‘Green’ content – reduce, reuse, recycle

We’re all adept at sorting our glass, card, tins and plastics for the recycling collection, saving jars to use again or maybe you’ve even tried a local refill scheme to cut down your waste footprint. Being mindful of how much we use, and where it goes, is becoming a growing concern for us all – so isn't it time we applied the reduce, reuse, recycle mantra to our online presence too?

Reduce the pressure to create new content

Posting relevant and timely content to your website and social media regularly and consistently is undoubtedly important. But posting something totally original and new every single time is simply unnecessary. It’s time to get savvy about assessing the quality of your posts and reframing content for a new context to share with old and new audiences, improve your reach and get more ROI on each piece of content you develop.

It might help if you consider the vast resources required to feed our online habits. Servers, whether they’re ones used to power AI tools or host videos, use a significant amount of energy. Recent estimates put the US consumption of power for data centres at reaching six per cent by 2026, a near exponential explosion in growth. Most of this electricity doesn’t come from renewable sources, and chips and parts for servers are consumables too – so although you can’t see the impact of your web searching, ChatGPT use, AI image generation and file hosting, it all adds up. Getting clever with your content strategy won’t just save you time, but it will contribute to us all more mindfully using Earth’s resources too. In May 2021, Greenspector reported that there were 4.33 billion social media users worldwide. It's analysis of ten social platforms revealed that these platforms collectively contribute 262 million tonnes of CO2 annually. This accounts for approximately 0.61% of global emissions, a figure comparable to the entire carbon footprint of Malaysia.

Reuse your content to reach more people

Think of a brand you follow online. Can you remember the last few things they posted? The title of a blog they wrote? Quite possibly not. So don’t be afraid of repetition online – in fact, it’s a key way you can make sure your hard-earned content gets in front of enough people. Social media moves at lightning speed, so letting your content surf the waves of engagement a few times will do it justice - remember, your audience is not static and is continually waxing and waning.

If the blog you wrote last year is still relevant – get it in front of eyeballs again. To effectively repurpose content in marketing, it’s crucial that the new versions — whether articles, blogs, videos, or other media — bring fresh insights and avoid being flagged as duplicate content. The key to success lies in ensuring that repurposed content not only resonates with your audience but also adds enough value to allow you to stand apart. In today’s competitive search landscape, impactful content is a major driver of visibility and engagement. Think of reframing it with a new visual or quote and you’ll give your content a second, third, fourth breath of life… And it’s even better if you can keep refreshing content on your website – search engines detect both new and updated content and see this as a commitment to staying up to date, so you’ll hopefully get a rankings boost, too.

Recycle your ideas and get creative

On the topic of updating your website content, if you’ve already got a blog about your products or service offering, think of some different formats to present the same information:

• A listicle
• A short video
• A carousel on LinkedIn
• An infographic

SEMrush’s State of Content Marketing Report 2023 reveals that 42% of marketers attribute their campaign success to updating and repurposing existing content. Clearly, varying the ways information is presented will mean you capture the eyeballs of more people – especially as so many prefer seeing information in a variety ways. And if recycling your content gives you some inspiration, run with it! Restriction often breeds creativity, so think more about what you can do with what you have, rather than reeling off hundreds of lofty new ideas. Little tweaks are easier to measure in terms of impact, as you’re controlling your variables and testing your methods. It’s a process after all!

So next time you’re considering your content plan for the month or quarter ahead, think about how you can do more with what already exists – how you can repurpose it with a more sustainable and strategic approach. And if you need some agile and strategic content experts to help you make an impact in your corner of the internet – get in touch with us and we’ll help you shift the content dial.