My mom taught me a neat trick when I went to college: Take the leftover veggies from dinner, chop some fine onion, add some hot sauce, and use it as your sandwich spread.
I used the hack all the time — sometimes for breakfast on busy mornings and other times for snacking in late evenings. I was always surprised at how different yet familiar the sandwich tasted.
That’s what content repurposing is, in a nutshell: You take yesterday’s existing content and use it to whip up new content for today. Just like my sandwich did for me, it’ll save you hours you would’ve spent creating something new from scratch.
And the benefits of repurposing content exceed above and beyond time-saving. In the digital marketing world, content repurposing:
- Helps you expand your content’s reach (because you share it multiple times in more than one format to new audiences)
- Enables you to create more content without burning out (because you don’t have to use brainpower to think of a new idea)
- Boosts your SEO efforts (friendly for search engines because you’re creating multiple content pieces targeting similar keywords)
But what most of us struggle with is practicing repurposing content regularly. It doesn’t become a part of workflows so easily, and it’s often more difficult than it looks.
In this article, I’ll first answer some of the most common questions related to content repurposing to help you make it a non-negotiable part of your working process. Then, I’ll share various ways of repackaging various types of content — from long-form articles to short-form videos. Let’s go! 👇
5 FAQs about content repurposing answered
1: How is repurposing content different from cross-posting and reposting content?
The commonality? All three (cross-posting, reposting, repurposing) are ways to reuse your existing content.
Cross-posting is when you share a piece of content as-is on another social media platform. For example, you can post your TikTok video as an Instagram Reel and a YouTube Shorts video without changing anything since they are similar content types. Creator Laura Whaley does this regularly with her TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
Reposting content is when you republish a piece of content on the same platform. For example, you repost a writeup on X (formerly Twitter) that previously got a ton of engagement and positive response from your audience. For example, Katelyn Bourgoin posted a timeless advice on X in 2020 and repeated it in 2021, also on X.
Repurposing content is keeping the crux of a piece’s idea and adapting it for other social media channels. For example, you distill high-performing old blog posts into Instagram carousel posts.
At Buffer, we regularly repurpose content — and one of our core strategies is turning our blogs into social media posts. For example, we turned this blog post on creating content pillars into an Instagram carousel (and even a thread on X!).
The difference is minute but crucial:
- Cross-posting is posting the same piece of content on various platforms
- Reposting is posting the same piece of content again on the same platform
- Repurposing is repackaging a piece of content into different content types
In your social media marketing strategy, you need all three.
Why? Cross-posting saves time, reposting helps you double down on your success, and repurposing content helps you with content distribution.
Here’s how you should approach the three methods:
- Cross-post content across social media channels wherever you can
- Monitor the posts getting the most reach and schedule them to be reposted after a certain time period
- Bake repurposing into your content creation workflow and post the same piece of content in various formats and channels
2: When should you think about repurposing content?
It depends.
Do you already have a ton of content backlog?
Then, you should start thinking about content repurposing immediately. Repackage those old pieces (begin with the popular posts) to get more value out of them.
Are you new to content creation (for social media or in general)?
Then, try to embed content repurposing into your workflow. For instance, you could make it a task to turn every YouTube video you create into short-form videos for Shorts, Reels, and TikTok. This way, you get ahead of the game and don’t wait till you don’t get enough organic engagement to think about content repurposing.
Are you breaking into a new channel or platform?
Then, start content repurposing right away. Most channels and platforms will give you an advantage if you post more frequently. To publish at a higher cadence, take the content you already have on other channels and repurpose it for the new platform.
For example, if you’re trying to grow on Instagram Threads, you can easily repurpose (or even cross-post!) content you posted on X since both platforms allow for a similar type of content.
Read more: 8 Social Media Content Ideas to Incorporate into Your Strategy
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