It takes anywhere between 3 seconds to 3 weeks to create a video, depending on the context of the video and the platform you’re creating it for. For instance, it takes an instant to create Snapchat and Vine videos but almost a month for professionals to finish a 3-minute corporate film.
I did a quick search on the internet for the amount of time does it take to create videos and although the general theme of the answer was “It depends,” I was able to pin down the average timeframe needed to create videos. You can see the results of my search in the chart below:
Source: Author's Own
You not only need a significant amount of time but also efforts and resources to create videos. The reason I am griping about the time, efforts, and resources is because I believe video marketing is one of the most overrated conversion tactic. Firstly, because it takes unusually long to create videos, and secondly, even the most successful viral videos have a shorter shelf life compared to other forms of content such as e-books, case studies, whitepapers, and blogs.
The solution?
The solution lies in re-purposing your videos. If you re-purpose your video content, you can extend your video’s reach as well as shelf life. Repurposing allows you to tell your story in different ways and show it to different audience. Here are 5 amazing ways to repurpose your video content for maximum exposure:
1. Go beyond YouTube
Gone are the days when videos were created either for one’s own website or YouTube. Today we have Vimeo, Wistia, Daily Motion, Facebook Videos, Vidyard, and many more channels for sharing video content. Invest some time in building audiences across different platforms to get maximum exposure.
Source: Annual Acumen Report
If you have an evergreen piece of video content, it should be shared across various channels. Not only does it help with SEO (better links) but it also increases the exposure of a brand and helps the brand connect to a wider audience.
Jay Baer publishes 3-minute lessons and commentary on digital marketing, business, and social media, known as Jay Today. It covers his ideas about business, social media, and marketing. Jay’s team at Convince and Convert works on other types of content as well to increase the reach (more about it later), although Jay says ‘Jay Today’ videos are the top performers.
The video is then distributed on five different channels such as YouTube, iTunes video podcast, iTunes audio podcast, on their website and on their Facebook page.
Source: iTunes Video Podcast
2. Switch to the written word
Not everyone is comfortable watching videos. Many prefer the written word to watching videos online. You can alter a piece of video content by switching the format. Repurposing can offer an array of benefits that include lower marketing costs, enhanced visibility and reach, and better engagement.
To quote Joe Pulizzi as he discusses the case study of Jay Today, “there is a purpose behind all of the content created,” and you need to understand that purpose and re-purpose your content accordingly. Joe praises the repurposing strategy of Jay Today, as Jay and his team rework on the headlines and create three different pieces for LinkedIn, Medium and their own website, which is a time-consuming but effective way to repurpose content.
If you feel the above example may get a tad repetitive (especially if you have repeat visitors), you can reserve this method for your best content or evergreen pieces. Look how HubSpot Academy offers their course content in various formats such as PDF guides, Medium posts, slides, transcripts, and so on.
Source: HubSpot
Moz, too, has leveraged the power of creating blog posts from their Whiteboard Fridays videos. They transcribe each of their videos to reach out to a larger audience. Creating blog posts from your videos should not be a tough job.
You can make your blog posts more informative by adding a few points that you weren’t able to accommodate within the video. So next time you create video content, convey it in as many ways as possible to your targeted audience.
3. Create an iTunes podcast with existing video
Podcasts, both audio and video, are gaining popularity among brands, since this is one form of media that can be consumed anywhere and anytime, even while commuting or working out.
Video podcasts help businesses, both small and large, to advertise and promote their services and products in a modern and cost-effective manner. As a matter of fact, 21 percent Americans aged 12 and up have listened to podcasts in 2016. Apple has surpassed the 1 billion mark (for subscriptions) for podcasts via iTunes.
So if you want to leverage the potential of video podcasts, you can easily turn your YouTube video into iTunes. With help of Amazon S3, you can quickly create and host video podcasts. Even though iTunes has been known for audio podcasts, video podcasts have also started to take the center stage.
If your video doesn't necessarily require visual input, it makes more sense to convert it into Audio and launch it as a separate podcast in iTunes.
You have two choices:
Publish your video as iTunes video podcast
Publish your video as iTunes audio podcast (Depends on type of video content you have)
4. Convert video to slides
If you have a corporate video, demos, or tutorials, you can convert them to slides. You can boost your video’s life by converting them to presentations and then sharing slides on SlideShare, SlideSnack, and any platform of your choice.
In this webinar, International bestselling author Andrew Griffiths and productivity expert, Sam Harrop, the author of “Getting Stuff Done” shared 101 tips about improving individual productivity. Their YouTube video failed to create a stir. They then republished the video as a presentation on SlideShare and got 420k views!
Source: SlideShare
There are many tools to convert videos to slides. One of the oldest and the most popular slide sharing tools is AuthorSTREAM. It allows you to upload presentations, add video and audio narratives and share the results with whomever you want.
Some of the more recent tools offer advanced features. For example, SlideSnack allows you to record an optional voice over, so you can share your slidecasts as voice presentations. Other tools like SlideRocket allows you to import presentations and share them while keeping track of traffic.
5. Tweak videos as per platform
Repurposing goes beyond converting your videos into blogs and transcripts. Sometimes you have to expend greater efforts to maximize viewership. The best way to repurpose video content is to customize the videos based on the platforms where it will be shared.
Remember, one video that works well on Facebook might not work the same way on Twitter. Also the title of the video matters for different platforms. You must also know what length of video is optimal for respective social platforms. For instance:
For YouTube, you can create a video as long as 14.5 minutes
For Facebook, the optimal length of videos is 1.3 minutes
Twitter videos should be a maximum of 30 seconds
The customized versions of the video will receive more views and offer better engagement on specific platforms. Now I know it sounds like good advice, but it is easier said than done as it takes a lot of time to edit videos.
However, there are several video editing tools that can help make the job easier. These tools help you crop, trim, cut, split and combine in a few clicks. You can also use functions like jump cut, video transitions, adding titles/credits, picture-in-picture, filters, visual effects, and so on.
Alternatively, you could create shorter versions while filming the videos, keeping different platforms in mind. This way, the idea, concept, campaign, etc. will remain the same but you will have better videos on hand. This is a far better and easier way to repurpose a video campaign.
Repurpose and distribute
Repurposing video content helps it remain relevant for longer among the intended audience. Coming up with new ideas to distribute existing video content in new formats can help you save time and money, while increasing exposure. If you are still in doubt because repurposing sounds unethical, stay calm. Repurposing video content is practical, white hat, and valued by viewers.