When I worked for the BBC, we’d worry about how to cover recurring stories. How can you tackle Christmas in a new way? What’s the fresh angle on New Year resolutions? Is there a different perspective to Year End?
I now specialise in content production for companies – unearthing the stories that demonstrate why they’re special. And in this world, recycling ‘old’ content makes business and editorial sense.
One helping is never enough.
If you – or your team – spend time writing a blog post or recording a vlog, that time is money. You want to make the most of your collective efforts; all those rough drafts and retakes.
And one outing is never enough, because there are so many routes to your audiences – Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube – and so many other companies vying for their attention.
Titles make your content special.
You can give your recycled content elevated status by giving it a title. You’ll see mainstream media doing this a lot:
‘Our highlights of 20xx’ and ‘Our predictions for 20xx’.
They’re just revamping articles from the last 12 months, to make a special end-of-year compilation.
What are your highlights?
And that’s a great idea. So take a leaf out of the journalist’s book. Revisit your highlights for this year and share them with your clients, colleagues or business partners.
Here are mine:
Obama was my warm up act: interviewing Sir David Attenborough for the University of Sussex.
Speed storytelling: gathering 40 interviews at breakneck speed for House of Colour.
Discovering a sector I never knew existed, but which makes its mark on you every day.
Recycle with pride.
I mentioned Year End at the beginning, because this time last year I wrote a tribute piece for January 31st. It’s about the CEO of a rapidly growing accountancy firm who shares your company’s pain. I’ve just re-read it and I think it’s worth a second outing…
Like some inspiration for your blog?
If your business is starting 2016 with blog posts that stalled in January 2015, would your team like some help? Give me a call on 07456 416 475 or email me. We’ll have a chat about how to freshen up the content on your website – and keep it going for the next 12 months.
This is part of a series on how to keep your blog and newsletters going. Just look for the ‘Don’t dry up’ titles, like…
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