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There’s nothing better than providing fresh and original content to your subscribers. The problem is – how can you be sure that they are getting it? What happens if an interested subscriber simply misses out on the content when it was sent because they were busy, or otherwise distracted from your social media broadcasts and announcements? Maybe they would even appreciate being reminded in a month or so about a blog or eBook offer.
Old content can yield decent results down the road. But it has to be re-broadcast properly and with an eye towards knowing and helping your intended audience.
The problem for marketers is that the audience may also respond negatively to being re-sold on content that they’ve already dismissed. This is the fine line that exists for digital marketers who seek to provide information and increase traffic for their clients while not upsetting existing subscribers.
Many small companies are worried they will offend their subscriber base because they are sharing content more than once. The chances are, however, that your audience will simply accept it and move on with their day, rather than unsubscribing. So the threat isn’t as great as companies believe. So why not take a few chances and get that old content out there again? Remember that unlike RSS subscribers, your social media followers don’t receive each and every post.
The secret to getting conversion on re-shared content may be in the scheduling and the packaging. Only your analytics will be able to tell for sure. So the first step is to make sure you’re ready to receive the data. Then be ready to analyze and adapt to the incoming info.
Keep Your Content on Life Support
The first rule of SEO best practices is to never copy and paste content over a variety of platforms. You will get caught and penalized by Google algorhythms seeking to foreground only the most relevant content. That’s not what we’re talking about here. The advice I’m offering is solely to help you find new purposes for old content. Just because you created a blog a month ago, doesn’t mean that you can’t revisit it with a fresh set of tweets. But there’s a fine line between keeping your audience politely informed and coming off as a spammer.
Social media sharing helps content to live beyond its normal life cycle. There are huge benefits to keeping it alive for as long as possible. Evidence shows that content attracts readers long after the first publication date.
Scheduling Content With an Eye On Your Public
When you publish a blog, you send out an announcement. You schedule tweets for the best time of the day and week. But that’s only step one. Is it too soon to tweet again a week later? Perhaps. The analysis of your click-through rates is essential in this case. And remember that each social media site responds in unique ways. In other words: your subscribers absorb information differently on each platform. For example, you need to know the frequency that your Facebook updates get clicked on versus Google+ and Twitter.
At ColdAd, we consider Twitter to be the acceptable method of sending out weekly updates. This is based on an analysis of our particular audience base. Facebook is important, of course, but if you broadcast updates at the same time on both platforms, subscribers may notice the trend and come to resent it. Broadcasting each week across every channel is even worse. You will appear to simply be sharing the same piece of information at your convenience, and not at your audience’s. You may as well be sending out junk mail, cause that’s how it’s going to look in their inbox.
Old Content Needs New Headlines
“This just in…” Old doesn’t mean obsolete, necessarily. News broadcasters have known this for over a century. By keeping a story alive, you can keep interest alive. As with any story, you can approach the subject from a number of points of view. Each time you re-share older content, announce it with a new piece of information drawn from the article.
For example, when I create blog posts for ColdAd, I also write tweets to accompany them. But I write unique tweets that are meant to be used for up to 3 months. In order to create variety, I describe each of the major points of the blog rather than simply re-stating the title. As well, I consider the questions that my audience may be asking. Then I use these questions as part of the tweets to show that our blog posts have answers. Some samples of the tweets for this very blog are:
- Unsure about re-sharing #content? Discover the #marketing benefits some overlook
- Top tips for re-sharing #content #marketing material: Keep it fresh and relevant
- Recycle, reuse and re-share: Top ways to benefit from old #content #marketing material
Rather than focusing on the title in each tweet, I try to take different points of view. I consider the various buyers’ persona that may be attracted to this content. If nothing else, I refresh the content with a new headline.
How you promote alters the perception of your content. Don’t simply send out the same tweet headline as you did the week before. Your customers may not remember or be aware of your general marketing strategy, but they will definitely remember it if you simply “copy and paste” it.
Conquer fear of the unknown with our blog post on #socialmediamarketing. Here's what you should know http://t.co/63LqSiOwTP
— ColdAd™ (@coldadco) July 3, 2014
Don't worry about #socialmediamarketing. Here's our take on it. Find out more and read our blog post http://t.co/g5IQI0irPF
— ColdAd™ (@coldadco) June 30, 2014
Join Your Own Social Media Feed
If you want to know how it feels to be your own customer, subscribe to your own social media outlets. If you discover that you’re being contacted too often, you’ll know how your audience feels. That being said go and follow other companies, even your competition. Ask yourself: “do I really need to know this information?” and “is it of unique value to me?” Maybe their content isn’t fresh enough. Is yours? If you’re re-sharing irrelevant posts, you’re doing more harm than good. No matter what your scheduling or marketing tactics, bad information leads to bad conversion rates. Simply put.
While it’s the hope of every company to create a “viral” blog post, one can never be sure of what’s going to catch on. Keep following the basic rules of creating content marketing material and learn from your success and mistakes.
Schedule your Social Media Messages Wisely
If you need to schedule your social media messaging and looking for a template, visit Miin Academy and grab your copy. We use the same methodology for ColdAd.
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