A Dive Into The “Whys” And “Hows” Of Content Curation
Content Curation has been always been a slightly tricky subject. At its core, it’s like a really simple task until you realize that there’s a lot more happening behind the scenes. Content curation plays a significant part of your content marketing strategy and directly impacts your SEO performance.
More often than not people confuse content curation to just sharing posts on social media platforms. This is true enough at the basic level but when you deep dive into it, curation requires two important skills — research and learning. There are multiple tools out there that can pick the content for you but deciding what to post is the tough part.
What is content curation?
Content curation involves picking content gathered from a variety of sources and adding your voice and value to it. This content is usually around a specific topic that you publish and share with your followers.
Pretty simple, right?
Yet so many businesses do this without a strategy.
But not you.
By the end of this article, you’ll be well equipped (and excited) to scroll through your content feed and find opportunities that spark an interest in you.
Benefits of content curation
We live in an information age and this demands that people manage, organize and share information with each other in the most efficient manner. What we know, how we manage that information and share it with others — these are all keys to the info-game.
Let’s talk specifics.
1. Helps you get recognized as an expert
This is perhaps the most important benefit of curating and sharing content. Others build an impression of your business by what they see. Therefore, it is essential that you be deliberate about what you want your followers and fans to think of your brand.
And this stands true irrespective of the platform. Be it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn; content curation is one factor of your stay-on-top-of-mind campaign for being recognized as an expert in your field.
2. Helps you save resources from creating your own content
Creating content is an essential aspect of your content marketing strategy. However, writing blog posts, recording podcasts, making YouTube videos demands a lot of time and energy.
And if you have the resources to do that then great! However, along with that, you can share something brilliant already created for you. This helps keep the conversation going.
Isn’t it a relief to know that you can share what you’re reading on your phone or desktop? Maybe even your watch?
3. Helps you establish your position in the game
The more visible you are, the more you’ll be remembered. Out of sight is out of mind. By showing and sharing content that is important to your business and your industry, you show that you’re in the game.
It also tends to get boring when brands only share their own stuff. They often come across as “me, me, me”. As a social curator, you should know that the more variety you share and the more value you provide, the more relevant you get.
4. Helps to grow your circle of influence
When you help others, they help you. Sharing and curating content can give you an upper hand in making connections with influencers and leaders in your industry. It helps you spark interesting conversations that can lead to better and lucrative opportunities in the future.
5. Helps you get ahead in business
If you have a message (created or curated) that can add value to people’s lives, you’ve got attention. People are bombarded with information. However, they still care and pay attention to messages that add value to their lives.
The more quality content you share, the more eyeballs you’ll attract. Use this technique to hook them to say your email list or take them to your website.
6. Helps you stay well-informed
One of the benefits of curating content is that it keeps your business on its toes. Remember the two important skills of content curation? Researching and learning will help to spend time finding, sifting and reading content pieces across the web that are for your industry and doing this exercise will help you learn more about your business.
So now you know why content curation is good for your business. Let’s move on and understand the how of it.
How to get your content curation right
The first step is to determine the topics you wish to share with your audience. Then find content pieces such as articles, videos, podcasts, etc on these topics. To decide which posts to share, consider the following:
- Who should I share this with?
- How would this piece of content help them?
- Is the source trustworthy?
- Is it unique and worthy of sharing?
- How will this make the reader feel?
If your answers to all the above-mentioned questions are positive, then it’s time to schedule the posts. This will be possible only when you know your audience.
Because the content you’re sharing is for your audience and not for you. You share because you care — you care about how this post will add value to your reader’s time.
1. Share content that matters
Simply put, the content you share should check these following boxes:
- Relevant
- Timely
- Useful
- Interesting
If all these factors are satisfied then go ahead and schedule your post.
2. Write a blurb or a key takeaway when sharing a content piece
This will help your readers know what the post will be about. It will also entice them into reading more and will help them associate this post with your brand. Even if people choose to not go to the article, they still get to learn about an interesting or quirky snippet in their feed. And that’s a win for your brand.
3. Promote yourself…but just a little
Sharing curated content gives you the opportunity to show some breadth. Obviously, you must promote your own content, but maintain a decent ratio of it. This will help your audience see a variety in your content and will help them see you as an expert in the field.
Don’t forget to slide in useful and relevant information about your brand or the products/services you offer. Discreetly of course.
4. Give credit where it’s due
If you’re sharing someone’s content, it’s fair to give them credit for it. It’ll make them feel good as it will you. And you don’t have to go out of your way to do it. A simple mention in the tweet or a tag in the Facebook post should suffice for the content you’re sharing.
5. Schedule your posts
Scheduling when your posts roll out will ensure that your content curations are seen over a balanced period of time. A good practice is to make a social media calendar where you map out what you’re going to share when and on what platforms. Set it all once every week instead of doing it every day and making it a hectic task.
Final thoughts
Content Curation like social media is constantly evolving and changing to serve everyone’s varying needs. Which means you will have to change and adjust your strategy based on what’s latest in the industry.
Originally published on .TECH blog
