Going Green generally means recycling soda cans and paper, but you can also go green with your content.  Reusing your own content is essential to working smarter, particularly in today's content fueled marketing strategies.  Let’s consider some simple ideas about reusing the thought leadership you've already created and how to extend the value of that which you'll create in the future.

Going Green with your Content to Maximize its Impact

If you provide content in any format online or digitally (a newsletter, a twitter account, a blog, etc.), you can probably get more out of the work you do by having an effective content "recycling" strategy. This simply means you will reuse content in a structure way in many places - so a blog post, is tweeted, posted on your company page on LinkedIn, retweet a couple weeks later, etc.  

Basically, you can use the same idea in various forms in multiple places – do the research, writing once and adapt it to the different channels.  Link them all back to your website (your blog post) to drive traffic over time.  Here's an idea of what your content recycling strategy might look like:

• Define an idea, then write a blog post
  • Consider turning this post into a series.  And, over time, you could consider turning the series into an ebook, manual, or guide.
  • Put an excerpt of relevant posts into digital marketing materials (a link or summary) or in your email newsletter.
  • Bring your idea to life in a video, screencast, or podcast.
  • Refresh the post, if needed, after 6-12 months to keep it current and relevant
• Find/create an image/take a photo
  • Post that image or picture on Instagram, Pinterest, or Flickr
  • Use the image in a SlideShare presentation.
• Feature your post in multiple tweets for your post to share over a period of time (30 – 90 days)
  • This will give it maximum exposure - one every other week is probably the right frequency to retweet the same post
  • Be sure to write different tweets (please don't use the same one every time).
  • Use a scheduling tool, such as one found in HootSuite to time your messages.
  • This keeps your Twitter page and feed active, with minimal effort.
• Use your posts to create updates for your LinkedIn Company Page or Facebook Page.
• No new ideas?  Interview your internal experts or customers - these make great posts as well.   
  • Turn that interview into a blog post, include photos or video.
  • Tweet excerpts from the interview linking it back to your or the guest’s profile or blog pages. 
  • Cross-posting and sharing/calling out guests will help introduce you to a new audience and also potential customers.  
  • Follow the same strategy as listed above

Final thought: Repurposing content makes good business sense, especially if it is already proving to be effective in retaining current customers and gaining new ones. Moreover, this efficient, time-saving practice will save you money and countless man-hours.

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     ChangeU: for your independent study…

1. Check out Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/ The world's largest community for sharing presentations online. SlideShare also provides users the ability to rate, comment on, and share the uploaded content. 

2. “The Three Pillars of SEO In 2013: Content, Links, And Social Media” Forbes.com 5/23/2013, Jayson DeMers  http://goo.gl/gJ9Ar  A good SEO strategy is the difference between your business easily being found online and getting lost in the noise of thousands of other businesses trying to stand out.

3. Top 100 Tools for Learning: http://goo.gl/4vuM1 Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013: Results of the 7th Annual Learning Tools Survey The list was compiled by Jane Hart from the votes of 500+ learning professionals from 48 countries worldwide - See more at: http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/#sthash.8k6o5mLm.dpuf