. If you’re better at verbalizing vs. writing, you could start by videoing or voice recording yourself and then use your transcript to help you turn it into a written email.
- Share your entire email on social media. You could share the direct link to read your email. (Most email providers include a direct link to the last email you sent. Example of one I sent my list HERE. You can also share the entire email as a blog. Another way you could do this is to cut and paste your entire email as a social post (depending on the length of it) or as a LinkedIn article.
- Break down your email into smaller chunks and reshare it on social media throughout the week. (Sidebar: This is where a lot of people tap into my expertise and hire me for a Strategy Session so we can work this through together because it can get tricky!) Breaking down your email into smaller chunks may look like:
- Taking a tips-based email and repurposing it into multiple social posts.
- Breaking down each section of a newsletter into one single post.
- Or something else entirely that you come up with creatively!
Repurposing Blog Content
A blog isn’t as easy as “set it and forget it”. Sadly, not much digital marketing IS. Which is why repurposing is so important and beneficial. Want to know my secret for getting people to actually read my blogs? Sharing about them in other places! Here are some ideas to get you started repurposing blog content:
- Share the intro/lead in of a blog as a short social media post to spark curiosity and guide them to read more.
- Repurpose your blog into a shortened version and post as a LinkedIn article.
- Repurpose your blog content by breaking it down into individual social media posts. Every one of my blogging bundles includes social media posts to go with them, including one that leads people BACK to the blog.
- Repurpose your blog into a podcast episode, or think even BIGGER and repurpose it into a workshop! I’ve done this hundreds of times: Blog → podcast, blog → presentation, blog → entire workshop! And of course, reverse-engineered it back again!
Repurposing Social Media Posts:
- Take similarly themed posts and group them together to turn them into a blog, podcast episode, or email.
Example: Let’s say you’re a travel agent and social media is your strong suit. You’ve just spent a couple weeks giving your followers individual travel tips for Disney vacations… you can take those ten tips and put them all in one place – a blog, email, podcast episode, etc. Short form content can become long form and vicey versa.
The opportunities and ideas are truly endless once you begin repurposing blog content, emails, and social!
Now all that’s left for you to do is to get started!
FAQ: Repurposing Blog Content, Emails, and Social Posts
What is content repurposing, and why does it matter?
Content repurposing is the practice of taking something you’ve already created and changing, adapting, or resharing it in a new format or on a different platform. A blog post becomes a podcast episode. An email newsletter becomes a series of social media posts. A collection of social media tips gets compiled into a long-form blog. It matters because not everyone in your audience consumes content the same way. Some people read blogs, some listen to podcasts, some scroll social media, and some only open emails. Repurposing lets your message reach all of them without requiring you to create entirely new content for each channel.
How do I repurpose a blog post into other content formats?
A single blog post contains more content than most people realize. You can share the opening paragraph as a social media post to spark curiosity and drive readers back to the full post. You can break the blog down into individual tips or sections and share each one as a standalone post across the week. You can turn the whole thing into a podcast episode by recording yourself talking through the key points with your own commentary and stories added in. You can condense it into a LinkedIn article. You can even reverse-engineer a blog into a workshop or presentation if the topic is meaty enough. One blog post done well can generate content for weeks.
What are the best ways to repurpose an email newsletter?
Several approaches work well depending on the length and format of your email. You can share the direct link to your email on social media since most email platforms generate a public link to your latest send. You can paste the full email as a LinkedIn article or blog post. You can break the email into smaller chunks and share each section as a separate social media post throughout the week. And if accessibility matters to you, consider reading your email aloud as an audio version for subscribers who prefer to listen rather than read, which also doubles as content you can share on your podcast or social channels.
Can I repurpose old social media posts into longer content?
Absolutely, and this is one of the most underused repurposing strategies available. If you’ve been posting consistently on a specific topic, those individual posts are essentially the raw material for a longer piece of content. A travel agent who has shared ten individual Disney vacation tips on social media already has the bones of a blog post, an email, or a podcast episode. Group similarly themed posts together, add some connective tissue and a strong intro and conclusion, and you have a cohesive long-form piece without starting from scratch.
How do I know which content is worth repurposing?
Start with what already performs well. Posts that got strong engagement, emails with high open rates, and blog posts that still bring in traffic are your best candidates for repurposing because they’ve already proven they resonate with your audience. Also look for evergreen content, pieces that aren’t tied to a specific moment in time and remain relevant and useful regardless of when someone encounters them. Those are the ones worth resharing, reformatting, and recycling repeatedly because their value doesn’t expire.
