Hey Blogger, Could You Repeat That?
Repetition can be a powerful tool in the hands of a blogger. In case you didn’t hear me, I said “repetition can be a powerful tool in the hands of a blogger.” In fact, a fear of repetition could potentially cause blogging burnout and when that happens, your blog is toast. Why?
- Refusing to repeat ideas means you have to constantly have new ones, which can be exhausting.
- The web is more and more a real-time content engine. Yesterday’s great idea is buried under today’s inspiration.
- People forget what you’re about if you don’t remind them.
One leadership expert often reminds his people that “vision leaks.” You can share it, but you’ll need to share it again in six weeks or everyone will forget it. That can be true of a blog’s audience as well. Our attention spans are shorter than ever, so if you want to be memorable, you have to update your readers’ memory often.
Your best ideas are certainly worth repeating, and if it’s not worth repeating, it’s probably not your best idea. I’ve been a public speaker for thirteen years and have spoken to the exact same crowd, three times per week for half a decade. That means I’ve spoken to one group of people close to 1,000 times. During that time, I learned that originality isn’t always possible. The alternative is the same basic ideas re-packaged and re-published in a new and fresh way.
Here’s the question for you… how do you re-package ideas in a fresh way? How should a blogger utilize repetition and how can she do it without becoming lazy in the process?
In addition to serving as Editor of Fuel Your Blogging, Brandon is also a Pastor at Saddleback Church and Online Community Coordinator for Pastors.com. He’s also a web designer, blogger, and church communications consultant. Catch him on his own blog or on Twitter.
I think it’s amazing how the same lessons can be learned from completely different circumstances. Part of the fascination for me is that I didn’t know at the beginning of that circumstance that it would help me see the same lesson I already knew. Oftentimes, I gain some new appreciation for the lesson that I would have not received had I not been re-taught the lesson.
As bloggers, we create these situations and circumstances for our readers. While it can be amazing reading a blog post and being surprised by it, we bloggers know that the lesson is going to be there ahead of time. This knowledge spoils that sense of wonder for us and we quickly key in on the fact that we’ve written about this before.
What we don’t know about though is where our readers are in their lives when they read our posts. Sometimes the message is about timing for your readers and, though they have read it before, they may have not been at a place they could use it.
I think it’s natural for bloggers to wrestle with the idea that they repeat themselves. I’m learning to think of it more as focusing on the core messages of my blog.
I think that as long as you aren’t just presenting the exact same information, repetition is a useful tool. If you’re coming at the subject from a new angle because of something new you’ve discovered, it’s just as useful as a post on a topic you’ve never covered before.
Good perspective.
I remember reading something similar from Guy Kawasaki.. His point was mainly that they usually repeat a tweet a few times over the course of a couple of days.. and people still keep clicking them..
Here’s the link to the article: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/the-world/article/how-to-drive-traffic-with-repeat-tweets-guy-kawasaki
Also, to quote “Natural Born Killers”:
Repetition works David.. Repetition works David..
Guy… he’s a repeater alright… ;)
Great article. I agree completely. Our attention spans on a single focus have dropped so low thanks to the multitasking world, both online and off. If you notice the really successful blogs tend to repeat article content all the time, but its put into different elements, new titles, similar sections, etc.
You’re right. And if we call it “re-purposing” content, it sounds official.
I have come upon a scientific findings a few years back that people need repetition in order to remember things. I’m glad you have emphasized it here because I have already forgotten this fact. I will try to be more repetitive in my blogging, but in a creative way. :-)
As a new blogger, this is very good advice to recieve. I was beginning to cringe at the thought of constantly trying to come up with brand new content. I can absolutely “re-package” familiar information to keep it fresh in my subscribers minds. Thanks for the tip!