Networking: Strengthening Relationships Through Content
As a business owner, networking, establishing business relationships, and maintaining said relationships are key aspects to a successful business. These relationships can be strengthened through collaborations, sharing audiences, and connecting businesses with one another—playing matchmaker, if you will. One strategy for achieving this goal is repurposing content, also known as “content recycling”.
What exactly is repurposing content? Repurposing content is taking your original content and altering and revising its original form (while still retaining the original idea and message) to achieve a different goal or outcome. For example, business features or highlights published in your newsletter can be used as blog content for your website. You can even utilize a blog post as content for a collaborative podcast. It is often easier and faster to repurpose existing content versus creating new content. Since different formats perform differently when shared on various platforms, it gives your brand an opportunity to expand its audience.
In a survey conducted by ReferralRock, a marketing referral company based in Washington, D.C., 94% of surveyed marketers repurpose their content while the remaining 6% are thinking of doing so in the future. Some of the most common methods for repurposing content use infographics, social media posts, videos, guest posts, and converting to another medium (i.e., blog post into a podcast).
Repurposing content to strengthen your existing business relationships is a great way to create collaborative opportunities, build community, and expand both your bandwidths through sharing audiences. For this purpose, social media is your best tool for repurposing and collaborating. Utilize reposting a previous post as a story or a reel. Tag organizations and companies you currently work whenever relevant. The collaborator tool on Instagram comes in handy by sharing your repurposed post with another organization or company, giving both of you a shared audience and a broader bandwidth.
Consider using your repurposed content as a guest post on another organization’s website. It creates content for someone you work with while expanding your audience. It is mutually beneficial for both parties in terms of engagement.
Utilizing podcasts is also another method to consider for repurposing content while collaborating with others. An original blog post can be reformatted into a podcast with a twist! For example, if you did a write up on an organization or a fellow business owner as a blog post, you can invite them as a guest on your podcast series or a YouTube channel.
Repurposing content saves you a lot of time and creates a different spin on an existing message. Reformatting means reaching larger or different audiences. But to be effective, you need to know your platforms and how to utilize them as well as your audience. Choose your repurposed content with a clear objective in mind. More importantly, if your goal is to strengthen established relationships, you need to make that repurposing mutually beneficial.
