Recycle. Upcycle. Repurpose. Whether you hang out in the world of DIY or social marketing you’ll recognize these terms as trendy time savers.
In the world of DIY we think of upcycling as taking an old table and turning it into a trendy kitchen island.
In the world of sewing, recycling and repurposing just became part of my world. Recently I received my grandmothers wedding dress as a gift. This family heirloom has now become a couple of new pieces in my closet. I’ve been able to transform parts of the dress into 4 different garments; the front panel on a blouse, a skirt, appliques on a blouse for my mom and trim on a bathrobe. Yep, a lot of time in my sewing room, and 4 trendy pieces that remind me of my grandma.
In the world of social marketing upcycling is a creative way to use your own content in a variety of different ways. Picture this; you’ve just returned from a trip and have dozens (OK thousands) of photos. Now you can easily transform your photos into:
- The basis for a photo blog
- A video slideshow
- See more ways to upcycle below…
What if you could upcycle your other unique content and create an explosion of marketing assets? While you’ll save time and energy you’ll also be creating evergreen content that you can post over and over again.
Unique Social Content
Just think of all the writing and creating you do after a fam trip in order to maximize your learning and the opportunity to sell the destination or ship to your clients. If you work with a DMO you already have a full library of content. Here’s some unique content that you may already have in your collection.
Upcycle This
Transforming your unique content into a variety of other purposes and formats saves time and makes the most of your past efforts. Let’s explore other uses you have for your own unique content.
Photos & Graphics
Remember all those photos you snapped that are now lurking on your phone? Here’s some things you can do to upcycle them and gain more eyeballs.
- Edit, crop and add a cool quote, travel tip or trivia. Adding text is easy with these tools.
- Here’s some examples that you can steal
- Start a board on Pinterest and organize your photos by destination, ship or style of travel. You may even want to create a board just for your new graphic quotes we talked about above.
- Remember you can send board links to clients who are interested in the board theme or topic.
- Create an Instagram or Facebook story
- Build a Facebook photo album and organize your photos to showcase your niche and specialty.
- Add them to your website
- Create a video slideshow to showcase your niche market
- Add your photos to your blog to create a photo journal
Blog Post or Article
In the DIY world, upcycling involves taking something apart and transforming it into something else. What if we could use the same theory with your last blog post or article? Here’s some possibilities:
- A series of social posts, each linking back to the original blog post
- The foundation for a video
- The key points could be fashioned into an infographic
- Record the blog and create a podcast
- Pro Tip: Expand on the topic and turn it into an e-book
Upcycling, repurposing, and recycling aren’t just trendy terms that Millennials like to banter about. They are real and effective strategies that will help you use your content to its full potential. And just like I was with my grandmother’s wedding dress, you’ll be amazed at what you can create!
Which piece of content will you repurpose first?
Related Articles
3 Reasons You Need to Write a Blog
How to Socially Refresh, Revive & Repurpose!
Social Marketing Strategies for Travel and Tourism
About Catherine Heeg
Catherine Heeg is a recognized social media trail blazer passionate about social media and marketing in the tourism and hospitality industry. She takes the mystery out of marketing!
She creates and delivers meaningful, dynamic workshops that meet your unique needs in the Travel, Tourism & Hospitality Industry.
Catherine and her team help travel, tourism and hospitality pros design and implement social media marketing strategies and tactics that drive traffic to their social and web sites. Learn more…
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