Use Evergreen Content to Reach New Audiences on Social Media

In the last few years there has been some controversy on the topic of republishing your content multiple times on social media. Some people advocate for always creating fresh new content to share, while others see the value in reposting quality, evergreen content. As you can imagine, there are strong feelings on both sides. 

Here at BK, while we believe in the power of fresh content, we’re also in favor of reposting content and commonly do so for each blog we publish. 

I am going to sum up this post and let you in on a not-so-secret secret… ready?

Resharing old content is a great way to generate more traffic and reach new followers.

Want to know how? Keep reading. 

2 Reasons to Reshare Old Content

Here are two of the biggest benefits to resharing your content on social media and HOW to implement them.

1. Get More Traffic 

The more you share and recirculate your content the more you will increase the number of visits to the original post and your website. Sounds obvious, right? Each time you share a post, the level of activity like views, clicks, and shares may be less, but there will be activity and engagement nonetheless.

Here is an example from a study done by Tom Tunguz, venture capitalist at Redpoint, that shows the average number of retweets his post receives the more he shares them.

You can see from this graph that the number of retweets has decreased roughly 75% with each recirculation attempt, however, Tom still sees that users are engaging with his content—encouraging right?

2. Reach New Followers

Let me define a term I used above in case you aren’t familiar with it. The term is “evergreen content”. It refers to content that is relevant weeks, months, and even years after it was written. So, why are we talking about evergreen content?

Posting older content can be beneficial for reaching people who started following you on social media after the initial post. Over time you gain more likes, follows, +1s and email subscribers, so if you repost a blog that is a year old, many of your followers will be seeing it for the first time. When it’s written right, your followers will get value from it even though it’s over a year old.

How often should you repost content on social media?

Good question. To be honest we don’t have the exact answer, but there are some guidelines followed by popular blogging sites like Buffer and KISSmetrics that you can try every time you post a new blog. It’s important to keep your platform in mind, as the frequency of reposting should depend on how posts are displayed to users.

4 Tips to Use When Resharing Old Content on Social Media

Before using any of these tips, I recommend finding a scheduling tool like Buffer or Hootsuite to help track post metrics and data. We’ve used Buffer for it’s user-friendly interface and analytics.

1. Rethink the Content Each Time

Every time you share a piece of content, make the accompanying post original. Try using a new headline or tagline from the post. Add or change the photo that appears on Facebook or Twitter. Here is an example of how Buffer did this on their Facebook page.

You can see that the tweet with the photo and altered headline received far more clicks and retweets than the original tweet.

How: Schedule a tweet or post with the original article headline, then try using the same headline with a photo, and a different headline with a photo to see what your followers are attracted to. You can use this method again and again when posting new and evergreen content.

Time Investment: Moderate

2. Test Different Headlines

To keep your content appearing fresh and relevant, even if your post is older, take advantage of testing new headlines to find which one works best for your audience.

How: 

1. Write two to three headlines for a post that you would like to share. Share the post using all of the headlines to test performance. 
2. Schedule your headlines to post at roughly the same time on different days so that you are comparing similar audiences. You can try this test in the morning and then again in the afternoon to see if there is any change in traffic.
3. Review your data to find the most effective post headline and make sure you update the original post to match. 

Time Investment: Moderate

This is a great test to perform on any piece of content you would like to share.

Bonus: Here is a great article that talks about the benefit of creating emotional headlines. This article provide a free link to the Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer which  will analyze your headline to determine the Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) score.

3. Target Multiple Time Zones

If you’re scheduling content to post in the middle of the afternoon in San Fran you need to remember that followers in New York are thinking about dinner and sleep while folks in London have been in bed for hours. Followers within the same time zone might also have different social media habits.

How: Regardless of the posting tool you are using, scheduling a posting time is rather easy. Both Buffer and Hootsuite allow auto scheduling or quick-click time updates, and even Facebook Pages allow you to schedule content.

Time Investment: Easy

Even if you only share one blog post on Twitter or Facebook, be sure to spread out your updates so you will be able to maximize your reach and target people who may have missed out before.

4. Share it All!

Want to make sure your followers see your evergreen posts again and again? Share them! 

How: Go to a page on your blog or manually find posts you want to share and add them to your posting schedule.

Time Investment: Easy

Having a steady flow of content to post is a great way to bring value to your social accounts. Make sure to integrate these posts with new content, announcements, events and other news to keep your followers updated.

Conclusion

We try to practice what we preach and have implemented these tips into our posting schedule. I encourage all of you to try at least one of these methods to see the results. If you have any other tips you think we should add to this post we’d love to hear them!

Image Credits: Tom Tunguz, Kevan Lee & Belle Beth Cooper