Sustainable content is in! Here’s how to reuse and recycle content for your brand

We love the saying, ‘when in doubt, don’t throw it out’ and when it comes to digital content creation, there’s plenty of ways to effectively do this. Not only will reusing and repurposing content save you time and money, but with the right messaging, reaching for that ‘sustainable content’ will also expand your reach – and who wouldn’t love that!  

So, we asked our team of videographers, journalists and content specialists how they reuse content and here’s what they said! 

Why digital content creation matters

By now, we all know what digital content is. From scrolling social media in the morning to reading the headlines in our inbox, we consume content daily and there’s really no denying the relevance it has on society.

With such reliance on digital content, as brands it’s important we are creating content that our audience wants and needs. Poorly planned content can be costly so it’s important to be efficient and effective with content production. It also pays to have a clear plan in mind, to ensure that no piece of content is left behind. Versatile content also makes it easy to repurpose on multiple platforms.

Let’s take a long-form video for example and break it down.

Phoebe’s tip – turn long-form into bite-sized content

Smart and savvy videographers always capture more than they need, so why not extract the best bits and create micro content? An emotive, long-form video can be effectively used on your website or in an EDM to your database, but for an audience that is already engaging with your brand, then a short-form video for TikTok or Instagram Reel could capture this audience in a matter of seconds.

Bite-sized video content is reigning supreme at the moment, so keep this in mind but don’t abandon the long-form video just yet! Capturing your video content in ‘batches’ is an effective use of your time and budget, and allows you to pull from a larger bank of footage when looking to repurpose content in the future. Then, you can simply extract the long video to bite-sized chunks for Reels on Instagram, TikToks or utilise Youtube’s shorts feature. 

Our Social Media and Content Producer, Phoebe says it’s best to consider the long-form video first and then adjust what you need depending on the platform you’re looking for.  

“Depending on the video, you might need to re-jig the script so it’s more to-the-point and quick for social media,” she says. 

“Make sure the key messages are in there, change the aspect ratio, make sure there is time in a schedule for another edit that jumps to the point or gets the idea across in less than 10 seconds or so.”

“You’ll also need to consider the frame too, you’ll probably want someone talking straight away on a social media video, but long-form videos might have an intro.”

So best to have a plan of attack before editing the video and don’t just upload a shorter version of the long video without considering social platforms and the audience. For more video do’s and don’ts, check out our guide on how to create video content for your brand.

Aislinn says your podcast makes for great video content

Aussies love podcasts! According to Mumbrella, Australia has overtaken the United States as the world’s biggest podcast-listening nation. You can utilise the audio from your video and turn it into a podcast episode! Or visa vera, why not film a behind-the-scenes of your podcast production and utilise short snippets of the best bits on social media as a promotion tool? If your TikTok page is anything like ours, you’ll see a lot of brands are doing this effectively.

Take Shameless Media for example. What started as a pop culture podcast has now grown into a massive audience of over one million social media followers across a number of podcasts. Re-purposing their podcasts into short, sharp and salacious videos on social media has amounted to a cult following. 

Our Digital Content Lead, Aislinn says using a video of a podcast on social media has two main benefits.

“You can utilise your podcast content to hook your audience in and effectively market your content on socials, while also getting reach and engagement as a standalone video on social media,” she said.

Kerryn turns video content to blogs

If you’ve got a compelling video or a great story, why not turn it into a blog?! Blogs give you a chance to delve into your story in more depth. Plus, blogs can benefit your web traffic, search rankings, reputation and of course…street cred.

When we asked our Senior Public Relations Manager Kerryn, for her top blog tips she says it’s best to utilise this as an extension of storytelling for your brand.

“Blogs go into more detail, they’re more descriptive and give readers more of a background to the story being told. Use this to your advantage with a clear angle in mind,” she says.

“You can then also link readers directly to more information in a blog, so the audience can easily read more or find out more on the topic.”

Use blogs to speak to your audience like a friend and give them more information or detail. You can then embed the original video into your blog so readers can put a face to a name, then link them directly to your offerings like products or related articles, after you’ve captured their attention.

Ahreo loves creating a teaser for social ads

Okay, so you’ve got your content and sliced it into quarters, how about going a step further and creating a simple social tile or series of graphics for a carousel? If there’s a golden piece of advice, or a nugget of wisdom in your long-form video, grab that quote and turn it into a social tile to further repurpose this content in an easier and digestible way. If the quote and social tile looks a million-bucks, then it’s worth uploading to a visual-based platform like Instagram or even Pinterest to expand your reach and extend your brand audience. It saves you the money you would have normally spent to produce a whole new piece of content as well- too easy!  

Our Content Specialist Ahreo, says advertising is a great way to reach new audiences and using your existing content, instantly places your brand at the forefront.

Psst, we’ll let you in on a secret, this blog has also been re-purposed! We took a short Reel we filmed on how to maximise your content and turned it into this blog, for more you can check out Ahreo’s tips in our reel below. 

There you have it! We’ve taken one long video and cut it down into five different pieces of content to show how you can repurpose your digital content creation.

Looking for more ideas on how to reuse content? We know a thing or two!

With more than 100 years of combined experience in the media and communications industry, we’ve got the skills and expertise to get exposure for the stories you want to shout from the rooftops and to quash the ones you don’t.  

Get in touch to chat all things PR, content and social media.