Repurposing Content? Try Repurposing Concepts

“Repurpose your content.”

Like “follow your dreams” and “invest in the stock market,” it’s one of those things that lots of people tell you to do.

But hardly anyone tells you how to do it.

And some of the advice you have gotten on “how” is probably not great.

“Break up your video into short clips for social media” is a good start. But it still leaves a lot of meat on the content bone.

To pick that bone clean, you need to go beyond repurposing your content.

You need to repurpose your concepts.

Repurposing Concepts

Content is your creative output.

It’s the words in your blog, it’s your video, it’s your podcast episode.

Concepts are the ideas and knowledge that content conveys.

When you focus on repurposing concepts, your list of new content options explodes.

Plus, it puts your ideas and expertise in front of your audience repeatedly, in different formats. That makes them more likely to associate those ideas with you, building your brand.

So how do you find your concepts?

1. Start with your core piece of content. For simplicity’s sake, let’s say it’s a blog post. Start making a list of the concepts that piece contains.
2. Are there subheads? Each section is probably a concept. Write those concepts down.
3. Skim the first couple of lines of each paragraph. Note any new ideas or supporting arguments made there.
4. Did you use any examples or metaphors? Add ’em to the list.
5. Think of what questions a person might ask that this post could answer. Write them all down.

If you like ideating with AI, your favorite GPT can help you dig even further. Copy and paste your blog post into the GPT (I like using Claude.ai for this) and prompt it to identify all unique concepts, supporting arguments, and key takeaways.

(To get the best results, ask those in three separate prompts.)

Now you have your list of concepts, think about how you could share them with your audience.

1. Some might make good blog posts of their own. For example, if your core content was a “how-to” piece, you could approach the topic from the angle of “why.”
2. Writers will be drawn to sharing their concepts in text-based platforms like email, LinkedIn, and X.
3. Use Canva to turn catchy one-liners and succinct takeaways into quote graphics for LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and Instagram.
4. Examples and metaphors make great slideshows for LinkedIn and Instagram.
5. Record video of yourself briefly explaining each concept for video channels.

Remember, repetition is your friend. Repetition builds brands. Don’t think you can’t post a graphic to LinkedIn because you already shared that concept as a text post. Share it again.

The more your audience sees the same ideas from you, the more firmly they will associate you with expertise on that subject.

Don’t Get Overwhelmed

If you don’t set up parameters, this exercise can result in six or seven dozen content ideas from a single blog post.

You cannot possibly pursue them all without a team. Repurposing is easier than building from scratch, but it’s not easy. Repurposed content still has to be created, distributed, and tracked.

Focus on your top two or three distribution channels - like a blog, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

For each concept on your list, see how many ways you can come up with to share to those specific channels.

Repurposing your concepts strengthens your brand, demonstrates your expertise, and dramatically lightens the lift of content ideation and creation.