Recycle. Upcycle. Repurpose. Whether you hang out in the world of DIY or social marketing you’ll recognize these terms as trendy time savers.
In the world of DIY, we think of upcycling as taking an old table and turning it into a trendy kitchen island.
In the world of sewing, recycling and repurposing just became part of my world. Recently I received my grandmothers wedding dress as a gift. This family heirloom has now become a couple of new pieces in my closet. I’ve been able to transform parts of the dress into 4 different garments; the front panel on a blouse, a skirt, appliques on a blouse for my mom and trim on a bathrobe. Yep, a lot of time in my sewing room, and 4 trendy pieces that remind me of my grandma.
In the world of social marketing, upcycling is a creative way to use your own content in a variety of different ways. Picture this: You’ve just returned from a trip and have dozens (OK, thousands) of photos. Now you can easily transform your photos into:
- The basis for a photo blog
- A video slideshow
- See more ways to upcycle below…
What if you could upcycle your other unique content and create an explosion of marketing assets? While you’ll save time and energy you’ll also be creating evergreen content that you can post over and over again.
Unique Content
Just think of all the writing and creating you do after a fam trip in order to maximize your learning and the opportunity to sell the destination or ship to your clients. If you work with a DMO you already have a full library of content. Here’s some unique content that you may already have in your collection.
Upcycle This
Transforming your unique content into a variety of other purposes and formats saves time and makes the most of your past efforts. Let’s explore other uses you have for your own unique content.
Photos & Graphics
Remember all those photos you snapped that are now lurking on your phone? Here’s some things you can do to upcycle them and gain more eyeballs.
- Edit, crop and add a cool quote, travel tip, or trivia. Adding text is easy with these tools.
- Here’s some examples that you can steal
- Start a board on Pinterest and organize your photos by destination, ship, or style of travel. You may even want to create a board just for your new graphic quotes we talked about above.
- Remember you can send board links to clients who are interested in the board theme or topic.
- Create an Instagram or Facebook story
- Build a Facebook photo album and organize your photos to showcase your niche and specialty.
- Add them to your website
- Create a video slideshow to showcase your niche market
- Add your photos to your blog to create a photo journal
Blog Post or Article
In the DIY world, upcycling involves taking something apart and transforming it into something else. What if we could use the same theory with your last blog post or article? Here’s some possibilities:
- A series of social posts, each linking back to the original blog post
- The foundation for a video
- The key points could be fashioned into an infographic
- Record the blog and create a podcast
- Pro Tip: Expand on the topic and turn it into an e-book
Live Stream Video
We’re on a roll now. How about your latest live stream video, what can that become?
- The basis for a blog post. Simply download the live stream and embed it into your blog
- Post the entire live stream to your You Tube
- Snipped into segments each piece of your live stream can become a separate short video. Consider using each video as the creative in a video ad or a social post. Link to the blog posts that features the full length version.
- Prep in advance with these tips.
- Pro Tip: Clip the video into 1 second GIFs or memes.
Video
As long as we’re talking video, what if you have a video in your library that focuses on a destination or provides travel tips. Let’s dive into other ways to upcycle and extend its shelf life:
- Embed the video into a blog post
- Share it socially. Remember video can be added to not only Facebook and Twitter, but Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, your LinkedIn Company page, You Tube and Google Plus.
- Strip out the audio portion of the video and transform it into a podcast
- Add captions and subtitles and post it socially. Facebook users are notorious for watching video without the sound. You-Tube loves captions and subtitles and gives you more reach when you include them.
- Need to edit your video? Here’s some easy tools
- Pro Tip: Include the video in an e-book.
- Make the e-book into a lead magnet and grow your email list
Podcast
Do you find yourself listening to podcasts at the gym and during your commute? What a great way to catch up on news and your reading list. I’ll bet your clients would love to hear your travel tips and destination stories and take a mini vacation. Here’s how to power up your podcast potential:
- Turn your blog into a podcast
- Strip out the audio from your video or live stream and add it to your podcast channel
- Read your e-book and turn it into a podcast
- Pro Tip: Convert your podcast into a lead magnet.
Infographic
Did you know that the human brain processes visual data 60,000 times faster than text. Since most people are visual learners, infographics hit the mark! Creating an infographic is just the start of a remarkable re-purposing path that includes:
- Post your infographic to SlideShare and connect with an entirely new audience
- Embed your infographic into your blog or website
- Post to Pinterest
- Pro Tip: Innovative infographics are perfect lead magnets
Not matter what name you call it, when you embrace recycling, upcycling and repurposing you’ll find your content has a longer shelf life and meets the needs of a wider audience of your fans and followers.
Go ahead, get into this upcycling trend and watch your content creation take off!
Got Great Content? Now what?
Here’s an overview of what your own unique content can become when you Upcycle and Recycle!
Catherine Heeg, international speaker and trainer, focuses on social media marketing & communication for the travel and tourism industry. Join the conversation and connect with her at www.cmsspeaking.com and socially. Connect online for access to free social media resources.
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