Zombie Marketing: Bringing Old Blog Posts Back to Life

With Halloween just around the corner, it got me thinking about flesh-eating zombies. And marketing.

Let me explain.

Blog posts that were once “alive” had a limited lifespan. But what if your posts were never actually put to rest for eternity, but rather, lived on in a new form, much like our flesh-feasting friends?

Sound too good to be true? It’s not. It’s all about zombie-fying your marketing and breathing new life into your content.

Put a New Spin On Old Posts

There’s only so many different things you can write about before you start circling back around again, and that’s totally okay. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time you sit down to write a piece of content; sometimes you just need to put a new spin on something you’ve already talked about.

Big brands do this all the time. Take Geico, for example; they’ve been selling the same car insurance for years, but it’s been sold by a gecko, a pig, a caveman, and a camel, and that’s just a few campaigns.

They understand the importance of keeping their advertising fresh so that their audience can engage with it in a new way.

And you can do the same thing with your old posts. Start by digging through your blog graveyard and seeing what posts could be “zombie-fied.” Look for new angles and sections that could use some punching up.

Remember, something that was once living can live again in another form.

Promote Your Posts via Social Media

If a blog post falls in the forest, does it make a sound?

People have been asking themselves the same thing about trees for years, and we have yet to agree on an answer. But when it comes to blogs, if one “falls in the forest” and is never actually seen (or heard) by anyone, I can say with full certainty that it won’t make an impact.

This brings us to promotion, one of the most important (and sadly, most often overlooked) parts of the blogging process. In order to get real mileage out of your posts, you must promote them. Keep in mind that depending on the time you post, you’ll be sharing your post with an entirely different audience, so try experimenting with posting on different days, different times, etc. to see what yields the greatest engagement.

Keep your posts fresh and try to reach as much of your audience base as possible.

Create Follow-Up Posts

You know how seeing a movie sequel before the original makes you want to go back and watch the first one? Well, blog posts can work in much the same way.

If an old post once got a lot of traction and it’s still a relevant topic, consider writing a follow-up post to serve as a companion piece and then link to the original post. If people engage with this new content, chances are, they’re going to be interested in how it started, and viola! Your old piece of content is getting attention again.

Label Blogs by Topic & Add a Resource Page

Something as simple as a little organization can go a long way in zombie-fying your blogs and stirring up more traffic.

Start labeling your posts by topic and then create a resource page on your blog where all of these topics can live. That way, if someone finds your new post about how to dress your moustache for Halloween to be of interest, for example, chances are they’ll also be interested in some older posts under your “hipster fashion” topic.

Recycle Old Blogs in a Round-up Post

Everything that was once in fashion eventually comes back into fashion again. We saw it with flared jeans, high-waisted pants, heck, even converse sneakers. In much the same way, your “out of fashion” blogs can be recycled again.

Try taking a stab at a round-up post, something to the tune of: “Most Popular Blogs of 2016.” You’ll create some feel-good nostalgia for your dedicated readers, while at the same time engaging new readers with content they haven’t seen yet.

The bottom line is don’t kill yourself to churn out new and original content every time you write. Instead, focus on what you already have that was successful and make it sing again. It’ll save you tons of time and effort, and still deliver a ton of value.

Now that’s bloody brilliant.