The web moves fast, don’t it?
In fact, it moves SO quickly that a lot of us have come to believe a strange paradox, even if we don’t say it outright:
- That content posted online lives forever. (We tell that to people who post their scandalous photos online, don’t we?)
- That if something hasn’t gotten traction within the first 15 minutes (or even few days) of publishing, it’s a content failure.
How often do you publish something, scramble to watch your real-time analytics and bite your nails at the traction (or lack thereof) that you’re getting, or become frustrated that our just-published content didn’t send you any leads within a few days after posting?
As internet users, we’ve become addicted to “new”.
New posts, new pieces, new infographics, new videos… all things new and fresh. Google even talks about “Freshness”, and there’s good evidence to support that they are overweighting how much freshness counts as a ranking signal.
Because we see things going “viral” hours after their initial publication, we falsely assume that all content should act this way. When it doesn’t, we feel disappointed and wonder what went wrong. To be honest, that’s kind of short-sighted.
The “15 minute” rule is a complete myth. Unless it was written about a timely issue or contains date-specific data, there’s no expiration date on the dividends you can earn from initially under-performing content.
What if the problem wasn’t the content?
What if the reason your content didn’t get traction had nothing to do with how good the content is? What if other factors played a bigger role?
Factors like:
- Sharing the content at a time your audience was less active
- Failing to adequately promote your content (I wrote a big post about this over at iAcquire you might find helpful)
- Poor audience segmentation; failure to send the content to people who really needed it
- Noise – you shared the content on a day where other major news or posts took centre-stage
- You failed to catch the attention of a key influencer, or they were preoccupied
- Your headline wasn’t enticing, but the content was awesome
In Defence of “Old” Content
If your content was good enough to be published when you first wrote it, and if the content itself hasn’t become irrelevant or outdated, why invest so much time in creating new content instead of promoting the old content that didn’t perform like it could have (or content that still has a huge value offer)?
Promoting old content can bring new results, especially when it reaches new markets. The web may be fast, but it’s also HUGE. I still meet people who haven’t watched the Dollar Shave Club commercial for pete’s sake, and it’s the end of 2013!
Never, ever assume you’ve reached everyone possible. You haven’t.
When content doesn’t perform, re-visit it to find out why. Learn from your mistakes. And for goodness’ sake, give every piece of content you’ve invested in a second chance (if it deserves one).
- Re-visit the content and ask some tough questions. Is the content actually valuable and unique (does it offer something to the world beyond a “me-too” or a rehash of other, better posts)? Was it created with a specific goal and audience in mind? Is it well-written and easy to follow? Stare hard into the abyss. It’s going to hurt a bit, but trust me, you’ll be okay.
- Approach someone you had intended to reach with your content directly and show it to them 1-on-1. Sometimes (read: always with content), you need a second opinion. Make sure it’s someone impartial, who won’t blow air up your skirt or pat you on the back. If the content genuinely stinks or misses the mark in any way, you need them to tell you WHY.
- Re-visit your promotional strategy. Did you even have one? Did you hit the right people at the right moment? Did you have a plan for paid, owned and earned media? Was that plan platform-native? If not, your promotion effort probably sucked much more than your content did.
- Consider changing the headline for a repost. Do this carefully (if content DID perform well, you risk annoying people who think it’s something brand new) and test to see if you get more traction. Great content with a crummy headline will see crummy results. It’s unfair, but that’s life.
- Call in some allies and make another push. If you’ve got advocates or allies who believe in your content and think it’s actually worth sharing and getting out there, it’s time to band together for another try. Instead of hopelessly tweeting the content out into the void all alone, work with a small group to breathe new life into the content and mimic the buzz it would be getting as though it were – you guessed it – brand new. (Bonus: Don’t even mention that it isn’t. If it’s valuable, who cares?)
- Feel too tainted? Repurpose the content into something better. Psssst.. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but most of your writing budget is going to ideation, research and editing – not the writing part. If you can revamp old content, you can cut costs while creating more (and more valuable) assets. Even if your content is old, the information can be made new again without starting from square one.
Plan for Re-Sharing
Recurrent sharing of awesome old assets should be a part of your content strategy – not just pumping the new stuff.
If you’re investing in the kind of timeless, evergreen assets that can serve as valuable references time and time again, it makes absolutely no sense to plan for a single promotional campaign and then let the content fizzle out or hope that it perpetuates its own sharing. Reference great work again. Bring it back to the forefront. If the audience’s needs haven’t changed, neither has their need for what you created.
Take good care of your elderly content, and it will take care of you.
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