Creating content to promote your online course — on top of creating the course content -- is no easy task. It often takes a lot of time and research and once you are done and post it on the intended platform you feel really good about it and get the response you were looking for.
Very often this content remains relevant even some time after it has been originally posted and in the social media jargon that type of content is also called ‘evergreen’. That, however, is of no consequence if after a short time it is also never seen. And as we are all aware, the life span of posts on social media is awfully close to that of a wine fly.
In order to make the most of your valuable content, you should find ways to repurpose it. This is a short guide on how to accomplish that.
Making a plan
To begin with, you should make up a list of all the evergreen pieces you have so you get an idea of quantity. Then it’s on to quality.
For each piece, you should come up with several reasons why your audience would find it engaging. Also list the most important facts, stats, takeaways, and quotes that are themselves worthy to be shared on various platforms.
Even if it feels like you are clinically dissecting your creative product, this minute analysis will help you very much once it is complete.
It’s important to also consider that people absorb information in different ways, so you need to come up with a varied array of formats for presentation. Your goal is to keep your current audience engaged but also enlarge it.
Exploring your options
There are a lot of ways of repurposing your evergreen content. I will go through several of them, but you can always find other creative methods of re-sharing:
- Post the URL with the title – it is, of course, the simplest and most straight forward of methods and acts as a reminder to some and a news feed to others.
- Share an interesting quote to spark interest – but also make the link available so people do not have to conduct an entire online investigation to get to it.
- Ask a question that will intrigue your audience and encourage them to click on your content for the answer.
- Showcase an interesting fact covered in your post.
- Write an intriguing tag line – think in terms of the trailers made for Hollywood movies. They don’t give away the whole plot but do hint to parts of it so that the audience will be driven to buy a ticket.
- Use compelling images – a picture can tell an entire story and if chosen properly a good photo will draw attention and convince people to (re)visit your content.
- Share ‘how-to’ advice individually if your piece is about teaching the audience how to do something; bite-size learning is very popular right now.
- Post a problem-solution item – pick a question you know is of interest to your public and give the answer featured in your material.
- Make an infographic for your content – these are very powerful visuals as they are eye-catching and summarize large amounts of information in an easy-to-grasp fashion.
- Post a video – even if your content is not in this form, there are many tools available online that help you create engaging filmed content.
- Upload your work to SlideShare as it is a good way of reaching to new audiences.
- Use Twitter Cards -- use facts or quotes to design an image that can be published as a Twitter card, Instagram post, or Pinterest pin and link that back to your content.
Formatting the repurposed content
When it comes to formatting the content for each platform you should adapt to each online venue you are posting your evergreen content on. Here are some tips for some of the most popular:
- Facebook is one of the most permissive platforms when it comes to the extent of your posts. However, few people really like to employ the “read more” option they have for long content so it’s best to keep it to a maximum of two paragraphs and have a relevant, good-quality image to go with the text.
Read more: 6 Tips on using Facebook to grow your online business
- Twitter is known for brevity even if it has extended the number of characters users can employ to convey their messages. Still, shorter is better and laborious word crafting is highly appreciated. As to tags, again, you should not overuse them. One will get you enough engagement, you can opt for two or three if they are truly relevant.
- Instagram focuses on the visual so that ought to be the star. Even if there is a current fashion of adding insanely numerous hashtags, it doesn’t really improve your chances of getting noticed so use only the ones that truly say something about your post.
Read more: Using Instagram to boost your online business
- Pinterest is also focused on visuals and the latest recommendations are to think vertical with a 3:2 aspect ratio as that will be consistent with the majority of existing pins. The quality of any picture you post is very important as well.
Read more: Is Pinterest a part of your course marketing strategy already?
Wrapping up
If you have quality, relevant content, it’s a shame not to get the most out of it. Following these easy tips (and getting creative when the muse invites you) will help you to draw new audiences and encourage your existing one to re-visit and make the most out of your valuable insights.
