Why Associations Should Prioritize Repurposing Content
Is your association currently repurposing every piece of original content created into various formats across your communications channels? If not, you’re missing an opportunity to capture the attention of a bigger audience and to engage with more of your members at a time when they need your expert thought leadership more than ever.
Even better yet, repurposing content is a practice your association, whether you’re a staff of one or 100, can use to make the most of limited resources. A major benefit of repurposing content is that it saves your staff time, as they are not having to constantly start from a blank slate when it comes to sharing important information with members.
Repurposing extends the life of content you’ve already created that remains relevant and offers renewed value, particularly in the face of COVID-19. It ensures that every piece of content, whether it’s a video of an annual conference keynote, recording of a timely webinar or a feature article from your magazine, lives far beyond the first time you hit publish and has an opportunity to reach more people.
It also helps meet your members where they are in the moment. Right now, for instance, more professionals than ever before, regardless of industry, are working remotely because of social distancing guidelines. Many are also working beyond the 9-to-5 workday, sometimes at nontraditional hours, and they’re online and on social media throughout the day consuming digital content. Make sure all your content is repurposed and shared digitally so you’re part of that mix. It helps you meet your members with the content they need – when and where they need it – to come together and survive this difficult time.
So, I’m confident you’re now sold on the idea of repurposing content going forward – at least in theory. If you’re still not sure exactly what it looks like in practice though, the graphic below can help walk you through what repurposing content looks like, using Naylor’s Association Communications Benchmarking Study as an example.
Each year, the benchmarking study is distributed at a major industry event in print format. After the print release, we organize a webinar, the information from which we use to write articles and blog posts that are published on our website and in our newsletter. Each of those articles is then shared on all our social media channels, and some pieces are given a special visual treatment with standalone infographics. We use all of the information as a way to spark conversation across the online communities to which we belong.
There you have it: What starts as one piece of content easily becomes many that are shared across various platforms throughout the course of an entire year. That valuable content stays front and center for longer, keeping the audience informed and in the know.
