There are times when your writing falls flat on its face no matter how big the idea was. When the idea was swimming around in your head, it might have looked like a Blockbuster in the making. I know what that feels like. If or when it bombs, repurpose it.
It’s a fact that producing content requires tedious research, the compilation of ideas and sources, using the right tone of voice, optimizing the article or video content for SEO, and then making sure they’re easy to share online with others.
Even when you use all the hattricks in the books, the key to good content is engagement and connection. It’s still a risk, a gamble. I found this infographic on content marketing extremely useful so, go have a read.
There Will Be UnderPerforming Posts
One of my top-performing blog posts was an unexpected one. It was a piece I pummeled together in less than 20 minutes, in a rush and bursting with thoughts and emotions. Another article I wrote for my client was a well-thought-out one that took 2 days (and more) to write and edit.
In between, there were too many that fell into the cracks to mention.
My thought on content creation is this – some will bomb. Every time an article or video content bombs, investigate. We have to ask and get feedback. If we can tweak it, do that. If we have a better idea on how to boost or complement the content, get on it.
The bottom line is that when a piece of content underperforms, it’s an opportunity to learn how to better serve our audience.
Although it won’t eradicate the risk of producing underperforming content, it will definitely increase the confidence of our readers and audience in our ability to be on point.
Repurposing Underperforming Content
After finding out where you went wrong, it’s time for redemption. Maybe it isn’t the style of writing or the topic itself – maybe it’s the way consumers are digesting it.
One of my favorite ways to repurpose content is to give them new clothes.
Rewriting or editing may not be the right way to get the same piece of content out there again. Maybe it’s the medium. Maybe it’s the platform.
Some content does better when they come in the form of a colorful infographic. Others perform better when they’re in video or audio format.
The good thing about repurposing underperforming content is that you’re giving it new life, in a new form. It’s practically the same thing because you’ve already gotten the most time-consuming part of content creation out of the way…research.
The various ways you can repurpose underperforming content is to turn it into an infographic, Instagram post, a short clip on social media, a longer video on YouTube, a Webinar, a slideshow, or a presentation.
Nearly half of the world’s population is on either Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube at and away from work. If it didn’t gain traction as a blog post, it might be a different story on another platform.
You just don’t know unless you know your audience well enough.
We’ve also seen a difference in SEO rankings when we add new, explanatory visuals to the same blog post, complete with new sets of ALT and Meta tags. Having explainer images breaking up the wall of words and it helps with engagement.
Choosing the Right Time to Post or Repost
Don’t be afraid to repost the same article even if you’ve posted it before. The algorithm determines what comes up on your audience’s feeds and some people may not have seen the content the first time. So, timing determines a large part of how successful your post will be.
Despite the sheer number of research and data collected about when is the best time to post content online, there is no conclusive answer. The best you can do, in my opinion, is to gauge the response rate based on solid analytics.
You can’t compare the performance of your content on Facebook to your competitor’s YouTube videos. Neither can you compare your top content to another company’s marketing efforts when they are promoting a completely different type of product/service.
The point is to be receptive to what your audience is telling you through their response.
When are they often on Facebook? What is the timing like when they gave you that ‘like’ on Twitter? What is the engagement rate like when you posted your content on Instagram on a weekend compared to your usual weekday posts?
You’ll have to go through some trials and errors to discover this for yourself – no one can do this for you.
Even if you hire a professional content strategist or digital marketer, they’ll have to, first, mine the data and analyze them thoroughly. Finding a common insight between them will help you decide when to post your content online.
Using Scheduling Software
It would definitely make life much easier for me (and other social media managers out there) if we weren’t judged as much for using schedulers and auto-posting software. But because some social media networks reveal how we post our content online, our audience knows it when we’re being lazy, especially when the post appears right smack in the middle of a workday but was scheduled.
Using these tools and apps is undeniably simpler, increases efficiency, and makes work less complicated. Your posts will also appear on the feed of those who access their social media feed during off-work hours.
Yes, there’s a huge window for that! Don’t be surprised because I bet you’ve checked your email or Facebook for ‘one last time’ right before going to bed at night. See? That happens.
You can check the list of ‘best times’ based on each social media platform here, as compiled by various media.
Recreating Content that Works!
There are no two ways about it – to encourage engagement and increase loyalty is to create excellent content that caters to the interest of your readers and audience.
It all boils down to the intention of the internet user and the journey you take them on.
For instance, I search for different things online compared to someone in his or her teen. My intention to learn and purchase is also comparatively higher while my patience level might lean on the lower end of the spectrum.
If your potential customers look like me, you might want to either write one long-form content once or twice a month and break the content up into smaller bite sizes throughout the rest of the month.
The story will be different if your target market is a male in his early twenties whose interest is partying, biking, or going to the gym.
So, here’s the suggestion: alternate between long and short-form content and measure them based on clickthrough rates, bounce rates, session length, and if you’re posting the links up on social media, the data in insights.
Let me know how you discovered the magic number of words for the content of your website!
And before you go, here are some stats for you to digest:
- More than 60% of businesses invest in content marketing and they produce 3 times the leads of other types of marketing.
- Approximately 70% of B2B businesses invest time, energy, and money into content marketing in the past years.
- On average, companies spent more than 25% of their money on content marketing
- Nearly 70% of internet users spend their time reading about their favorite or new brands.
If you’re an online social butterfly, hit me up on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Medium, or Instagram. Send me a message if you follow me so that I can follow you right back. Let’s make this world a smaller place!
Copywriting & Content Marketing Specialist 
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