Repurpose Your Content: Turn Blog Posts into Videos and More…
Blogging may be the bread-and-butter of content marketing, but it’s certainly not the only form of content. Not everyone enjoys getting information this way. That’s why video and podcasts are so popular.
If you want to reach the greatest number of people, you’re going to have to publish content in different formats. And video marketing is huge because it gets to those people who aren’t big fans of reading, who are visual learners, or who like to multitask by getting visual and auditory information while performing other tasks (can’t really cook dinner while reading a blog post).
There are a couple different ways to approach video marketing. You can treat it as a separate entity from your blogging and other content efforts. So, each video would be individually researched, planned, recorded, and published. Each would ultimately be a unique piece of content.
Actually, a lot of people shy away from video marketing because they’re worried about the time investment. But there is a shortcut. You can rehash previous content and turn it into videos. This takes away the research and much of the writing portion of the video. And it also allows you to get the most mileage out of each topic.
If you’re thinking about turning your blog posts into videos, I have a few ideas for how to go about it.
Turn Your Posts into Slideshows, and Your Slideshows into Videos
This might seem like a roundabout way to do things, but it’s actually one of the quickest, simplest ways to go from blog post to video. All you have to do is paste your post into a Word file, edit for length (optional), save the file as a Word doc. then import into PowerPoint.
PowerPoint will do most of the formatting work for you. Each paragraph should become its own slide. You can then do some minor editing for format and style, but it doesn’t need to take long. You can change the style elements of all the slides at the same time – no need to go through and do them one at a time.
Once you’ve got your slideshow, you’re most of the way to making a video. The only thing left to do is record the audio. The easiest way to do that is by using a screencast software, such as Open Broadcaster Software, Screencast-O-Matic, CamStudio, or Screenflow. Simply play your slideshow from start to finish, reading through each slide as it appears.
Don’t forget to speak slowly and clearly. To add additional value to your video, you could write a small script to supplement the slideshow text.
Show, Don’t Tell
A second option is to demonstrate how something works. This might mean that you’d be going in front of the camera yourself. Or, if it makes sense, you could use screencast software to record you performing a specific task on your computer.
This takes a bit more time and effort, but it delivers extra value for your audience. Your approach will depend on your field. So, if you’re marketing products, you might do a product demonstration. The important thing here is that you need to conduct it as a helpful teaching video, rather than as a sales pitch. The goal of content marketing should be to offer useful information. You hope to get sales out of it, but in this case, sales should come from the trust you build with the information you deliver.
Something Different
The third option is to turn your blog post into a video that uses the post as a resource only. That is, you’ll use the information from your original post, but write a whole new script with the information. This provides the most possible value to your audience because someone who has read the blog post can still get something new from the video. Simultaneously, you’ll widen your potential audience by attracting those who are more likely to watch a video than to read a blog post.
This is perhaps the most daunting way to do video marketing. Not only do you have to retool your blog post using an entirely different writing style, but you have to think about who will appear in the video. The best choice, of course, is you. That’s because you are the expert. You are the one who is passionate about your industry. And you are the one who is trying to build authority and connect with your audience.
Appearing in your own videos has the added benefit of being cheaper than hiring someone to do it for you. And, while not everyone feels totally comfortable in front of a camera, most people adjust and grow more comfortable with time and practice.
If you find that you just can’t face that camera no matter how hard you try, that doesn’t mean you have to give up on video marketing. You can either find a natural-born star within your company or you can hire an outside person to be the face and voice of your brand.
Either way, it’s a strong investment. Video marketing is growing because the way people like to receive information is changing. Ignore this trend and you’re in for a rude awakening. After all, you can’t keep plugging along with what you prefer to do, never worrying about what your audience would find most useful.
