Top Ways to Repurpose Your YouTube Videos to Increase Their Reach

If you’re a dedicated content creator on YouTube, we can bet you’ve gotten pretty good at creating awesome videos that your followers love. You’ve also learned two fundamental truths by now, too:

• The more original content you can create and post, the faster you’ll be able to grow your followers and speed up your monetization goals; and
• Creating high-quality original content takes a TON of work! There’s only so many hours a week you can slave over your video editing tools and stay sane. You’ve gotta have a life of your own too, right?  

So, how do you balance those two? One game-changing strategy is to increase how much content you can post without actually creating brand-new content. That’s right — we’re talking about the magic that is repurposing!

First of all: what is repurposing? Repurposing is basically the media version of the three R’s: Reduce, reuse, recycle. You reduce how many hours you spend on your overall content creation by finding ways to reuse your content in other channels (such as creating a shorter clip video for posting on Twitter), or to recycle it into something fresh and new (such as creating a compilation video).

Repurposing is a go-to strategy in the online video production community because it’s a foolproof way to make your best videos go further.

You get more views and more reach for your best content (especially older content that might otherwise be hiding in your archives). And that means, ultimately, more followers and more revenue for you.  

Sounds great, right? So what are you waiting for? Here’s a few options for how to get started repurposing your video content to help spark some ideas for you.

1. Cross-Post Your YouTube Videos to Other Social Media Channels 

For video content creators, YouTube is often your primary platform for uploading and sharing your videos. But of course, video content is huge across all of social media. Experts agree that having a presence on at least one of the other big channels (such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or TikTok) is the best strategy for reaching a wide audience. 

Of course, you could have an account on Twitter and just share a link to your YouTube videos through your Twitter feed whenever you’ve got a new one out — nothing wrong with that. 

But also think strategically, too. Thanks to the workings of social media algorithms, a video posted directly through a platform itself is more likely to show up on your followers’ feeds than just a link to a video on another platform. So here’s where repurposing comes in. 

Why not create a shortened version of your YouTube video — such a trailer or a short attention-getting clip — and post that on Instagram or Tiktok? Just pay attention to the video parameters for each channel (for example, TikTok videos are only 60 seconds long max). At the end of your short video, you could post a link to the full video on YouTube and include it in the comments, too. 

2. Go on… Meme Yourself!  

Another way you can take advantage of grabbing short clips of your longer videos is to make some memes. Got a catchphrase? Capture that and reuse it in later videos. 

A catchphrase meme can be a killer way to build up and establish your brand. It also gives your regular users a way to feel in-the-know and part of a community — they may start using it too. (For example, look no further than popular makeup guru James Charles, who connects his 25 million+ followers with an iconic “HI SISTERS!” greeting.)

Or depending on your brand, be brave and poke some fun at yourself too. Find a potentially awkward or embarrassing moment that your audience can relate to and share that as a meme with a humorous caption. You don’t have to be perfect all the time, after all — you might even strengthen your connections with your audience by revealing your fun and human side too.

3. Reference and/or Use Clips of Your Previous Videos in Your New

One way to think of your relationship with your audience is as an ongoing conversation you’re having with them. You’re building up experiences, shared knowledge, and maybe even a specialized vocabulary.

It’s not unreasonable if your earlier videos expose your audience to more basic concepts that will come up again and again in later videos discussing more complex topics. But by the time you’re making your later videos, your audience has grown! Hopefully they’ll be so into you they’ll go through your history and check out your whole back catalog. But you don’t want to alienate them by glossing over concepts they might not yet understand.

What to do? Use a clip from your older video to summarize what they need to know. This could include snappy new editing, and even a little humor. Not only does this keep potential new viewers up-to-speed, but it makes your existing audience feel like they’re in-the-know; part of a community with its own shorthand and culture.

There are a number of ways to do this: maybe a picture-in-picture format — like a reaction video where you “watch” and react to yourself in your old video; maybe a sweet flashback cut; maybe just a short clip and then an embedded link to point them to watch the full older video to catch up. Either way, this can be a great way to “hook” your new followers on getting interested in your older content too.

4. Create Compilation Videos on a Theme or for a Special Occasion

Compilation videos are a classic for a reason. They’re fun to watch because they seize on snapshot moments from your old videos and build them around a central theme. Formats you could experiment include “Best Ofs…”, “Top 10 Tips on…”,  or “My All-Time Favorite Pieces of Advice on…”  

Videos around a special occasion could work too — the anniversary of your YouTube channel, the end of the year, a holiday, etc. (Popular gamer CouRage did a Funniest Moments of 2020, for example.)

Here’s also popular comedy channel Smosh looking back on its best moments of the year. Note that this has other elements you might want to consider, including a commentary track.

Or, on the subject of poking some fun at yourself… who doesn’t love a good blooper roll? Sort through some of all that b-roll on the virtual cutting room floor (all that content you recorded for previous videos that didn’t make it into the final version) and compile all your “Worst Of” moments for your audience’s viewing pleasure. 

5. Revisit and Refresh Your Older Videos With New Knowledge

How about an update? This isn’t going to be for everybody. Obviously, if you’re a plumber, your tutorial on fixing a toilet should probably be unimpeachable the first time out. But lots of creators work in subjective spaces, whether they’re making art or sharing ideas. Rigid, intractable thinking is SO 2016.

Why not go back over your old stuff and examine your content through the lens of your current audience’s vantage point or with updates on new progress? 

Maybe you’re a chef who’s discovered a new way to zest up that pasta dish you talked about last year. (Or maybe, like a GreenBeauty vlogger, you can update your followers with your progress after 1 year of trying a new treatment.)

Or maybe you’re a big personality who shared a thought about a hot-button issue of the day, and now you want to reexamine it with the benefit of hindsight. Not only does this show your audience that you’re a thoughtful person, it humanizes you as well by admitting that you’re capable of growth and change. A little admission that we can all do better is good for your audience’s mental health, and yours as well!

6. Open Up Your Original Content for Repurposing by Your Fans

This one takes a special kind of trust! Let your fans show you what they love about you. Do you have a catch-phrase? Let them make a supercut. Are you an evocative speaker? Maybe there’s an animator out there that wants to spin your words into images beyond what is capable with a webcam and a home studio.  (Popular podcast MBMBAM has had fan animatics for years on Youtube.)  

Are you intentionally (or unintentionally hilarious)? Perhaps a fan-made remix will better showcase that sense of humor than something you make yourself. In a similar vein, maybe you make very physical content; sounds like it’s time for a green screen competition! (Here’s Igor the Hamster, the beloved mascot of a father-daughter YouTube channel, getting the green screen treatment.)

Letting your audience have fun is a great way to showcase your own giving personality, strengthen your overall community, and create a lasting bond they’re going to want to grow for years to come.

7. Final Thought: Think About Repurposing from Day 1

All in all, these are just a few ideas to get you started. A great long-term tip when planning your overall video content is to think in advance about all your repurposing options. If you create new videos with the idea of including bite-size clips that could be great for future trailers, memes, or compilation videos, your future repurposing efforts will be even easier than ever — and your channel will grow!  

TL;DR:

Repurposing your YouTube videos is a great way to make sure you’re getting the most out of all the awesome content you’ve created over the years. You have a lot of options for how to do this, including posting shorter clips or trailers on other social media channels; making a meme of yourself; or putting together some fun compilation videos. You can also pull in clips from your older videos into your new videos on the same topic, or else create an update video that shows how you’ve grown. Maybe let your followers in on the repurposing fun too! Moving forward, you’ll find more success if you keep repurposing opportunities in mind from day 1 of every future video you create. Keep creating your excellent new content, while letting your previous content pay off for you again and again with these tips. 

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