Think about the last health content that you created. Maybe it was a short news story about a recent medical study. Or an in-depth journalistic piece on COVID-19, with several expert interviews. Or even an infographic for Twitter or Facebook about the risk factors of type 2 diabetes.
Now think about how much time you spent brainstorming, researching, interviewing, creating, editing, and promoting that piece of content. Chances are it was quite a bit, because that’s what we do as health writers — go over the top to create content that is not just accurate, but catches readers’ eyes. Even for a 100-word news blurb or a 280-character tweet about a new study.
Now imagine that you could turn all those hours of research and work into more than one piece of health content. This is the “magic” of repurposing content, a technique that content marketers have long been using. But it’s also something that health writers can leverage to help them create a steady stream of useful, accurate, and interesting content.
There are a lot of benefits to repurposing your content, such as:
- Reaching more people. Not everyone will visit your website to read your latest articles or see your posts on social media. Repurposing content lets you share your ideas in different ways, which can help you reach a wider audience.
- Leveraging your ideas. Your health content is valuable, especially when you have put a lot of time into understanding and explaining the science behind it. By repurposing your content in as many ways as possible, you can get the most out of your efforts.
- Saving time. Let’s face it. Your time is limited. Repurposing your content lets you create new content without having to start researching from scratch. But if saving time is your only reason for repurposing the content, you might also want to look at ways to create content more efficiently.
That said, you want to be careful how you go about repurposing content. Simply rewording an old article so it gets picked up by search engines as something new won’t cut it. Neither will turning all your blog posts into an ebook without taking the time to edit or reshape the content.
With repurposing, you still need to create top-notch health content — content that you would be proud to have your name attached to. The trick is to approach it the same way you do any content creation — with intention. Here are a few steps to help you ensure that your repurposed content shines as much (or more so) than the original.
Selecting health content to repurpose.
You can technically repurpose any health content, but you will have the most success if you choose content that has already performed well. If one of your blog posts is getting a large number of visitors, comments, or social shares, that’s a sign that people are responding to it in a positive way. This high-performing content is also likely what you put the most effort into.
Once you’ve identified potential content for repurposing, look for themes. Do they tend to be shorter news articles or more deep-dive pieces? Are they service-oriented or focused on research findings? Do they cover certain health topics like exercise and fitness, or maybe health conditions like high blood pressure or depression?
Can you leverage these patterns? Or maybe you need to repurpose the content to complement what you’ve already done. Also, think about how you can repurpose the content successfully. The goal is to create content that looks new and fresh to your audience.
One cautionary note. If you are a freelance health writer, you should be careful when repurposing content that you created for one client to use for another client. Your clients pay for unique content, so that’s what you should give them. It is possible, though, to use the research that you’ve already done on a topic to create new health content. But be sure to run it through a plagiarism checker like CopyScape before sharing the content.
Deciding what to keep and what to remove.
Before repurposing content, ask yourself the following questions. This will help you in deciding how to reshape the content:
- Why am I creating this content?
- Who is the audience?
- Where will I share the content?
- What is the best format?
Once you’ve done this, look at the actual content that you want to repurpose. In particular, decide which parts of the content fit with your goals and which you can leave out.
Also, look for any information gaps in your content. This is an essential part of repurposing health content, because new medical studies are being published every day. Check PubMed or Google Scholar to see if there are any new studies that you need to mention. PubMed and journal websites also list papers that were retracted or updated since their initial date of publication.
If you included expert interviews in the content, do they need a refresh? Maybe a new study came out that conflicts with what a doctor told you; this could be a good time to follow up with them. Or you could reach out to another expert for an entirely different perspective.
Repurposing content as if it were new.
When repurposing content, approach it as if you were creating the content for the first time. That means once you’ve done any additional research that’s needed, take a step back and look at the big picture. Then ask yourself: “What are the key pieces of information that I’m trying to get across?”
If you already settled on a format earlier, decide whether it is still the best choice based on what you’re trying to convey. If you want to share the results of a lot of studies with your audience, maybe a white paper is the best way to go. But maybe it would also work with an infographic, especially if the study results don’t need a lot of clarification or context.
Now is also a great time to add a few new images or graphics that will enhance the repurposed content. You can even tighten up or expand the text, depending on the format. You might even go for a total rewrite if that feels right.
Whichever format you choose for your repurposed content, make sure that it serves your audience and helps you meet your own goals — whether that’s social shares or website traffic.
Keep an eye on your new content to see how well it performs. This will give you a better sense of what works. After a few times doing this, it should be easier to repurpose your best ideas to reach new audiences, meet your goals, and save yourself time and energy.
