How To Repurpose Content On Instagram

If you’re creating a consistent stream of content, you’re bound to get some writers block every once in a while. But don’t worry! It happens to all content creators, and the feeling will pass. However, in the meantime, as you wait for the feeling to pass, it’ll be great to have a strategy in place to ensure you’re still pushing out content.

Here’s our strategy: repurposing content.

But first, let’s make things clear! Repurposing content does not mean screenshooting an old post, copying and pasting old text, and then posting it again in the hopes that no one will recognize it.

In our blog, repurposing content means keeping the idea behind the post, yet altering its presentation. For example, we may have an old post about an upcoming course, so in the future we’ll post about the course again, keeping the same theme, but changing the title and changing the image.

You’d be surprised how common this technique is on platforms such as Instagram, where people are eager to keep their engagement up by re-sharing posts that they know will do well and eager to keep generating excitement about a topic by continuously posting about it (for example, we like to post about our courses more than once to remind our followers about discounts, benefits, and deadlines).

Now that you have all the definitions and benefits of repurposing content in mind, let’s get into the reason why you clicked on this blog post: to learn how to do it!

Step One: Find Old Posts That Were Popular

Posts that weren’t popular when you first posted them probably won’t be popular if you post them a second time. In fact, you might find it gaining less reach and engagement the second time.

So what should you do? Focus your attention toward finding posts that had a lot of reach, engagement and profile clicks the first time.

Here’s how you find them: Instagram Analytics!

Instagram has an excellent analytics platform that you can either view on your professional dashboard or under your post.

(Note: your professional dashboard only shows analytics from the past 30 days, so if you want to view analytics further back, you’ll have to visit individual posts in your feed and tap “View Insights.”)

The professional dashboard will automatically show your most popular posts. This is great! Now you can see what your best results are and what your average results are. If the post you want to re-share is below your average amount, then it might be best to completely reshape the content rather than simply repurposing it.

Step Two: Find Old Posts That Are Still Relevant

Another factor you should take into account is relevancy. You don’t want to spend time repurposing a post that won’t be relevant to your mission. Let’s break this down further!

Once you have a list of your popular posts, you can start to consider what the purpose of your repurpose is going to be. Do you want to increase brand awareness? If so, you can choose to repurpose the posts that gained the most reach. Do you want to increase engagement? If so, you can choose to repurpose the posts that earned the most likes and comments. Do you want to increase conversions? If so, you can choose to re-share the post that earned the most profile visits.

One other factor of relevancy is whether the post matters to your business anymore. Does it still resonate with your brand mission and vision? Does it feature services or products that you’re still selling? Does it show community members that are still part of your community? Can it possibly serve as an engaging throwback or nostalgia post?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, consider crossing that post off of your Potential Repurpose list.

Step Three: Find New Ways To Share Old Posts

Instagram has had so many amazing updates throughout the years. It now includes features such as Stories, Reels, IGTV, Guides, and Highlights. And these new features allow you with new ways to present old content (and offers you a chance to reach a larger audience).

When repurposing posts, it’s important to alter the presentation of the posts. You don’t want your audience to feel deja-vu when they see your content on their screens - no one wants to see the same post again and again. For example, changing a regular newsfeed post into a Reel lets people feel like they’re seeing something new from you, rather than something recycled.

And if we were to recommend a particular feature for those who don’t have the time to create Stories and Reels and IGTV and Guides… we would say that Reels are the perfect new form of content for any business. Why? Because the Instagram platform pushes Reels content to more accounts than regular posts, so you will be sure to reach more people.

Great News!

If you’ve taken our recommendation to create Reels, then it’s natural that you would want more guidance. Here is where our great news comes in: we have a FREE Reels guide that can help you create the most engaging Reels possible for your Instagram platform.

This guide provides tips, tricks, how-to’s, and examples that will help you grow your brand. Click the button below to learn more!