One of the biggest issues facing marketers is how to make content stretch beyond the initial push. As we all know, there are only 24 hours in the day, 40 hours in the work week and much less than that for content production and promotion. When it comes to recruitment marketing, this sort of issue is paramount because the goal is to reach the maximum candidate audience with the least amount of dollars spent. Using points from Salma Jafri’s #INBOUND16 talk, How to Upcycle Content for Maximum Mileage, we will show you how you can improve your recruitment marketing by working on your content in a smarter way.
First of all, in order to explain the most effective way to use your content to drive candidate leads, we have to explain what upcycling is. Jafri described it as, “to convert content into multiple formats for the purpose of adding value and bringing that piece of content into circulation again.” It would be easy to confuse this process with recycling, but that just isn’t the case. With upcycling it is key to take into account different audiences and different platforms so that the new content you produce from previous content remains valuable to potential candidates and helps expand your reach.
If done correctly, upcycling can provide all the following benefits according to Jafri:
- It gives you time to focus on creating amazing content.
- It’s great for your SEO positioning.
- It extends your reach.
- It allows your content to remain viable without bothering your audience.
- It allows for your audience to digest the information with different learning styles.
So what actionable steps do you need to take to make sure your content reaches the right people in the right way?
1. Think About HOW to Upcycle
Jafri noted that there are five distinct options for upcycling:
- New Format
- New Platform
- New Vertical
- New Audience
- New Medium
Here are just a few examples of why you might consider a content upcycle:
- One of your pieces of content was popular as an infographic – why not repackage it into an interactive tool?
- Your last campaign went really well on Facebook, but maybe you could reuse it in a new way on Instagram
- Your whitepaper worked well within the healthcare industry, but chances are if it can be rebranded just a bit, you can use it for energy recruitment.
- Your interactive tool was a big hit for physician recruitment on Twitter, but maybe the rest of that physician audience is hanging out on Facebook – sounds like it’s a good time to expand your audience doesn't it?
- You’ve been using a piece of content to bring in nurses, but it’s actually quite useful to other healthcare professionals – re-package, re-design and wah-lah, premium content for radiologic technicians!
Positioning is everything!
2. Think about WHAT to Upcycle
Jafri noted three types of ideal content that can be used for upcycling:
- Evergreen content
- Series content
- Authority content
These three content options will keep you on brand and will continue to boost your position through the power of building blocks and will provide you with reputation credibility.
Conversely, Jafri noted to avoid these three content choices:
- Fads or short-term content
- Current news and trends
- Disjointed content that has no central theme
Those types of content will not keep you at the forefront and therefore the audience will burn out.
3. PLAN for Upcycling
This all sounds incredible right? It’s going to get you so many candidates from so many places! Well, yes, if done right, it will, but before you go wild, consider these factors that Jafri noted in her talk:
- Resources
- Frequency
- Budget
- Audience
Keep in mind that you need to have a solid understanding of what you have to work with. Make sure you know how much time you have to commit, when you will be broadcasting the new content, how much you have to spend on each endeavor and finally, what candidate audience you ultimately want to reach. If you have a solid plan with these factors in mind, you will be able to succeed at reaching your ideal audience wherever they might be digesting their information. And, more importantly they will be happy to receive it from you.
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