“I’m gonna make this last, and make it Evergreen” as the world’s most famous Irish boy band once sung. As a nice little anecdote, the song only achieved major recognition after it was covered by 2002’s Pop Idol winner, Will Young. A pretty fitting message about the timeless practice of repurposing content for greater and/or additional results.
Music is one thing, but what about blogs? What about video and photography? What content can and can’t be repurposed or fall under the bracket of being evergreen? Some content does have a specific role and task to perform over time but, that might not necessarily make it evergreen.
Not all marketing or advertising material that has been successful previously can always be repurposed for new uses. Let’s take a look now at what makes real, evergreen content, as well as how best to commission or, repurpose existing content.
Is Evergreen Content Just Recycled Content?
Well, not really. Some old content can be recycled into evergreen content but that’s a whole different issue. The best way to think of evergreen content is to see it as content that will always be relevant for your audience or customer to look at concerning your business.
Say you are a digital travel agent. You will always want at least some material somewhere on your website and social media that explains; what exactly a digital travel agent is. More specifically, letting your potential clients know what you can do for them in this role.
There is longevity to most content. As a business develops, either expanding or shrinking its interests and areas of activity, the content it produces will sometimes change out of necessity to reflect the changing face and shape of the business.
Evergreen content like this doesn’t just belong on your about page. You’ll want to set out more persuasive and engaging material that can go viral and attract more people to your business. Creating promotional material like blogs, short videos or clip montages, is an ideal way to do this.
Essential types of evergreen content can be answers to queries or questions about areas related to the field your business is in. Thanks to the magic of SEO, we are more than familiar nowadays with the most popular search terms and queries. You can go about answering all those important “who, what, why, how, where, when” questions with helpful guides or short Q & A videos.
Don’t Be Afraid To Use Old Content If You Can Make It Evergreen
The best thing about evergreen content is that you can re-share it whenever you find a purpose for it. It doesn’t just have to be at the front and centre of your business all year round. At a moment’s notice, it can be re-shared via any medium you choose without any additional work required!
Businesses do change direction, they do change with their markets and that’s great! Change provides new opportunities for creativity, a chance to express new ideas and try out new concepts or, celebrate old work.
Maybe you’re revamping a decade or so old business with a cluttered website. You should be looking through the old content to see if you can find something to reuse. It could be anything from archived images and video footage to pre-existing copy and other written content.
Brand overhauls, website redesign, social media revamp, commissioning new media. Whenever this happens, you should be looking to repurpose old content and thinking about if you can do something different with it, potentially, making it evergreen.
Don’t be afraid to repurpose or start using old content for evergreen content. It should be your remit to do so!
Starting From Scratch? Create Some Material That Lasts
When you have to start from scratch with evergreen content, it’s important to not let the idea of creating something which intends to be permanently relevant overwhelm you.
Yes, you must approach evergreen content seriously and make sure that what you come up with is relevant. However, you’re also trying to maximise time and effort with what you create for the future. Even the simplest of ideas needs to have due diligence paid to it to make sure what you’ve got can fall under that enchanting evergreen bracket.
Look at your business and the market you’re creating this content for. It’s handy to analyse the competition sometimes too, but if you do, try not to lose focus. Pay attention to what they’re doing and what you can see is working, as well as looking at what they’re not doing.
If you can, then stand out from your competitors with the most basic of work or self-promotion. Be creative. Don’t settle for just a few blog posts. Create tie-in content that is accessible to different audiences and able to be published on multiple platforms. Make your content last if you wish to make it evergreen!
