Repurpose Content into Long and Short Form Video

Have you heard about the growing interest in short-form video? It’s the greatest thing since . . . long-form video! 

Whether your business is on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or TikTok (the short video trendsetter) you’ll want to take advantage of the short video options to develop your brand and sell your products. And the best thing is you can use repurposed content to make it an easier task.

In a past article, we shared some ideas to turn customer reviews into videos of all different lengths. We also shared the importance of planning the repurposing of your content when you first create it and your brain is already focused on that topic. You’ll reduce the time you spend on this part of your marketing and have a ready list of all your own curated content to put out in a new way. 

Short 60-second-or-less videos are gaining popularity on all social platforms that have video. Viewers are generally consuming several videos in one sitting though so you need to make these videos memorable and somewhat entertaining. That’s not saying that you need to brush up on your dance moves or sign up for acting classes, but you need to consider the mindset of your audience while they are taking in your short video (and likely a few others before and after). How can you relate your business—your brand and your products—in a casual, engaging way to the viewer? 

Action Steps to Repurpose Article Content

If you’re not one of those avid consumers of short-form video then before you even decide what you want to cover in your short-form videos, go to whatever platform you will publish on and watch some of those shorts. You may want to use the platforms’ search feature to find content related to your audience, then spend some time viewing the different ways video creators add interest, engagement, and entertainment. 

Step 1. Get Video Ideas From One Article

Unless you’ve already done the repurposing planning of those articles you have on your website (or that you have somewhere else), you can start your short video curation by reading through one article and identifying the main points that you can bring out in a 60-second-or-less video.

For example, using one of our blog articles, Low-Cost Options For Marketing a Small Business Online, we could make a video to encourage businesses to keep their mission front and center as they develop their marketing strategy. This article also has a bullet list, and we could use each of those points as a separate video sharing those ideas. 

Step 2. Write Out a Video Outline

Using the example ideas from one article, write a working title for each video and jot down some points that you want to cover for each topic. There are different approaches to delivering the content in videos, like having a full script to read or completely improvising the wording, and both are doable, but in the middle is the approach to write an outline. Learn more about this option in a video from FigCo on YouTube Video Outline (Better Than Writing a Script).

Continuing to use the article from Step 1 as an example, there are various ways we can create a video on developing a marketing strategy with your business mission. One approach would be to only have music for audio and use most of the words from the paragraph as text on the screen with imagery to match that part of the message. 

Another quick option with less video editing would be to have one or two people on screen speaking these words with visually engaging graphics added in and a few vital words from the message. 

You could brainstorm several options for one video and then decide on one and get the outline down or just go with the thought that comes up first. 

Step 3. Record the Video

After a bit of prep and planning, you’re ready to record/create your short video. Read through this article on a video marketing strategy for options on video production and additional ideas for video content and this article with steps for general video planning that includes a link to a video template you may find useful. 

You can repurpose content from articles as well as emails, podcasts, and other videos to build your short video library. Short videos for Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts should be 60 seconds or less. Videos as short as 10 seconds can make a deep impact when done right, so if you’re short on time, start with succinct tips, and make several videos in one sitting. 

Learn more about our advertising options through our mobile app and online locations to help you reach the segment of the homeschooling market that is right for your business.