To continue with the theme of blog cleanup, now that you know what your purpose of blogging is (check out that post here if you missed it), it’s time to do some physical cleanup.
Tell me if you can relate to this:
You get a great idea for a blog post and start creating it. You get to a good stopping point and save the draft. Your intention was to come back to finish up (maybe you need to take photos for the post, maybe you need to do more research on the subject matter, maybe you need to think of more content to add to the post, etc.). Days go by. Weeks go by. Months go by. You’ve been publishing blog posts this whole time, but your drafts continue to pile up. Now when you look in your blog backend, you have so many drafts that you just get overwhelmed thinking of what you are going to do with them! I’ve totally been there. I probably still have drafts sitting in my old blogging account right now that are halfway complete. The thing is, the content in your drafts may be awesome and could be helpful to someone...you just have to get it out there! Today I will be discussing 10 ways to repurpose your blog drafts so that you can clean up the backend of your blog.
1. Post to your Instagram feed
Instagram is a huge marketing tool for bloggers and entrepreneurs alike. It’s sometimes thought of as a place for microblogging (blog content condensed down to fit a social platform). In this sense, you can post an image related to the draft topic and put your detailed thoughts into the image caption.
2. Pop it into your Instagram stories
Since the start of Instagram stories, people have been expanding their social reach by posting tips to their stories. This is an awesome way to get your content out there, and now that you can save stories as highlights, you don’t have to worry about the content expiring! Create a highlight folder for microblogging and add the relevant stories to it. As far as the story itself, you can either talk on a few slides (bursts as some call it) or just type the points onto each slide.
3. Live Stream
Sometimes your topic is too lengthy to post to Instagram stories or Facebook, so it may be best as a live stream. Talk about the topic on Instagram or Facebook Live and interact with you followers. This is great because your audience can get to know you better. It’s easier to relate to someone when you are talking to them rather than just seeing images that they post. It brings back the human factor to the digital world.
4. Host a joint Instagram Live
To further enhance a live stream, you could bring in someone to talk about the topic together on Instagram live. I love that the option to go live with someone else is available in Instagram now. Not only does it help to settle your nerves if you are fearful of live streaming, but it’s also a great way to expand your reach by being in front of each other's audiences. It’s also nice to have a different perspective of the subject because it will encourage further conversation and more interaction with viewers.
5. Create a worksheet
If your draft contains actionable content or steps, create a worksheet with your points and leave room for people to write their ideas down for each point. Add this as a download on your website to build your email list. You can create the worksheet using a number of tools, but the quickest is through Canva.com which is a free online design tool.
6. Create a free audio download
Record yourself talking about the post and create an audio clip for download on your website. Again, this is a way to build your email list by offering free content for signing up. Audio content may be more convenient for some because they can listen to it on their phone on the way to work, at work, waiting in line, etc. Also, depending on how much content you are sharing, they just may not want to read though a long post and find listening to the audio more convenient.
TIP: Offer both an audio and pdf download for the topic so that the visitor can choose the medium that they want to consume your content.
7. Email topic
If you have an email list or want to build one, blog drafts are a great place to search for email content. It’s also a great way to make your members feel special because they will be receiving exclusive content only available by being on your list. If you have positive feedback from members about you emails, use them as testimonials on your opt-in page so that people will see that your content is well received.
8. Micro podcast content
If you don’t have an official podcast, create a small one intended for quick tips. You don't have to create a full scale podcast where you interview people or have guest contributors, just think small scale audio library. The good thing about using this medium is that rather than hosting the audio files on your website, you can host on a platform that is built for podcasts and can receive reviews. Maybe at some point you will consider transitioning to an official podcast, so at least you will have content readily available if so. Lastly, this is another way to expand your reach...BONUS!
9. Video for your website or YouTube
Video content is becoming increasingly popular, so if you have a YouTube channel or even a section on your site dedicated to video content, this is a great way to use your drafts. Depending on the type of subject that you are talking about, you may be able to incorporate a training while on video. For example, if you are discussing the benefits of using Trello over Asana, you can share your screen and give a demo of the points that you discuss. This could be either in a live webinar liveformat or a pre-recorded video available to view at any time on your site.
10. Delete it
I realize this isn’t quite a way to repurpose content, but it's surely a way to clean things up. Sometimes parting ways with a draft is the best thing to do. Just remember that if you have drafts that you no longer connect to (the subject doesn't interest you or you don’t feel excited about the post progress), it’s okay to just delete them. There’s no point in clogging up your blog backend with content that you will ultimately never post or use in some way.
Now that you have a few ideas of what you can do with your blog drafts, I encourage you to take action and get the backend of your blog platform cleaned up! Which one of these repurposing ideas sounds like something that you may want to implement? Leave your comments below.
