Content ROI &
In this guide we’ll discuss how to repurpose
your content, helping you save time and money.
Influencer Marketing Content ROI & Repurposing 101
In this guide we’ll discuss how to repurpose your content, helping you save time and money.
10 min read
Introduction
One of the main benefits of Influencer Marketing are the professional quality assets that influencers are producing that can serve as re-purposable content across a brand’s social channels, websites and marketing materials. A benefit when working with IZEA is that influencers automatically grant marketers a license to their content for each and every campaign. By repurposing the content across various marketing channels, brands are increasing the ROI of the content and their influencer campaigns. We will dive into why marketers should repurpose content, the ROI of influencer content, how marketers can repurpose content from IZEAx and distribution methods.
Introduction
One of the main benefits of Influencer Marketing are the professional quality assets that influencers are producing that can serve as re-purposable content across a brand’s social channels, websites and marketing materials. A benefit when working with IZEA is that influencers automatically grant marketers a license to their content for each and every campaign. By repurposing the content across various marketing channels, brands are increasing the ROI of the content and their influencer campaigns. We will dive into why marketers should repurpose content, the ROI of influencer content, how marketers can repurpose content from IZEAx and distribution methods.
10 min read
Why Repurpose Content?
On any given influencer campaign we see a range of influencers producing unique assets. The value of influencer marketing extends beyond the reach of the influencers and engagements garnered. Brands can repurpose influencer creative on their social channels, website product pages, in email newsletters, within their mobile apps and beyond. Distribution of the assets extends the content lifespan and increases the ROI of each of your influencer activations.
The great news is that content repurposing can take place at any point in time. The difference in working with IZEA is that marketers are automatically granted a license to influencer content from IZEA sponsored social campaigns and have the right to repurpose content in perpetuity. Timing can vary per brand; for time-sensitive activations, marketers can syndicate assets immediately. Other brands may approach things differently, instead choosing to sprinkle in influencer creative into their content calendars over a longer duration per their teams’ discretion.
Why Repurpose Content?
On any given influencer campaign we see a range of influencers producing unique assets. The value of influencer marketing extends beyond the reach of the influencers and engagements garnered. Brands can repurpose influencer creative on their social channels, website product pages, in email newsletters, within their mobile apps and beyond. Distribution of the assets extends the content lifespan and increases the ROI of each of your influencer activations.
The great news is that content repurposing can take place at any point in time. The difference in working with IZEA is that marketers are automatically granted a license to influencer content from IZEA sponsored social campaigns and have the right to repurpose content in perpetuity. Timing can vary per brand; for time-sensitive activations, marketers can syndicate assets immediately. Other brands may approach things differently, instead choosing to sprinkle in influencer creative into their content calendars over a longer duration per their teams’ discretion.
Nearly 90% of all marketers find ROI from influencer marketing comparable to or better than other marketing channels
– BigCommerce, 2020
Content ROI
Content marketing ROI is much higher than the average marketing ROI, and significantly higher than traditional marketing tactics.
Recently, we’ve seen a growing trend among marketers where influencers are engaged as content creators for brand owned content. Influencers have spent years (some over a decade!) honing their skills as content creators, syndicators, photographers, and one-stop-shop creative studios. They have high quality equipment, tools, props, editing softwares and even production studios for some. Influencers have access to some of the same tools that creative agencies use for content production. Activating influencers as content creators and repurposing influencer creative from sponsored social campaigns creates cost saving efficiencies for marketers.
To effectively measure content ROI, marketers should outline objectives and establish specific and measurable KPIs for each objective. Performance should be tracked regularly and the data should inform refinements to the content marketing strategy. When measuring content ROI, marketers should look at three key components: overall cost, content utilization and data-backed performance metrics.
Cost Savings Efficiencies
The average cost per content from influencers can range from $250 – $5,000. The same content from a creative agency can range from $10,000 – $35,000. This creates huge cost saving efficiencies when engaging influencers, especially considering the quantity of assets and range of creative per each campaign. Any content that is created for your brand but not utilized is wasted. Marketers should not only be tracking the production of content but also the percentage that is repurposed. For many brands, this is one of the biggest areas of missed opportunity. The content commissioned already exists; not utilizing it across marketing channels is a wasted opportunity.
Wide Range of Assets
Once brands develop relationships with influencers they can engage them on an ongoing basis. This will create further efficiencies as influencers will have a deep understanding of the brands’ creative guidelines and the brand will develop trust in the quality of the influencers’ content. Brands can continue to work with new influencers over time to further vary the creative that’s developed and build additional ongoing relationships. Long-term partnerships are some of the most fruitful. Engaging a creator over time allows their branded messaging to drip-market to their audience and ambassadorships tend to lead to more authentic content. That’s why building up a community of trusted influencers can truly pay dividends.
Repurposing
To see the greatest ROI for influencer activations, brands should repurpose content as widely as possible. To avoid content fatigue among your audience, content can be syndicated over a longer period of time across your various channels. Audiences are not consistent across all channels nor do consumers view brand communications across every brand channel, so it’s beneficial to repurpose content more widely. It will reduce overall costs as you’re able to get more usage out of the assets. In a survey conducted by SEMrush, 51% of survey respondents reported that repurposing existing content is one of the most effective methods for improving content performance.
Content ROI
Content marketing ROI is much higher than the average marketing ROI, and significantly higher than traditional marketing tactics.
Recently, we’ve seen a growing trend among marketers where influencers are engaged as content creators for brand owned content. Influencers have spent years (some over a decade!) honing their skills as content creators, syndicators, photographers, and one-stop-shop creative studios. They have high quality equipment, tools, props, editing softwares and even production studios for some. Influencers have access to some of the same tools that creative agencies use for content production. Activating influencers as content creators and repurposing influencer creative from sponsored social campaigns creates cost saving efficiencies for marketers.
To effectively measure content ROI, marketers should outline objectives and establish specific and measurable KPIs for each objective. Performance should be tracked regularly and the data should inform refinements to the content marketing strategy. When measuring content ROI, marketers should look at three key components: overall cost, content utilization and data-backed performance metrics.
Cost Savings Efficiencies
The average cost per content from influencers can range from $250 – $5,000. The same content from a creative agency can range from $10,000 – $35,000. This creates huge cost saving efficiencies when engaging influencers, especially considering the quantity of assets and range of creative per each campaign. Any content that is created for your brand but not utilized is wasted. Marketers should not only be tracking the production of content but also the percentage that is repurposed. For many brands, this is one of the biggest areas of missed opportunity. The content commissioned already exists; not utilizing it across marketing channels is a wasted opportunity.
Pro-Tip: To understand your cost savings from influencer-generated content, you must first conduct an audit of your current content production costs. Are you working with an agency, what are the relative costs per each asset received? Do you have an inhouse production team? Look at a sample of the content that’s produced to get a sense of the average costs.
Wide Range of Assets
Once brands develop relationships with influencers they can engage them on an ongoing basis. This will create further efficiencies as influencers will have a deep understanding of the brands’ creative guidelines and the brand will develop trust in the quality of the influencers’ content. Brands can continue to work with new influencers over time to further vary the creative that’s developed and build additional ongoing relationships. Long-term partnerships are some of the most fruitful. Engaging a creator over time allows their branded messaging to drip-market to their audience and ambassadorships tend to lead to more authentic content. That’s why building up a community of trusted influencers can truly pay dividends.
Repurposing
To see the greatest ROI for influencer activations, brands should repurpose content as widely as possible. To avoid content fatigue among your audience, content can be syndicated over a longer period of time across your various channels. Audiences are not consistent across all channels nor do consumers view brand communications across every brand channel, so it’s beneficial to repurpose content more widely. It will reduce overall costs as you’re able to get more usage out of the assets. In a survey conducted by SEMrush, 51% of survey respondents reported that repurposing existing content is one of the most effective methods for improving content performance.
51% of survey respondents reported that repurposing existing content is one of the most effective methods for improving content performance
– SEMrush
How IZEAx Makes Content Repurposing Easy
IZEA makes content repurposing straightforward and easy! IZEAx helps streamline asset creation, storage and content analytics. The platform allows you to make data informed decisions when selecting assets to repurpose.
Gathering & Storing Assets in ContentMine (Digital Asset Manager)
IZEA automates the storage of assets from your influencer activations all within the platform. Self service and managed services partners have access to ContentMine, your digital asset management tool.
Assets in ContentMine are auto-tagged by our AI-backed algorithm and the performance data and engagements are clearly showcased for each piece. ContentMine was created as a means to streamline the process of gathering, storing, and sorting assets; this simple tool saves marketers hours of time from this often manual process. No more tracking down influencer assets and missing out on high resolution files!
ContentMine has keyword search capabilities to make finding assets more quick and easy. IZEAx is integrated with Amazon Photo Recognition in ContentMine which is how we’re able to pull images by keyword. Looking for that one image out of hundreds that included a dog? No problem, simply type in the word “dog” and the image will pop up!
Assets can be downloaded on demand with the click of a button. Only need one asset? No worries, simply download the individual image or video. Do you need a group of 200 assets? Easy, we offer bulk downloading per groups!
The capacity in which you engage with IZEA determines how you’re able to access these assets:
IZEA Self-Service Partners:
Upon content approval in Unity Workflow, assets are immediately stored and sorted in ContentMine. Assets are sorted into groups by campaign. Marketers can create their own groups to sort assets as needed. Marketers can also upload assets into ContentMine as they see fit. Users can also edit the keywords within the images to add whatever tags they’d like. If you need to get more granular or specific with the tagging, you can do so. This is helpful if your team has keywords or other details you’d like associated with specific assets.
IZEA Managed Services Partners:
You’ll be granted access to ContentMine as agreed upon with your Campaign Manager based on your needs, either during campaign launch or after campaign completion. As soon as content is approved on the platform, the asset immediately becomes available in ContentMine.
How to Decide Which Content to Repurpose
Marketers often wonder which influencer assets they should repurpose on their own channels. There isn’t a one size fits all approach and there’s a few ways brands can determine which assets they should repurpose.
Analyze Performance Data
In IZEAx self-service marketers can review performance data within the analytics section of Unity Workflow to determine the best performing influencer content. Managed services partners have access to comprehensive reporting from their account management team. ContentMine assets also include total engagements to give a quick snapshot of performance within the tool.
We’ve seen that posts that have performed best from an engagement standpoint among influencers’ audiences are not always the same assets that perform best among brands’ audience. When brands first begin repurposing assets, we recommend repurposing as many as possible. The data over time will help inform how you should repurpose your content and what types of content will resonate best across different channels.
Brand Standards
Marketers typically outline in their creative briefs creative direction requirements for content that meet their own brand standards. This is beneficial as it ensures content can be repurposed across marketing materials and social channels. A good general practice is to ensure that content you’re repurposing is up to brand standards.
Evergreen Content
A solid strategy with influencer campaigns is to generate evergreen content. You will have the ability to repurpose the content across various channels, and repurpose it over the months and years to come, as long as it remains relevant. This allows you to yield a higher ROI as the content gets more mileage over time.
We have seen evergreen content that is tied to annual holidays or events, think Mother’s Day or Christmas-focused buying guides, have particularly high return rates. Each year that content can be resurfaced and repurposed with Paid Media, social posts, and beyond.
Licensed vs. Owned Content
In IZEAx there are two categories of project templates: sponsored social and content production. Sponsored social projects will have licensed content distributed on one or more social media channels. Content production projects, on the other hand, dictate that ownership of created content be transferred from creators to marketers, to be owned and distributed by the marketers. Sponsored social and content production have different grants of usage terms that apply to them.
IZEA’s Terms of Service outline in section 4.6 the grant of usage for sponsored social content and content production. In summary, for sponsored social content, marketers are granted a worldwide, perpetual license to influencer content. Marketers can repurpose influencer content as they see fit across all forms of media and distribution methods. Marketers must provide credit to influencers where content is repurposed, and clearly disclose its nature as an endorsement, in accordance with FTC guidelines. Note that celebrity creators’ content will have use limitations associated with their images, voice, the length of time content may be licensed, and so forth.
For content production, content is owned by the marketer who controls all usage rights. There are no parameters in terms of how content can be utilized and distributed. Marketers have the capability to adapt and publish content as they see fit. Attribution to creators is optional but not required.
How IZEAx Makes Content Repurposing Easy
IZEA makes content repurposing straightforward and easy! IZEAx helps streamline asset creation, storage and content analytics. The platform allows you to make data informed decisions when selecting assets to repurpose.
Gathering & Storing Assets in ContentMine (Digital Asset Manager)
IZEA automates the storage of assets from your influencer activations all within the platform. Self service and managed services partners have access to ContentMine, your digital asset management tool.
Assets in ContentMine are auto-tagged by our AI-backed algorithm and the performance data and engagements are clearly showcased for each piece. ContentMine was created as a means to streamline the process of gathering, storing, and sorting assets; this simple tool saves marketers hours of time from this often manual process. No more tracking down influencer assets and missing out on high resolution files!
ContentMine has keyword search capabilities to make finding assets more quick and easy. IZEAx is integrated with Amazon Photo Recognition in ContentMine which is how we’re able to pull images by keyword. Looking for that one image out of hundreds that included a dog? No problem, simply type in the word “dog” and the image will pop up!
Assets can be downloaded on demand with the click of a button. Only need one asset? No worries, simply download the individual image or video. Do you need a group of 200 assets? Easy, we offer bulk downloading per groups!
The capacity in which you engage with IZEA determines how you’re able to access these assets:
IZEA Self-Service Partners:
Upon content approval in Unity Workflow, assets are immediately stored and sorted in ContentMine. Assets are sorted into groups by campaign. Marketers can create their own groups to sort assets as needed. Marketers can also upload assets into ContentMine as they see fit. Users can also edit the keywords within the images to add whatever tags they’d like. If you need to get more granular or specific with the tagging, you can do so. This is helpful if your team has keywords or other details you’d like associated with specific assets.
IZEA Managed Services Partners:
You’ll be granted access to ContentMine as agreed upon with your Campaign Manager based on your needs, either during campaign launch or after campaign completion. As soon as content is approved on the platform, the asset immediately becomes available in ContentMine.
How to Decide Which Content to Repurpose
Marketers often wonder which influencer assets they should repurpose on their own channels. There isn’t a one size fits all approach and there’s a few ways brands can determine which assets they should repurpose.
Analyze Performance Data
In IZEAx self-service marketers can review performance data within the analytics section of Unity Workflow to determine the best performing influencer content. Managed services partners have access to comprehensive reporting from their account management team. ContentMine assets also include total engagements to give a quick snapshot of performance within the tool.
We’ve seen that posts that have performed best from an engagement standpoint among influencers’ audiences are not always the same assets that perform best among brands’ audience. When brands first begin repurposing assets, we recommend repurposing as many as possible. The data over time will help inform how you should repurpose your content and what types of content will resonate best across different channels.
Brand Standards
Marketers typically outline in their creative briefs creative direction requirements for content that meet their own brand standards. This is beneficial as it ensures content can be repurposed across marketing materials and social channels. A good general practice is to ensure that content you’re repurposing is up to brand standards.
Evergreen Content
A solid strategy with influencer campaigns is to generate evergreen content. You will have the ability to repurpose the content across various channels, and repurpose it over the months and years to come, as long as it remains relevant. This allows you to yield a higher ROI as the content gets more mileage over time.
We have seen evergreen content that is tied to annual holidays or events, think Mother’s Day or Christmas-focused buying guides, have particularly high return rates. Each year that content can be resurfaced and repurposed with Paid Media, social posts, and beyond.
Licensed vs. Owned Content
In IZEAx there are two categories of project templates: sponsored social and content production. Sponsored social projects will have licensed content distributed on one or more social media channels. Content production projects, on the other hand, dictate that ownership of created content be transferred from creators to marketers, to be owned and distributed by the marketers. Sponsored social and content production have different grants of usage terms that apply to them.
IZEA’s Terms of Service outline in section 4.6 the grant of usage for sponsored social content and content production. In summary, for sponsored social content, marketers are granted a worldwide, perpetual license to influencer content. Marketers can repurpose influencer content as they see fit across all forms of media and distribution methods. Marketers must provide credit to influencers where content is repurposed, and clearly disclose its nature as an endorsement, in accordance with FTC guidelines. Note that celebrity creators’ content will have use limitations associated with their images, voice, the length of time content may be licensed, and so forth.
For content production, content is owned by the marketer who controls all usage rights. There are no parameters in terms of how content can be utilized and distributed. Marketers have the capability to adapt and publish content as they see fit. Attribution to creators is optional but not required.
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Content Distribution Methods
There are numerous ways brands can distribute influencer created content. Read on below for strategies that your brand can implement for syndication of influencer created content:
Promoted Posts
An easy and effective way to distribute content to maximize ROI is through Promoted Posts. In studies we’ve conducted, influencer content when promoted from the influencer’s handle compared to the same creative promoted from the brand’s handle yields 10x the engagement.
Promoted Posts is effective in driving targeted actions such as engagement, video views or clicks. It can help drive lower funnel traffic. Promoted Posts is also an important tool to help increase campaign ROI and drive down KPI metrics such as CPE, CTR, CPV, etc.
Brand Social Channels
Repurposing influencer created content across your brand social channels is an easy and important distribution method. Not all brands repurpose influencer content across their social channels which is a missed opportunity. Syndicating influencer content on your social channels could give you a leg up on your competitors and will help build your community.
Brand Collateral
Another way to increase influencer content ROI is through repurposing it in brand collateral. There are many possibilities here such as email newsletters, website, refresh and republish old blog posts, infographics, presentations and beyond! The more teams who have access to ContentMine and know that influencer content exists to be repurposed and utilized, the better. Everyone from your Director of Digital to your Social Media Intern can benefit from having access to this repository of images, content, and authentic brand stories.
Creator Syndication
Marketers can employ other influencers to share creator content. This will increase visibility cost effectively. Brands can also require influencers to share out their own content across their various social channels to increase reach and engagement. We’ve seen a shift from syndication to more novel content created by influencers. It’s not to be said that this approach can’t be utilized in tandem with your current strategy. Engaging creators to re-share content from other creators about your brand can be a cost-efficient way to amplify longer-form content (think blogs or videos) that you want to showcase.
Content Distribution Methods
There are numerous ways brands can distribute influencer created content. Read on below for strategies that your brand can implement for syndication of influencer created content:
Promoted Posts
An easy and effective way to distribute content to maximize ROI is through Promoted Posts. In studies we’ve conducted, influencer content when promoted from the influencer’s handle compared to the same creative promoted from the brand’s handle yields 10x the engagement.
Promoted Posts is effective in driving targeted actions such as engagement, video views or clicks. It can help drive lower funnel traffic. Promoted Posts is also an important tool to help increase campaign ROI and drive down KPI metrics such as CPE, CTR, CPV, etc.
Brand Social Channels
Repurposing influencer created content across your brand social channels is an easy and important distribution method. Not all brands repurpose influencer content across their social channels which is a missed opportunity. Syndicating influencer content on your social channels could give you a leg up on your competitors and will help build your community.
Brand Collateral
Another way to increase influencer content ROI is through repurposing it in brand collateral. There are many possibilities here such as email newsletters, website, refresh and republish old blog posts, infographics, presentations and beyond! The more teams who have access to ContentMine and know that influencer content exists to be repurposed and utilized, the better. Everyone from your Director of Digital to your Social Media Intern can benefit from having access to this repository of images, content, and authentic brand stories.
Creator Syndication
Marketers can employ other influencers to share creator content. This will increase visibility cost effectively. Brands can also require influencers to share out their own content across their various social channels to increase reach and engagement. We’ve seen a shift from syndication to more novel content created by influencers. It’s not to be said that this approach can’t be utilized in tandem with your current strategy. Engaging creators to re-share content from other creators about your brand can be a cost-efficient way to amplify longer-form content (think blogs or videos) that you want to showcase.
Content Repurposing in 2020: Thought Starters for Brands
Here are a few strategies you can use in 2020 and beyond:
1. Celebrate Milestones With Repurposed Content on Social Media
Is your business celebrating a milestone in 2020? Perhaps it’s your brand’s five-year anniversary, or maybe your primary social media account has reached a certain number of followers. Look for a reason to celebrate, and then look for a reason to reuse influencer content during the celebration.
If you’re familiar with the concept of #TBT (throwback Thursday), you already have a general idea of how to celebrate milestones. For example, you can share an influencer’s old video or retweet one of their most memorable posts from several years ago. You can even make a post that reminds your audience of some of your brand’s most successful giveaways or charity efforts. Nostalgia can remind loyal consumers that they’ve been on a long journey with your brand and make them feel like part of the team.
2. Experiment With Repurposed Video and Audio
About 80 percent of consumer Internet traffic involves video content, reports Forbes. Video content has been gaining popularity in recent years, and that trend will continue through 2020. However, interest in audio content, such as podcasts, is also expected to rise. With this in mind, look for creative ways to repurpose video and audio content.
Have an old video review or unboxing video from an influencer? Consider taking an audio clip from that visual presentation and using it in a podcast. This can also work the other way around. You can play audio from an influencer’s podcast during a video presentation, or simply pull some quotes from the recording and splash them on the screen.
Another option is to display a quote from a video or podcast on a still image or in a post. Provide a link to the source material in the caption.
3. Boost Your Blog With Repurposed Content
Blog content is valuable for any brand with an online presence. An effective blog not only increases inbound traffic, but it also helps you gain credibility and engage your audience. Not everything that appears on your business blog needs to be your work, however. Use repurposed content on your blog, whether that means quoting your influencer’s testimonial in a post or promoting a post they’ve written. You can even use some of their Instagram content to add visual appeal.
HubSpot reports that listicle posts were the most popular type of content on business blogs in 2019. Use that format to add more appeal to your content in 2020. For example, you could put together a listicle that recaps an influencer’s most memorable vlogs and provide links to their YouTube account.
Content Repurposing in 2020: Thought Starters for Brands
Here are a few strategies you can use in 2020 and beyond:
1. Celebrate Milestones With Repurposed Content on Social Media
Is your business celebrating a milestone in 2020? Perhaps it’s your brand’s five-year anniversary, or maybe your primary social media account has reached a certain number of followers. Look for a reason to celebrate, and then look for a reason to reuse influencer content during the celebration.
If you’re familiar with the concept of #TBT (throwback Thursday), you already have a general idea of how to celebrate milestones. For example, you can share an influencer’s old video or retweet one of their most memorable posts from several years ago. You can even make a post that reminds your audience of some of your brand’s most successful giveaways or charity efforts. Nostalgia can remind loyal consumers that they’ve been on a long journey with your brand and make them feel like part of the team.
2. Experiment With Repurposed Video and Audio
About 80 percent of consumer Internet traffic involves video content, reports Forbes. Video content has been gaining popularity in recent years, and that trend will continue through 2020. However, interest in audio content, such as podcasts, is also expected to rise. With this in mind, look for creative ways to repurpose video and audio content.
Have an old video review or unboxing video from an influencer? Consider taking an audio clip from that visual presentation and using it in a podcast. This can also work the other way around. You can play audio from an influencer’s podcast during a video presentation, or simply pull some quotes from the recording and splash them on the screen.
Another option is to display a quote from a video or podcast on a still image or in a post. Provide a link to the source material in the caption.
3. Boost Your Blog With Repurposed Content
Blog content is valuable for any brand with an online presence. An effective blog not only increases inbound traffic, but it also helps you gain credibility and engage your audience. Not everything that appears on your business blog needs to be your work, however. Use repurposed content on your blog, whether that means quoting your influencer’s testimonial in a post or promoting a post they’ve written. You can even use some of their Instagram content to add visual appeal.
HubSpot reports that listicle posts were the most popular type of content on business blogs in 2019. Use that format to add more appeal to your content in 2020. For example, you could put together a listicle that recaps an influencer’s most memorable vlogs and provide links to their YouTube account.