It was February 10 of 2023.

I had been studying copywriting for almost 6 months & was eager to find clients.

I decided to start with LinkedIn.

After I created my profile and started to connect with other writers, I noticed everyone was encouraging newbies to start posting.

So I did.

I knew nothing about content systems, strategies, or best practices.

I just knew I wanted clients.

My first couple of months I only shared what I had learned to that point about copywriting.

The worst part:

It took an hour to write each post.

I wanted to grow fast so I was posting every day.

(That’s 7 hours a week to write my content.)

Things got even worse when inevitably came the day when I ran out of content ideas.

I just sat there staring into the empty void that was my blank Google doc page (yes I used to use Google docs before I found the wonder that is Notion)

Scrambling to come up with something I rushed a half-baked idea and hit post.

Crickets.

Not even a like on the post.

And I can’t blame them, it was obvious I rushed it.

I swore to myself I’d never be in a position where time was an issue for me with content.

Then as fate would have it a saw a post by Lara Acosta.

She mentioned how she repurposes her best stuff when she has no ideas.

I decided to give it a whirl.

I checked out my analytics and re wrote only the best ones and tried to make them better.

They performed well.

But because my system was still un-refined, I was making it up on the fly.

Since then I’ve been slowly dialing it in.

I’ve managed to make it as simple & efficient as possible.

The best part is it:

•Saves you time

•Refines your ideas

•Keeps your messaging consistent

Let’s dive in.

How to repurpose your top performing content

Step 1: Look back at your content older than a month.

This leaves enough time for the content to have gained most of its engagement.

Step 2: Find your top 20% posts (in terms of engagements)

I post 6 times a week which = 24 a month

So that’s my top 5 posts.

Step 3: Re write them in different formats.

My favorite formats to re-write them are:

•Stories

•Listicles

•How-to/How I

Let’s look at a real example.

Example post (listicle):

As a story:

The start of this newsletter.

How to/How I:

Now let’s do another one together and I’ll break down my thought/writing process.

Original post:

As you can see it’s a listicle.

It also performed well.

Let’s dissect why then recreate it in a different format.

I start with figuring out the:

•Desired outcome - Grow as a creator

•Pain - Over complicating content strategy

•Target audience - Beginner creators on LinkedIn

•Big idea - Focus on the fundamentals over tactics/tricks

So now let’s write this as a story.

As a story:

A simple but effective story framework is the BAB (Before, After, Bridge)

Before (The pain)- “I used to always over complicate my content strategy.”

After (Desired outcome) - “Now I’m growing faster than ever.”

Bridge (Big idea) - “Here’s how I learned the hard way that fundamentals are more important than tactics (so you can avoid doing it too)”

From here you can take any of the points from the listicle and expand on it.

I’ll take the final point- Write to 1 target audience about topics you’re passionate about.

“When I started writing on LinkedIn I wanted everyone to see my content.

I also wanted everyone to like it, so I only wrote about what I saw other people talking about.

All this resulted in was un-inspired writing with no direction.

After months of no engagement, I switched up my plan.

I:

•Dialed in my target audience

•Switched my content pillars

•Stopped chasing “trends”

And my account took off.

The lesson?

Forget virality, master the basics.

*Be sure to switch the frame & give the reader a practical takeaway or advice at the end.

Finished post:

I used to always over complicate my content strategy.

Now I’m growing faster than ever.

Here’s how I learned the hard way that fundamentals are more important than tactics (so you can avoid doing it too)

When I started writing on LinkedIn I wanted everyone to see my content.

I also wanted everyone to like it, so I only wrote about what I saw other people talking about.

All this resulted in was un-inspired writing with no direction.

After months of no engagement, I switched up my plan.

I:

•Dialed in my target audience

•Switched my content pillars

•Stopped chasing “trends”

And my account took off.

The lesson?

Forget virality, master the basics.

—

How to:

A great framework for this is the What, Why, How.

-Credit Dakota Robertson

•What it is

•Why it’s important

•How to do it

What: (pick a bullet point)

•Have fun

Why:

•You won’t stick around long term if you don’t enjoy it.

How:

•Don’t be afraid to crack jokes in the comment sections and show your personality in your content.

Post:

You need to have fun on LinkedIn.

You’ll never last long term if you don’t.

So don’t be afraid to crack jokes in the comment section & show your true personality in your content.

Life doesn’t have to be so serious.

—

*Remember:

Repurposing your best content refines your ideas, reduces risk of you content flopping, and saves you hours of time.

I appreciate you taking the time to be here.

Shoot me a message if you need help repurposing one of your pieces of content into a new format!

See you next Thursday,

-Darion

PS.

Making your 1st dollar online is the hardest.

& not having a simple roadmap makes it even harder.

Which is why I put together a step by step walk through on how I made my first $100 writing online.

It includes sales call tips and a framework for cold pitching.

It’s an actionable video walk through on how you can do it too.

Snag it free here:

—

PPS.

I have room for 2 new content consulting clients starting January 1st.

It’s a package of four 1-hour calls where we go in depth on:

•Content writing/systems

•Branding/creator mindset

•Networking/account growth

I’ll spill all the goods I’ve learned working with top creators on LinkedIn & X.

*Respond to this email with “content” and we can get started.