Why You Should Repurpose Blog Posts Into Videos

Maybe you have a couple of blog posts that are not getting the number of views you had initially expected. Or perhaps, you have a few old posts that may still be helpful, but have become overshadowed by the newer articles that you have uploaded on your site.

Is this content now useless?

No. You can give these blog posts a new lease on life (and reap a few benefits along the way) by repurposing these into videos.

Will you get penalized?

You might be wondering whether repurposing blog posts into animated videos can get you into trouble with Google and other search engines.

The short answer is no.

To better answer that question, it is a good idea to check out how Google defines duplicate content. According to the search engine giant, duplicate content refers to a substantial amount of content within a website or its different pages that either matching or are similar.

Say, for example, you wrote a blog post, and then it was syndicated. Is that bad? According to Google, not necessarily, especially if you do not have the intent to deceive or game the search engine’s algorithms.

In short, you won’t get penalized, especially if you are going to repurpose an old post into videos. The most that could happen for blog posts and videos is that the search engine will filter out the duplicates and send an online searcher with what it thinks is the best quality version of that post.

Why repurpose?

Apart from giving new life to an old post, there a few other compelling reasons to repurpose an article.

For one, videos fare better than articles in the sense that they can compress a sizeable amount of information in a short span of time. According to some estimates, a minute’s worth of video is equivalent to close to two million words. That’s a lot.

Second, watching a video, compared to reading a blog post, allows a person to retain more information. One important reason behind that is because videos combine visuals and sounds, making these more memorable.

Third, if you want to provide customers or even prospective buyers with helpful information through tutorials, videos (especially animated explainer videos) are practically peerless in delivering step-by-step information. As the old adage goes, “Show, don’t tell.”

Finally, as more and more people consume videos, you’ll have another useful tool to add to your arsenal, and not just for your website. You can also share videos on different platforms, including YouTube and other social media channels. This will allow you to hook in more prospective buyers and help with your marketing efforts, supplementing the work you have done with your website.

From text to video

But how do you go about converting articles into videos?

Start with an old post (or a series of related posts) that you think deserves another lease on life. Next, break down that post or series of posts into key takeaway points. These points will help serve as a rough outline for your script.

With that outline, you can then write a new script, containing the information gleaned from the article. Next, you can make a storyboard or ask your trusted animation studio to make one for you. A storyboard is an invaluable tool that will help you create short videos that are loaded with information without the fluff.

Upon the approval of the storyboard or script, you can then give your studio the signal to go into full production of your animated video. Once you receive the video file, the next step would be to upload it to your website as well as your other chosen platforms like YouTube and Facebook. To get more out of your videos, make sure that you optimize it in terms of size, format, and SEO.

Promoting your brand through content does not necessarily mean creating new items from scratch every single time. Sometimes, you’ll have old gems hiding in plain sight. With some polish, you can make these older blog posts shine anew and provide customers and prospective buyers with something of value for a fraction of the effort needed to produce entirely new content.

AUTHOR BIO

Anthony Lam is the founder of Punchy Digital Media, a creative agency that helps organisations grow using animated videos and creative visual content. Punchy has a team across Australia and Asia and has worked with clients such as Apple, Westpac and the Australian Government, running campaigns and reaching millions of people.