When you create a showstopping content asset, it can be tricky to know where to go next. You’ve spent all this time producing a piece that captures the key messages, ideas, and research for your campaign, but still have months left to fill in your editorial calendar.
Well, if your content is really as valuable as you think it is, you’re likely sitting on a goldmine of additional opportunities.
Here’s why you should be mining for those opportunities, how to spot them among your content library, and advice on how to get started.
The value in atomising your content
While a well-thought-out, thoroughly-researched white paper can generate plenty of leads by itself, not all of your audience will have the time to read 2000+ words. But, they might have time to read one of the interesting ideas your white paper contains.
Breaking down your content piece – or “atomising” it – can help you ensure those ideas aren’t locked into a large asset. It gives you an opportunity to create smaller, more accessible pieces of content that will likely reach a larger portion of your audience.
It also creates a chance to share your ideas across more content channels. An ebook or white paper will likely be gated and restricted to your website, but smaller articles, infographics, and social posts can be shared on a wide range of platforms.
And perhaps one of the most valuable reasons to atomise your content is the opportunity to create additional momentum for your campaign. You’ve already put in the major legwork in conducting the research, interviewing thought leaders, and capturing the key ideas to create your white paper. Now, you have a chance to build out your content calendar for the following months without repeating those steps.
How to know if your content is right for atomisation
Atomising content is something our clients ask us to do a lot, but it’s not right for every content piece. Some are more valuable – and easier to atomise – than others.
Here’s what I look out for when considering whether a piece can be broken down:
Does the content piece cover a broad range of topics in your industry?
If your content covers dozens of different ideas throughout your industry, all tied together with a broad theme, there’ll likely be plenty of opportunities to create additional content.
For example, with a white paper named: “Ten key challenges B2B marketers face today”, there’s a good chance those ten challenges will be distinct from each other, and you’ll be able to split them into their own content pieces. Taking this approach also gives you an opportunity to go deeper into those topics, bringing in additional perspectives, research, and ideas that weren’t included in the main content piece.
On the other hand, if your white paper is on a niche topic – such as a distinct challenge or a single product – there may be fewer atomisation opportunities and you might find yourself stretching the ideas too thin.
Does the content piece contain a lot of original research?
White papers and ebooks based on original research offer some of the easiest and most valuable atomisation opportunities.
With assets like these, there are often dozens of valuable data points that can easily get lost within the large content piece, but can form the foundation for new, more digestible assets.
This could mean writing an article that highlights some of the key insights generated from your research or creating an infographic that presents your data in a more visually accessible way. In many cases, the data in your hero asset can kickstart additional reaction pieces that bring in thought leaders within your company to respond to the research.
Does the content piece bring in a lot of perspectives from your industry or organisation?
When a large asset brings together multiple perspectives from your industry – or across your organisation – there are often ample opportunities to split these perspectives into smaller content pieces.
These can be as simple as pulling quotes from individual thought leaders to use on social media or throughout email campaigns. Or, in some cases, ideas from these thought leaders can be extended into larger blog posts that expand on their perspectives.
How do I start atomising my content?
Think you’ve got the perfect content piece to atomise? Now it’s time to get started.
Your atomisation strategy will need to focus on maintaining the momentum of your original content piece and building out materials that add genuine value to your campaign.
Every content piece will be a different challenge, but here’s some advice you can carry across every project.
Think about creating a variety of content types
Content atomisation shouldn’t just be about splitting white papers into blog posts. Think about the audience you’re targeting, the platforms you want to reach them on, and the ideas you want to share.
For example, from the starting point of one newsletter written by our founder Fiona Campbell-Howes, we created:
- Three blog posts
- Three podcast episodes
- One presentation
- One board game
- One infographic
- One interactive quiz
It’s often easiest if you look at the idea and think about the best possible way to present it to your audience, rather than trying to mould it into a specific content format.
In some cases, you don’t even need to reuse content from the original asset. We’ve found success previously by taking the core idea of the main content piece and using it as the foundation for webinars and podcasts that bring additional perspectives on the topic – and ultimately generate more buzz around the ideas you’re sharing.
See if your content aligns with a current hot topic
If there’s a hot topic everyone in your industry is talking about, atomising your content can be a great way to get your voice into the conversation.
Consider if any ideas in your asset can be adapted to create relevant, associated pieces that respond to the current news topic and add an additional perspective.
For example, if you’re an analytics provider, ideas from your white paper on using data-driven insights to predict supply chain challenges would be a great fit for responding to news about supply chain challenges in specific markets.
But, it’s important to keep in mind that you’ll need to produce this content quickly, otherwise you might miss the time window for its maximum effectiveness.
Work with a writer to plan your atomisation strategy
Knowing what to atomise and when can be tricky, but it’s easier when you work with the writer who will be producing the main content piece. They’ll be able to give you a good idea of whether the piece you’re considering atomising has enough valuable content to split out, and whether the additional assets you’re creating will be helpful for the reader.
Also, they’ll give you a good idea about whether there’s enough leftover material to write meaningful content from the research and interviews the’ve already conducted – or if they’d benefit from extra input to stop your content repeating itself.
Atomisation: a valuable habit to stretch your content budget
Ultimately, any copywriter worth their salt can help you spot opportunities to atomise your content as they’re writing the initial hero piece.
These opportunities are often much easier to identify during the creation process, and can give you a head start on building out your content calendar for the following months – all while maximising the impact of the research and calls you’ve already paid for. The trick is to find a copywriting partner who understands your objectives, and whom you trust to have your best interests at heart.
And that kind of relationship starts with a conversation.
