The 5-to-7 rule for content that sticks

The biggest lie in the content industry is that you need more and new content. You paid for it once. You can use it five times. Very few brands do.

→ You need to see something 5 to 7 times before you remember it. Reuse and repeat your content a few times. 

Rule of thumb: when it starts to feel repetitive and annoying to you, others are just beginning to notice. You need to repeat yourself over and over again to get your message across.

Understand the 5 to 7 rule in memory retention

Research in advertising and educational psychology puts the number at five to seven exposures before information moves from short-term to long-term memory. That's the rule. Work with it.

• Every time we see information, our brain strengthens the neural pathway connected to that data. More exposure means a stronger pathway.
   
• It's also about repetition over time that creates effectiveness. There needs to be an interval between the exposures to allow our brain to refresh and reinforce the memory.
   
• To boost effectiveness, it’s recommended to engage with the information actively. For content, that means you need to provoke, stand out, and be noticeable. Don’t blend in and become vanilla.
   
• The more emotional the connection, the better the information is remembered.

→ Not everyone has seen your content the first time you publish. On LinkedIn, about a maximum of 10% of your followers see your content, if you're lucky. 

Strategy 1. Republish: extend the lifespan

Creating good content is f*cking expensive, so why not re-use what you already have?

First, you audit your content and identify what resonates and can be repeated.  Next, refresh and update the content and reshuffle the structure if needed, before you republish and repost on social.

→ How I did this with this article
I refresh the data, tighten the copy, and update examples before republishing, as this is one of my best-read pages. 

The original publication was in November 2023. It was updated and republished in January, June, and September 2024, in January, April, July and September 2025, and again in May 2026. 

Strategy 2. Repurposing: create something new with the same content

You can do this in two ways. 

In a different format. For example, creating a video or infographic out of a blog post or an infographic. Combine multiple blogs into a whitepaper. Alternatively, you can create a blog post from an interview. 

Or create a new edit in the same format. Not every piece of content is usable for this strategy, yet if you have one, use it.

How to create a new edit, leading by example
Let's take these three pages:

• Improve your prompts with these 4 free AI courses. The best AI and ChatGPT training for marketing and content (publication 31 October)
• ‘The 4 best free AI courses for marketing and content.’  (this page is offline due being outdated)
• ’The 15 best tips to master prompt engineering for marketing and content.’ (this page is offline due being outdated)

All three have the same content blocks: the list of my recommended four best and free AI courses, an overview of how to master your prompt tips and tricks, and how I came to this selection. These are my content LEGO bricks.

→ By playing with the order or the content LEGO blocks, and writing a new header and subheader, each page has its own key message and learning, while I (re)use the same content.

AI is a tool,  not a replacement

AI can't replace your knowledge, expertise and judgment. Two tips:

1. You do the thinking, AI does the execution. Don't ask AI just to make a new edit of your content; give very specific and detailed instructions about what you want AI to update or change. 
    
2. Ask AI to give suggestions, not a rewrite. You'll review faster and keep more of your own thinking. How to do this: “Can you analyze and give me suggestions to rewrite this”. 

The essential tips for content repetition

• Have some time in between publications
  Repurposing: three weeks. Republishing: wait three months.

• Reshuffle the structure
  Same content blocks, new order. Write a new header and subheader. The reader gets a different entry point into the same material. That's a new edit, not a copy-paste.

• New visuals
  Make it look like new. The most important thing is the first impression, which is visual. Always check and adjust the visual whether it’s republished or reposted. 

• Add a disclaimer
  Be upfront and give clarity about what you’re doing. Nothing is as annoying as a brand that presents content as brand new, and you’re very sure you’ve seen the content before. Besides, does anybody ever read the disclaimer? 

The bottom line

Good content is expensive to make. Most brands publish it once and move on. That's not a strategy. That's waste.

On LinkedIn, 10% of your followers see your content on a good day. The other 90% never got the chance. Republish. Repurpose. Repeat.

The content you already have is enough. Use it.

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Most content advice tells you what to do. This tells you how to think. For marketers and communicators who want the difference. 

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Sources

Krugman, Herbert E. "Why Three Exposures May Be Enough." Journal of Advertising Research 12.6 (1972).

Pimsleur, Paul. "A Memory Schedule." The Modern Language Journal 51.2 (1967): 73-75.

Ebbinghaus, Hermann. "Memory: A contribution to experimental psychology." Annals of neurosciences 20.4 (2013): 155.

Kumaran, D., & Maguire, E. A. (2016). An unexpected sequence of events: Mismatch detection in the human hippocampus. PLOS Biology, 14(12), e1002588.

Smolen, P., Zhang, Y., & Byrne, J. H. (2018). The right time to learn: mechanisms and optimization of spaced learning. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17(2), 77-88.

Antony, J. W., Gobel, E. W., O’Hare, J. K., Reber, P. J., & Paller, K. A. (2015). Cued memory reactivation during sleep influences skill learning. Nature Neuroscience, 18(8), 1114-1116.

Roediger, H. L., & Butler, A. C. (2011). The critical role of retrieval practice in long-term retention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(1), 20-27.