6 Ways to Repurpose Social Media Videos into Engaging Website Content
A dear friend (we’ll call her Aisha) who owns a boutique shop sat across from me at a café and uttered these words:
"Creating one video for social media is so time consuming and very few people see it. I can't see making a lot more videos for my business."
Since then, these words have lived rent free in my head.
Not because I’d never heard these words before. (Trust me, I’ve heard them in some way, shape, and form from many different people.)
Aisha’s words lingered in my mind because of the feelings of exasperation and frustration that inspired them.
Even though the visual nature of Aisha’s business is one that greatly benefits from video marketing, she truly felt video wasn’t worth the time they spent on it.
And I understand - social media videos are their own beast, and it takes a lot of time and effort to master them and make good ones (even if they’re only 15 to 60 seconds long).
So instead of giving up on videos completely, maybe Aisha (and everyone else out there) need to re-evaluate how they use videos for their businesses.
Focusing solely on the short-term benefits of video won’t boost your business nearly as much as prioritizing potential long-term impacts.
Short- vs. Long-Term Impacts of Video
Short-term benefits of video are like sugar, meaning they can only get you so far (and in a short amount of time). You’ll see this in metrics like:
likes
views on that platform
increased number of followers due to one video
However, long-term impacts of video are like protein, and they can take your brand much further. These are portrayed in metrics like:
increased brand awareness
decreased need for customer support (more on that below!)
increased customer success in use of the product (which can lead to increased brand awareness and/or sales)
These long-term impacts are where videos really shine, even ones that were initially intended just for social media (where videos feel destined to be seen only a few times within 24 hours).
Videos can live a whole lot longer than that one-hit wonder on Reels. And the best place to let your videos live into their ripe, old age is… your website!
Why Your Website Should Be Your Video’s Ultimate Destination
The stats don’t lie: videos do amazing things for your website (and, ultimately, your brand).
Just by including a video on a landing page, your conversions can be boosted by up to 80% (source: Unbounce).
“86% of video marketers say video has increased traffic to their website.”(Source: Wyzowl)
“84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.” (Source: Wyzowl)
Don’t worry - I won’t just throw stats at you! If you’re a little stuck on how your social media videos can live well into retirement age happily on your website, you’re not alone! Fortunately, I’ve got some ideas for you!
Ideas for How to Repurpose Social Media Videos On Your Website
The examples below aren’t all repurposed social media videos, but they’re useful to demonstrate how a video could be used in that area successfully.
❓#1: Add videos to an FAQ page on your website
If your social media video answers a commonly asked FAQ, repurpose that content by embedding the video on your website’s FAQ page. Even better if you have multiple videos that answer different FAQs!
This can reduce your customer support calls and emails substantially. Your page will feel more robust and appeal to those who prefer to watch or listen over reading.
Check out this example of how I did this on my website with simple talking head videos.
👋 #2: Incorporate video into your About page
One of the best places to showcase your sparkling personality is your About page. That’s really the whole point of that page, after all!
Use video to show what you value, talk about your background, and have a little fun.
If you’re feeling really wild, you could even add more than one video to that page or include one for each of your team members.
Here’s an example I created for a local illustrator on her About page.
🏠 #3: Add video to your homepage
Is there a better way to welcome people to your website and your company than to stick your warm, smiling face up on the very first page?!? Just take the jack-o-lantern grins down a notch so you don’t scare anyone. 😉
I did just that on my own website (with a cool GIF and everything!). ⬇️⬇️⬇️
🛒#4: Supplement your product pages with product videos
Seeing a product in action can help customers feel more comfortable buying it. And video can easily show the product from multiple angles, the different colors it comes in, how easy it is to use, or how to use it correctly.
What might have to be shown in many separate photos that people have to click through can easily be recorded in one video.
Since I’m a crafter, I happily watch lots of videos on fabric. (Yes, I’m that kind of nerd!) This page on the Core Fabrics website shows two videos on a product page, both of which were used on social media first.
Fabric is specialized and hard to buy online, so they addressed this with in-depth looks at the fabric, including its drape, opacity, and info about its origins.
Marketing tip: I also like how they mention in the videos what sewing patterns would be great for this fabric. That’s great cross-promotion since their sister company sells sewing patterns.
🐱💻#5: Highlight videos about company culture on your Careers page
Attracting and hiring employees is tough. Why not make it easier by showing (instead of telling) prospective employees why they should work for your company?
Typically, videos on Careers pages can lean towards a more scripted, formal affair, but that doesn’t mean a good social media video doesn’t have a place there.
Social media videos, after all, tend to feel more transparent, less scripted, and more fun. This can be the perfect fit when you want to show off your authentic company culture or benefits.
Marketing tip: I tried to find great informal examples to share here but haven’t come across anything amazing. Even Instagram (IG) doesn’t have social media videos on their page! 😳 TikTok appears to have a leg up on IG with their employee creators program, but they don’t have those videos on their Careers page either.🤷Big opportunity here, people!
That being said, the videos on HotJar’s Career page are pretty fun and some are unscripted so those are worth a look.
Bottom line: This is an area where companies can stand out because there’s a lot of potential!
✍️#6: Add social media videos to your blog
You could either plan for your social media video to be added to an existing blog post to give it a little oomph OR use the video as inspiration for a new blog post.
For the first idea, you can see an example here if you scroll to the bottom of my blog post.
I knew I wanted to create affirmations for Instagram to promote my blog posts about inner critics and videos.
After I wrote my post, I created video affirmations to share on social media.
Then I added them after the fact to my blog post to share the videos more widely.
Alternatively, maybe you have a how-to video on social media and want to add that how-to on your blog as new content.
In those cases, you could leave the video as is or you could cut it up into separate parts based on each step and put them under separate headings.
Add instructions under each step as well for the folks who want to read before or after watching the video.
Voilà! New content for you and your readers!
Marketing tip: One other idea for you is to take screenshots of the different steps in your video and use the photos to add color to a page or blog post. Photos or videos are great options to explain a process, especially one that’s more complicated or tactile.
Those are just a few ways you can repurpose a social media video to great effect on your website and build more robust, exciting pages for your visitors to check out.
Let Your Social Media Videos Live Longer, More Fulfilling Lives!
Let’s revisit Aisha from the start of this post. Her team created stellar social media videos that did well in the short term, but she felt like they didn’t last long enough to be worthwhile.
The good news is:
Videos can have a much longer life than what
social media platforms offer them.
In the digital world (same as it is in real estate), it’s all about location, location, location.
I’ll be continuing this series about repurposing social media content, so stay tuned for more!
And special thanks to my good buddy, Rebecca Gilmore at Gilchek Creative, for motivating me to create this list, adding her creative ideas, and being my second pair of eyes! You’re the best!
