Make the Most of Videos With Long-Form Content Repurposing

This post is all about long-form content repurposing.

Repurposing content is by no means a new idea, but with more online users consuming bite-sized videos, it can be challenging to do this with as much efficacy as in say a year or two ago.

How can marketers repurpose long-form content into short videos, infographics, and other media types?

It comes down to building a fully fleshed-out content strategy that utilizes all of your brand’s video assets. After all, it’s how we’ve driven over 1,023% revenue growth for this client.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Maximizing Content Repurposing

One of the most significant challenges for marketers is getting the most value out of long-form content. 68% of marketers increased long-form content production over the last 12 months, proving there’s still a desire to consume written media.

However, not everyone is on your blog. Content repurposing ensures your message reaches your audience when it matters most. 94% of marketers are already repurposing their content for a good reason. Content repurposing saves time and money and keeps a consistent message across all platforms.

But there’s one problem when repurposing long-form content: other media types have different consumer demands. For example, 57% of Gen Zers prefer learning about a product or service by watching a short video.

Content is only worth the investment if it generates conversions. Fortunately, you can maximize the value of long-form content by taking small pieces, such as quotes, ideas, and clips, and optimizing them for different channels.

This approach allows for:

  • Increased visibility: By breaking down long-form content into digestible segments, brands can cater to diverse audience preferences.
  • Cost-efficiency: Repurposing content is cost-effective while maximizing reach and engagements.
  • Flexibility: Visual and audio content are flexible and perfect to cross-promote on different channels.

The Shift from Long-Form to Short-Form Video

Recent trends indicate a shift in Google’s indexing preferences:

  • In 2020, 96.4% of page-one videos were long-form.
  • By 2025, this has dropped to 69.8%, with 30.2% being short-form (under a minute).

While short-form videos excel at driving views and traffic, they’re less effective for retention and conversions. Studies reveal that:

  • Retention rates: Audiences retain more information from long-form videos.
  • Conversions: Long-form content drives a 35% higher ROI. This content is more in-depth and engaging.

So, how can marketers bridge the gap between viral-worth short videos and informative long-form content? Take the key ideas from your long-form content and repurpose that section into a short video script. Record the video and upload it to YouTube Shorts, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and other platforms you use.

The Importance of Omnichannel Marketing

benefits of an omnichannel strategy

Source: Sprout Social

Implementing an omnichannel marketing strategy is detrimental to content repurposing. But don’t get omnichannel marketing mixed up with a multi-channel campaign. Unlike multi-channel strategies, omnichannel approaches ensure all platforms work cohesively to achieve unified goals.

Core principles include:

  • Unified messaging: Consistent brand voice across platforms.
  • Enhanced ROI: Leveraging data from one channel to optimize others.

That said, knowing which content types prevail on different platforms is essential. For example, an infographic may be more effective on Instagram, while you may gain more conversions on LinkedIn with a short presentation.

Marketers can use technology to improve their omnichannel approach. Numerous social media scheduling tools can post your content on multiple platforms simultaneously.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

Ways to Repurpose Long-Form Content Into Short-Term Videos

E-books, whitepapers, research reports, case studies, and even lengthy blog posts can be transformed into video content. The key is to take the most critical insights and repackage them into different formats. If you’re still stuck, here are some ideas to repurpose long-form content.

Convert Insights Into a Video Script

Long-form content offers a ton of information that translates well to a video script. Take the big ideas and rewrite them into a video script format. If you’re repurposing an e-book with several chapters, you can convert those chapters into short videos.

Another way to ease this process is to write a video script while creating the long-form content. For example, if you’re writing a blog, copy the key highlights and paste them into a script, reworking the text so it’s conversational and engaging.

This takes us to our next section.

Make Technical Pieces Conversational

Make Technical Pieces Conversational

Certain content types, like research reports, are very niche and complex. Short videos must engage the viewer so they convert into buyers. Rewrite these insights to make them conversational and interesting.

The key to doing this is to stay concise. Take a small section at a time, mentioning the key facts and statistics in the report. The tone should match your branding; at the very least, the script should be easy to communicate and straightforward while staying professional.

Film a Short Podcast Episode

If you have a business podcast, you can share your content’s key highlights in a short podcast episode. This can either be pre-recorded or live.

What if you don’t have a podcast? You can convert any long-form post into a tutorial, webinar, or interview.

Go Live

Another way to communicate ideas in long-form content is by going live and opening up the conversation to your audience.

Start by picking out the most important insights in your post. Go live on YouTube or the social media platform of your choice. Once followers join in, mention the topic and include the link to the original content.

During the live stream, discuss the key insights and see if your followers will offer their opinions in the comments section. You can also do this same idea as an interview, collaborating with another thought leader or influencer to spread the word even more.

Mix Different Types of Short-Form Content

different ways to repurpose your content

Source: Nonprofit Marketing Guide

Videos aren’t the only type of high-performing short-form content. 80% of marketers use images in social media, which can also be the perfect way to repurpose long-form content.

Why choose one type when you can mix them all? Many social media platforms, like Instagram, allow marketers to post multiple images and videos. If you’re repurposing a lengthy and in-depth post, like a case study, mix the big ideas into pictures and video and upload them as a carousel or slideshow.

Try New Platforms

Social media constantly changes, and repurposing content is a good reason to experiment with the latest platforms. It can be easy to rely on classic examples like YouTube and TikTok. However, these platforms ebb and flow in popularity and usage — especially since there’s still uncertainty about TikTok’s future in the US.

Some great new platforms include:

  • Lemon8: A platform for sharing lifestyle-related images and videos.
  • RedNote: An international (though most popular in China) social media and e-commerce platform where users connect over various topics. It’s similar to TikTok but also includes images and text.

rednote – Apps on Google Play

  • BlueSky: A microblogging platform alternative to X. Users can share images and videos in addition to text.

Using AI Tools to Parse Data and Generate Notable Insights

Despite widespread adoption, many companies fail to harness the full potential of AI the right way. In fact, 78% of businesses don’t capitalize on their AI investments. Common reasons include inadequate data management and using AI toward activities that don’t benefit their bottom line.

Leveraging AI for Actionable Insights

Tools powered by AI can:

  • Analyze data in real-time: Providing actionable insights to improve decision-making.
  • Drive measurable outcomes: Turning analytics into revenue-generating strategies.

Later in this article, we will recommend AI tools for your content repurposing strategy. These tools are easy to use and can repurpose your content quickly.

Scale ROI With Video

Long-Form Content Repurposing Tools

Repurposing long-form written content into short-form video requires niche solutions. These AI tools are designed to help marketers and content creators with every step of the content creation and repurposing process.

Overlap

Overlap

Knowing which ideas you should repurpose from long-form content can be challenging. Fortunately, Overlap makes this easy. Overlap extracts insights from long-form content. You can then use these insights to generate written blogs, videos, and more.

In addition, Overlap is an excellent tool for turning long-form video content into smaller sections. Marketers can insert a YouTube video URL into Overlap, pinpointing key moments in their videos and generating headlines for each segment.

Typically 3-5 minutes long, these clips can be repurposed across platforms like LinkedIn, X, Threads, and YouTube Shorts. Overlap offers a free version, making it an accessible tool for marketers with tight budgets.

Napkin.ai

Napkin.ai

Not all of us are artists, let alone designers. This is why creatives are often a bottleneck in content creation. If you want to invest in beautiful visuals but are unsure where to start, Napkin.ai is a great tool to try.

Napkin.ai tackles this by transforming written content into illustrations and other visuals. For example, a piece about achieving personal excellence can be complemented with visuals like ladders, plants, or other symbolic imagery.

Benefits of Napkin include:

  • Conceptual clarity: Designers gain a starting point, expediting the creative process.
  • Affordability: Currently free, Napkin.ai is ideal for teams with limited resources.

Bolt.new

bolt.new

Marketers often face challenges bridging the gap between ideation and execution. Bolt.new simplifies this by allowing marketers to create functional front-end prototypes for developers. Whether it’s designing a YouTube content idea generator or developing interactive tools, Bolt saves time and enhances collaboration.

Key advantages include:

  • Faster execution: Marketers can contribute directly to development without extensive coding knowledge.
  • Customizability: Tailored solutions for specific needs, like generating headlines or thumbnails.

Recast Studio

Recast Studio

Creating and editing video content is a big struggle for businesses that don’t have the right skills or the budget to expand. Fortunately, Recast Studio offers an intuitive AI-powered video editor to create and edit marketing videos.

The best part? You don’t need editing skills to create high-quality videos. Recast Studio has a drag-and-drop interface and automated features, like AI-generated captions and auto-trimming. Marketers can edit videos quickly and repurpose more content into videos.

Lumen5

Lumen5

Lumen5 is another platform that helps marketers create engaging videos without special training or expertise. But what sets Lumen5 apart is that you can enter your text into this tool, and it will create a video in minutes. This way, marketers can create engaging videos for platforms like LinkedIn or YouTube without expanding their team.

PodIntelligence

PodIntelligence

If you tend to upload lengthy podcast episodes, you can separate some key clips for social media posts.

But going back through your episode and editing it can be tedious. Fortunately, PodIntelligence extracts clips with zero editing on your part.

PodIntelligence identifies topics and keywords in your script and finds the micro-content that correlates with this text. This tool will then identify key moments in your episode, breaking them into shorter clips. You can then post these clips on different platforms.

Quillbot

Quillbot

Earlier in this post, we recommended transforming technical research papers into conversational video scripts. How can you change the tone of a technical document while keeping all necessary information? If you’re stuck, you can use a tool like Quillbot.

Quillbot is an AI writing tool that’s famous for paraphrasing and analyzing tone. You can use it to rewrite research papers, case studies, whitepapers, e-books, and any other technical documents into new formats, like a video script. Quillbot can analyze the text and adjust its style and wording to better target your audience.

Repurpose.io

Repurpose.io

While these tools are practical, don’t you want something that can do it all? Repurpose.io offers many of the same benefits as these other tools, like turning long-form content into small video clips while posting your videos across all social media platforms. Plus, Repurpose.io can automatically repurpose your content so it fits specific channels.

The Future of Content Repurposing: AI and Beyond

The rapid advancements in AI will impact content creation and repurposing in the future. Marketers should stay updated on the tools, strategies, and techniques that will take over content marketing.

Some other best practices include:

  • Invest strategically: Prioritize tools and processes that impact revenue and profitability.
  • Avoid activity traps: If you sign up for too many tools, they may interfere with your strategy and goals. Only invest in the tools that you plan on using for the long term and the ones that make your campaign more efficient.

Increase Conversions With Long-Form Content Repurposing

Marketers have experienced hurdles with long-form content repurposing. While longer blogs reign, short-form videos and striking visuals have taken over social media. Marketers can gain value from long-form written pieces by extracting the most important ideas and insights and then translating those segments into visual content.

Different AI tools can expedite the process, finding the best focuses from long-form content, turning them into visuals, and posting them on all socials and platforms.

Remember that the future of marketing is not just about tools; it’s about using them to drive actual, tangible results.

Content trends are shifting, and consumers demand different media types on every platform. If this is becoming too much for your organization, turn to the professionals. Our team at Single Grain creates a content marketing strategy with conversions in mind, ensuring you make the best ROI.

If you’re ready to level up your video marketing strategy, Single Grain’s video marketing experts can help!👇

Let’s Do Video Right

Frequently Asked Questions on Long-form Content Repurposing

  • What is long-form content?

    Long-form content refers to detailed, in-depth material that provides comprehensive information on a topic.

    Most think of long-form content as in-depth blogs, but videos and podcasts can often fit this category. It is designed to thoroughly explore a subject, offering value to readers, viewers, or listeners by addressing their questions or needs in detail.

    In the context of digital marketing and content creation, long-form content typically exceeds 1,000 words for written pieces or longer runtimes for videos (often over 10 minutes).

  • How is content repurposing different from reposting or cross-posting content?

    Content repurposing, reposting, and cross-posting differ in their approach and purpose. Content reposting is when marketers share the same content without any changes, and cross-posting content is when marketers share the same content on different platforms without making any changes.

  • When should you repurpose long-form content?

    While any business can benefit from repurposing long-form content, this strategy will vary from company to company. Repurposing long-form content is a strategic way to maximize its value by adapting it for different platforms, formats, or audiences. However, there are other ways to approach this strategy depending on your content, engagements, and audience needs.

    If you have a massive backlog of outdated content, repurposing those posts can offer new insights and more value. But if you’re a new brand or are transitioning to another social media platform, focus more on creating new or time-sensitive content and posting it on different channels.

    Other factors to consider include whether your audience engagement is increasing or decreasing, your sales funnel, your resources, and your goals.

  • Which content should I repurpose?

    Ideally, you should repurpose all content. But that may not be feasible for your time and budget. In addition, there’s no easy answer to this question. Start by identifying your content marketing goals and which posts are the most popular. Find the posts already getting excellent traction and better align with your objectives. Prioritize repurposing this content over the rest of your backlog.

  • How can I improve the content repurposing process?

    Improving your content repurposing process requires planning, creativity, and leveraging tools to streamline workflows. Start by leveraging different platforms, such as social media and YouTube, and create an audience on each platform. Understand each platform and which types of content are most popular among users. For example, post fun content on Instagram but professional posts on LinkedIn.

    Invest in tools that use automation to organize, schedule, and track your content. Always get different teams involved to collaborate on your content repurposing strategy.

If you were unable to find the answer you’ve been looking for, do not hesitate to get in touch and ask us directly.

For more insights and lessons about marketing, check out our Marketing School podcast on YouTube.