Are you leveraging the power of your content archives, and other readily available outside content? Sure, fresh, personalized and relevant content generated in-house is the Holy Grail for smart marketing teams. But you should balance that with vintage content to improve your return-on-investment, and also extend your content’s reach. The rules for repurposed content are the same as for fresh – make it relevant and personal for readers. Here are three quick examples of how to augment your content stream via different types of repurposing.

Popular past pieces

This is the obvious first place to start – rerunning original content that your readers loved the first time around. This boosts the chance of shares (“Oh, I remember this piece, I wanted to share this with Erica.”), and also can reach an entirely new audience when shared via a different channel or at a different time or day.

For example, American Express OPENForum generates tons of fresh content weekly, packed with useful information and case studies for small business owners. But the folks at Amex monitor performance metrics carefully and they regularly republish archived content that has performed well. I know this because they keep republishing one piece that I wrote for them about creating an effective financial dashboard. I swear they rerun that post out every single month because I’m always getting tweets about it.

News events

Monitoring news events and linking content to those opens up opportunities to get new eyeballs on your archived content. Blog posts and social media are particularly suited to this strategy – a quick news-related hit can capture readers at a time when interest in the topic is high.

For example, a few years ago my hometown of Richmond, VA hosted the UCI World Road Cycling championships. One smart marketer posted content during the race about how to create annual business goals. The piece snagged reader attention with an image of professional cyclists and a headline about training goals paying off, but the story itself was pure repurposed archived material.

Social media shares

You probably see this all the time in your social media feed. Sharing other meaningful blog, story and research content via social media can build your brand, your community and number of followers. This could be as simple as waking up each morning and scrolling through your social media feed to share something like a helpful industry-focused story on LinkedIn.

Sharing outside content adds to your credibility with your target market. Readers can get annoyed if they feel like you’re always blowing your own horn or trying to sell them something. Try also sharing content from key partner brands, affinity brands and vendors – this simple content strategy can strengthen those relationships and help extend your brand image.

Content creation isn’t a “one and done” enterprise. Repurpose, but do it in a smart, personal and relevant way. Then you’ll continue to reach readers while also realizing better return on investment with your content marketing strategy.