Copyblogger writers spend an average of five to seven hours developing a single blog post (including research and writing time). While this may seem like a significant amount of time to invest in one piece of content, in reality it should serve as the beginning of a longer lead campaign.

Content continues to take center stage as a top business priority – 90 percent of consumers find custom content useful, and 78 percent believe that organizations providing custom content are interested in building good relationships with them. Given the amount of time invested in creating just one blog post, PR professionals should always be on the lookout for new ways to extend the life of content by re-imagining it for new audiences, formats and outlets. Here are five ways to repurpose a single blog post for various audiences.

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Pick the top 5-10 key points and develop a slideshow

Many online publications (including eWEEK, CIO Insight and IT Business Edge) solicit contributed slideshows with 5-10 slides that feature quick tips or pieces of information. While each publication has slightly different requirements, the process generally works very similarly to pitching thought leadership articles. Use the blog post as a starting point to outline the top takeaways from the content that the publication’s readers will benefit from learning.

Engage audiences across social media channels

Start by choosing the right social media platform for your business, based on your audience. Develop content relevant to the platform and audience –  perhaps the blog topic inspires a series of images or short videos to share on Instagram – and schedule the posts over a series of a several days.

Syndicate the content on LinkedIn

In addition to sharing the blog post to a user’s LinkedIn network, consider publishing an excerpt or a summary of the content on LinkedIn with a link to the original post. From the LinkedIn.com homepage, the author uploading the piece can select “write an article” and easily add a brief summary of the post. This is a great way for the author to engage with her network, establish herself as a thought leader in the industry, and extend the content from the original blog post.

Develop a media pitch on the topic

Tie the blog topic to a trend or recent news story and develop a pitch that will appeal to media. Whether it’s pitching a contributed article or a conversation with the author as an expert on the topic, use the blog post as a tool for generating fresh pitch ideas and engaging with media. Ensure the pitch angle is distinctly different from the blog post though – journalists do not want to receive content already published on the web.

Repurpose the author’s POV for a speaking proposal

Does the blog post author offer a compelling or interesting point of view on a provoking industry topic? Narrow the piece down to a short summary (many speaking proposals require just 150 words or less for speaking abstracts), and identify relevant events to pursue.

With the increasing number of ways to distribute content, it’s important for PR professionals to have smart strategies for investing upfront time into pieces that can be used for myriad purposes. What are your go-to strategies for reusing content?