Influencer marketing has become an increasingly popular marketing strategy due to its perceived authenticity among the target audiences. However, this strategy is still viewed with skepticism by some marketers, as they think its benefits are only short-term. This isn’t necessarily true, as long as you know how to effectively maximize the campaign results.

One of the ways to optimize influencer marketing efforts is through content repurposing.

To help you learn more about influencer content repurposing and how this technique can be strategically used for campaigns, we’ve compiled this handy guide.

What Is Influencer Content Repurposing?

Content repurposing involves the strategic reuse of influencer-generated content (IGC) for a brand’s marketing campaign. Marketers can lift or creatively modify elements from influencer content and use them for brand materials. They may also opt to share IGC on different brand channels.  

Simply put, content repurposing is recycling and making the most out of influencer-generated content (IGC).

Why Should Brands Utilize Influencer-Generated Content?

Gain Trust

Influencers can produce content that resonates with their followers mainly because they’ve already been able to establish credibility in a particular field of interest and they can relate with their audiences well. This allows for a more convincing and personalized approach, which, according to 80% of the respondents of a survey done by Epsilon, can make consumers more likely to do business with a brand.

Influencers project relatability and trustworthiness, and by teaming up with them for content, you can extend those attributes to your brand. A Nielsen study commissioned by inPowered has shown that IGC increases brand affinity by 88% compared to user reviews.

Enrich your brand assets with high-quality content

Influencers are considered professionals in content creation. Most of them regularly produce online materials that are on par with studio-quality work. They’re also agile and know how to optimize content for different social media channels.

Repurposing IGC allows brands to take advantage of content that’s already been proven to be effective and was created based on audience insights. Additionally, repurposing content allows brands to save on time and costs, target consumers in various stages of their buying journey, widen audience reach, boost SEO, and improve brand visibility.

It’s important to ensure that the influencer content you are using on the brand’s channels is in line with the overall visual style of your brand, so implementing brand identity services might be a good idea.

Ideas for Influencer Content Repurposing

There are a variety of ways through which you can repurpose content from influencers. Let’s explore some of them below:

Website placement

By repurposing IGC as visuals, videos, testimonials, or reviews on your website, you can increase the chances of conversions. Placing video content on your landing page can significantly increase engagement and boost your SEO.

Some good examples of effective influencer content repurposing for website placement are the partnership between Tula Skincare and fitness influencer Whitney Simmons for a limited-edition kit or Ubisoft’s placement of gameplay reviews on their website.

Brand’s social media channels

Since IGC materials are native to social media, they can seamlessly be integrated into your brand’s own social media channels. With 74% of people relying on social media recommendations for their purchases, repurposing influencer content can drive engagement rates.

An example of a brand repurposing social media content is shown by Guess–the brand fully relies on influencer content to populate their official Instagram profile.

Agency Tip:

To expand your audience reach, you can run this content as sponsored posts. For instance, you can use influencer videos as an Instagram Story ad or a TikTok ad.

Digital ads

When repurposing influence content as digital ads, it’s best to sift through campaign content and choose to use the materials that have generated the best response. This can help you invest in content wisely, as you would want to spend on pieces that have already been tested with the target demographic and would likely be able to replicate success as ads in your chosen channel.

An example of this tactic is the video collaboration between Chipotle and celebrity influencer Zach King, which the restaurant chain later ran as a sponsored TikTok video. Another example is the Gillette-sponsored TikTok post by the McFarlands, a family of influencers, which they later promoted as sponsored content.

Agency Tip: To get higher traction for your brand-sponsored content, boost the influencer’s posts on their profiles by running them as promoted content. This technique is also known as influencer whitelisting.

Advertising products on multiple channels is something that might require a demand-side platform if you are using paid ads in your marketing strategy. Leveraging the top DSPs allows you to minimize your ad spend and allocate your resources to your influencer marketing efforts instead.

Events

Company events or industry conventions are good avenues for content reuse. This can be done in the form of playing a video created by an influencer as you cut it down into small clips, incorporating quotes from them on literature and handouts, and displaying a poster with relevant IGC elements.

Agency Tip: Tapping influencers to create content is a practice that can be used by large and small businesses alike. An excellent example is Samsung’s influencer campaign at CES 2020, as shared in this case study by Cloutboost. Hand-picked content creators attended the brand’s exclusive First Look Keynote event and generated high-quality visual content. After being granted content usage rights, Samsung repurposed the IGC as brand assets in this video.

Company blog posts

On top of the engaging content your team creates for your company blog, repurposing influencer content in blog posts can boost site traffic. Try adding an influencer’s quote to a recent story on your blog. Featuring a photo or a video asset created by an influencer will, in its turn, help with your SEO efforts, as pages with various media formats tend to rank higher in search engines.

Content Usage Rights

Content repurposing entails formal negotiations and agreements with influencers. You’ll need to take relevant legal and financial considerations into account.

Prepare a clear content repurposing plan

Before launching your influencer campaign, make sure you already have a plan in place for content repurposing. Usage rights used to be afterthoughts in negotiations, but they are now among the top considerations and are likely to be one of the things brought up first in discussions on partnerships and collaborations. Content creators and their representatives are interested in the ways IGC can be repurposed, so you need to be prepared to answer their questions and be armed with a plan that has clearly defined goals.

Allocate budget for content usage rights

As with any business transaction, you need to set the budget aside for content usage rights. Run a background check on the influencer your brand is interested in partnering with so you can better estimate how much you need to allow for it. For example, budding content creators may be open to a work-for-hire agreement, wherein the rights of their produced content can be transferred to the brand. However, more established influencers are likely to be reluctant to transfer full ownership of their IGC to the brand without commensurate compensation.

Add a content usage rights clause to your influencer contract

Once agreements have been made, make sure to include content usage terms and conditions in the influencer contract. Be as clear and specific as possible. For instance, state where, how, and for what the influencer content is going to be repurposed. Stipulate whether content will be used for digital ads, on your website, on social media channels, or during events. Also, you need to be clear about how long the brand intends to use the repurposed content.

Can brands repost influencer content for free?

There may be some instances when you can repost IGC for free, but do take note that you can’t make any content modification. Even if you don’t own the rights to it for independent use, most influencers tend to be open to having their content shared, as long as they are properly credited or tagged. But, again, this may not apply to all, so it’s best to check with influencers first before posting.

Key Takeaways

Content repurposing is a powerful and practical strategy that lets you use content generated by influencers in various ways. With this, you can maximize influencer partnerships and possibly amplify brand reach and engagement.

• Incorporating influencer content and repurposing IGC into your marketing campaign is a smart strategy for boosting brand awareness and affinity.
• Before launching your marketing campaign, be sure to already have a clear plan for influencer content repurposing.
• When drafting a partnership agreement with an influencer, include a content usage rights clause in the contract.