Should We Stop Repurposing Content (and Start Repurposing Ideas)?
At the beginning of 2023, it seemed that the maxim repurpose your content reached a fever pitch. More agencies are offering repurposing services, and we see lots more people posting the same content across multiple platforms. More people, myself included, are keeping video on for their podcasts to create clips from their podcast interviews. With AI tools, that became a lot easier. Feed one format into an AI and it spits out a different format. But, I'm starting to wonder, should we be repurposing our content in this way? That's what I wanna talk to you about today.
Welcome to Podcast Workflows where you get daily tips to improve your process, grow your show, and maybe even make some money. Each week, I also do a deep dive into the process of the world's most successful podcasters and reveal their tools, processes, and systems to help you simplify the production of your own show and reclaim hours in your day. You can improve your own podcast production process by seeing how the pros do it. I'm your host, Joe Casabona. And, today, I wanna talk about why we should stop repurposing content and start repurposing ideas instead.
See, on top of the repurposing movement that was accelerated by AI, we saw something else happen. Engagement observably tanked across most social networks. LinkedIn's algorithm changed. X is whatever x is doing now. And Meta is putting its efforts into Threads all in the purpose of keeping people on the platform. Now, I don't know for sure that the two things are related, but it does have me thinking, is wholesale repurposing content the right play?
When it's summer, you wear a T-shirt and shorts. But when it's cold, you don't repurpose that outfit by taping sleeves onto your T-shirt. You wear a winter jacket and heavy pants. The idea of wearing clothes for the weather is there but you get clothes that are made for the weather you're experiencing.
When you wanna get a good cardio workout in, you run on the treadmill. But when it's time to build muscle, you don't lift the treadmill. You find some weights. The idea of working out different parts of your body is there, but you find equipment that's made for specific workouts and specific muscles.
What if we're trying to force our content into a medium that doesn't work all for the sake of repurposing?
Now, I wrote over on Podcast Workflows that creating short-form videos from interviews didn't work for me. I suspect that's the case for a lot of people. At least, it is anecdotally. That format just isn't built for short-form video. Watching two people talk even if it switches back and forth to and from the speakers is not a compelling video. But the ideas from that interview, well, those can work anywhere.
So if you talk about how to grow your email list in a podcast interview, perhaps, just sharing the clip where you talk about that from the podcast interview is ineffective. But creating a new video with the same idea, one where you directly address the audience might work better. This is extra work probably, but the payoff could be worth it.
I think in a year where we've seen a massive shift in how social networks surface content in a year where more people started just wholesale reusing content made for one medium or one network or one social platform on another. I think in a year where we saw all of that, it's time for a change. And I think in 2024, we should focus on repurposing ideas, but we should create content using those ideas for the platform that we're posting on. After all, giving a video to an AI and telling it to turn it into text is kind of like taping sleeves to a t-shirt. It might keep you warm, but it's not going to keep you warm as effectively as a winter coat.
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Thanks so much for listening. And until next time, I can't wait to see what you make.
Hey, before you go, I want to tell you about a free resource I have called my Podcast Process Templates. They are a set of Notion documents that give you a full podcast planner, a show planner, and even some AI prompts to help you get the creative juices flowing. You obviously want to improve your podcast workflows and save time and these templates will give you a basis for all of your other processes. Through my Notion and Airtable templates, I am able to automate a number of things as well as stay organized so that I am using my podcasting time more efficiently.
If you wanna get your hands on these templates completely for free, you can head over to [podcastworkflows.com/templates[. That's [podcastworkflows.com/templates] to get your free podcasting process templates, today.
