How to Re-Purpose Someone Else’s Content and Get 8633% More Shares

I’ve very often seen headlines like that and though “PAHHH! Marketing hogwash!” but, dear reader of the interwebs, I’m going to share with you something I did that got me exactly that much more exposure that the original, with my workings and you will be amazed.

You see, I think it’s absolutely essential that workings are shown, even though I’m not entirely sure why I got so many shares of what was in effect, a story about a story. But let’s dive in and see how we could all learn from this experience and become social media gods, one and all!

Someone else wrote it, I talked about it

I work for a couple of companies including my own and one of them is a Technology PR agency called Pinnacle Marketing. They’re an ace bunch and not only because the boss bought me a wheat beer in Munich, no, it’s because they’re just a great bunch of people to work with.

I digress.

Anyway, a few months ago one of the guys there did some research and wrote a blog about how email marketing was wiping the floor with social media. I did some research and then backed this up with my own article and spoke about how email marketing was, indeed, absolutely superb.

Take a look at the number of shares for each item. Three shares on the original blog, 262 on my article on Business2Community. According to Wolfram Alpha, that’s an 8633% increase:

See? I worked it out for you. I’m such a nice person that way.

Well here’s where some crazy Internet marketers (I’m looking at you, Kern) would start bleating on about how “magnetic” the title is, how people prefer blue to green and all that rubbish, but in reality the answer is pretty straightforward. The Business2Community site is very popular with the type of person that would appreciate this article. The Pinnacle one will be read by people interested in Technology PR in particular and they might find that article and like it (as three people obviously did), but it’s a niche site so it’s not going to attract the gazillions of visitors this one does.

What’s important though is that this is a great lesson in how to get your content out there. I’d love to say I’d planned all this but I didn’t. I have learned from it though and here’s what I’ve learned and what you can take away to do yourself in your content marketing efforts.

Feed a starving crowd

One of the big problems with content marketing, SEO and whatever else it’s called these days is that it’s a moving feast. We have to keep on top of everything that’s happening in the world and understand how to get the best out of our efforts, but really, this should be simple. A quote by some big marketer who I’ve forgotten now (and can’t even be bothered to Google, maybe one of you could pop it in the comments?) was in answer to someone who asked “What advantage do you want in marketing” and the answer? “A starving crowd”.

I can only assume the analogy is about hamburgers. Let’s imagine that it is and we have a hamburger stall owner that wants to sell lots of luscious beef patties with a secret sauce. What would be his greatest advantage that would help him succeed? Hungry people.

Let’s say you’ve written some content that you think is absolutely brilliant and it promotes your site and what you do. Where’s the best place to put it? Let’s imagine also that your own website is fairly under-visited and people normally don’t drive by to read what you’re saying. You might feel like you need to post it there so people know it’s yours, but maybe it would be better to find somewhere else. Somewhere with a hungry crowd.

The original article was factually spot-on and brilliantly written but it didn’t get a whole lot of shares. The one I wrote was (obviously) just as well written (stop laughing) but it didn’t have half the facts, I was just writing about some stuff I’d seen elsewhere. The original was a gourmet burger with all the trimmings, mine was a Big Mac (no offence to McDonald’s, I love Big Macs, I had one at lunch today just thinking about this analogy). The difference? My crowd was more hungry.

But it won’t benefit my site!

Ahhh, but you’re wrong! This is where the Big Mac analogy kinda falls apart because after feasting on the article I wrote, lots of people went to see the original. So I guess they ate the burger then went over to the other site for the coffee. I dunno, you can work that one out.

So there was benefit, lots of it.

In summary

• Don’t be afraid to look at someone else’s copy for inspiration. As long as you cite your sources and give credit, you can use it to yours and their advantage.


• Find the best site for your content and make it relevant for that site, don’t be afraid to share your talents about on other people’s sites


• Don’t eat too many Big Macs, they’re oh-so delicious but too many will affect the waistline.

Source: B2C_Business

How to Re-Purpose Someone Else’s Content and Get 8633% More Shares