Since 
content marketing and specifically content creation takes up 25% of my time as an Internet Marketer in the SaaS product space, I would never go as far to say that creating content
 is a waste of time. However, if you’re running a startup or 
managing all of your marketing and sh*t’s on fire, then creating content 
is probably not on the top of your daily to-do list.

You know how much time and 
effort creating content really takes. It can be mentally exhausting and exhaust your willpower for other tasks. Instead, consider what you can do then to squeeze more out of your juicy content
 marketing efforts and leverage your creative powers elsewhere.

That’s
 why I’ve written this article; for people who, like me, are too 
busy or responsible for too many things. Here’s a look at three practical content marketing hacks that will allow you to refine your strategy without creating more content.

1. Post the same stuff, again and again.

Seriously. Recycle your best content. If you post your content on your social media accounts just once, it will soon 
disappear among other updates on your news feed. Also, if you’re a growing 
business, you get new followers constantly, and they are not aware of 
your greatest hits and probably won’t dig up articles to find out.

Also, 
to the horror of internet marketers, organic reach on social
 media platforms like Facebook decreases every year. “Facebook encouraged businesses to build and reach audiences for ‘free’ on their platform (until that free ride ended), and that should be no surprise whatsoever,” according to Convince & Convert.

“Clear-eyed business observers have been raising the alarm about building your house on rented land for years, but Facebook has still been able to pull off the greatest Gillette scam ever (you give away the razor, and then sell the blades).”

So, with these factors, repurposing and ‘reheating’ your content makes perfect sense. Here’s how it works in practice:

• Dig
 up your best (most read), and most shared (or commented) content using Google Analytics or other social media analysis tool. Ideally, pick evergreen content that doesn’t get too old
 over time.

• Add
 a spin to it so it doesn’t look like you’re not trying. Share a note on lessons learned or new news since the content was published.

• Keep
 a content schedule or editorial calendar of what has been published. There’s a Buffer-like tool designed specially for
 this purpose, Meet Edgar.

2. Curate content.

Content
 curation means sharing
 someone’s work with your social networks and is highly appreciated 
and often can lead to establishing a promising
 connection. (Note: this is different from copying (or plagiarizing) someone else’s copyrighted material and publishing it on your site without their permission – that’s illegal and can be very costly.)

Moreover, 
if you’re only sharing your content on social media, then it’s easy to create a
 monoculture, where as new insights and perspectives from top industry voices
 could broaden the spectrum of your message. So, here’s a quick guide to content curation:

• Surely
 you know the most prolific influencers and thought leaders in your industry. Highlighting them to your following will make you look like an expert as well, borrowing their credibility by association.

• Make collecting content easier with tools like Feedly and Pocket to easily share and organize what matters to you.

• A
 rule of thumb recommended by marketers is to use a curated content ratio of 60/40: this means “link to your own content between 25-50% of the time, with 40% being the ideal mark,” and curate the rest (Convince and Convert).”

• Add
 spin, a short summary, catchy (or controversial)
 quote from the article or something that you found interesting,
 but don’t entirely agree with. When done right, this can be a way to
 get the author himself to contribute to the social media conversation.

3. Monetize curated content.

Normally,
 if you share someone’s content, the actual return on your end isn’t always clear. However, there are special tools that can take the content you share and attach a custom message and link of your choice, to drive traffic or email sign-ups.

For instance, I’m working on Visibi.ly, a tool which aims to does precisely that! By using Quora as a marketing tool, we give users a helpful answer
 and link to a valuable resource. When we share relevant links we use our tool to
 attach a content box with our message with a link to our website.
 This way readers who click on the link can still visit our website as well. Naturally,
the applications are endless here.

Here’s how you can monetize curated content:

• Whenever you’re sharing content from a third-party source, as described earlier, you can add your own message 
and call to action (CTA). This 
can assist in driving traffic to a website, list building for a product launch or gathering sign-ups for a webinar.

• If you’re an
 affiliate marketer you can connect an entire RSS feed of 
publishers so new content with your message will appear on your
 social media automatically!

These are three simple, but overlooked strategies that 
everyone should be doing to maximize their content marketing strategy. The best part is this: It doesn’t require creating more content!

This article has been edited and condensed.

Kamil Kaminski is a growth hacker and product guy for Visibi.ly. An Applied Mathematics graduate – he abandoned his potential career in corporate prison to join a tribe of location independent entrepreneurs – passionate about SaaS products, user experience and digital marketing. Connect with @kvsocial on Twitter.

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