Defining Content Curation: Yes, You’ve Been Doing it All Along

No doubt, you’ve heard the expression content curation, but perhaps have no idea what it means.

But if you’ve ever retweeted, shared a Facebook post, or used the AddThis or ShareThis widgets to republish blogs or articles you find on the Internet, then you’ve already been engaged in content curation.

Pretty cool, huh?  So then why do marketers make such a big deal about content curation?  Moreover, how can you more effectively or systematically bring content curation into your marketing mix?  Let’s have a look.

What It Is and Why Publishers Are OK with It

Content curation is basically gathering and organizing content you find on the Interwebs.  This is content that you find relevant to your business, products, customers, and brand; you then take the next step and repurpose that content on your own social media channels or publishing platforms.

You aren’t stealing the content; instead, you clearly indicate the name or source of that original content when posting, giving attribution where necessary.

The sharing of content was once a source of frustration for publishers in the early days of social media and dynamic publishing, but it has since become a strategy they actually endorse and encourage.  The reason:  a publisher can get content out there on as many channels as possible.

Publishers benefit from readers, viewers, listeners, and eyeballs.  They understand that not everyone might be visiting their websites, reading their Twitterfeed, or watching their YouTube channel.   However, if they encourage individual users to share this content – republish links, along with comments and mentions – that content can be shared hundreds or thousands of times through the Interwebs.  (Of course, they have software to measure the extent to which this content gets shared.)

Networks like YouTube and Instagram, owned by Facebook, have made sharing easier (and more ethical) by embed codes – in this way, the content isn’t really republished, but still residing on the original channel – and most blogs today have some sort of simple sharing feature that encourages people to share content off the original page.

Why This Benefits You

Besides the benefit to publishers, the benefit is also to you, the entrepreneur:

• Sharing the curated content on your sites and channels is free.
• Adding a few words as an opinion can demonstrate thought leadership, or how this piece of content might be connected to your business or products.
• You won’t need to incur additional expenses in creating similar content from scratch.
• The professionally produced content will render beautifully on your sites and truly resonate with your audience – encouraging them to comment, respond, and share.  This engagement may actually signal a potential visit to your business or even a sale.

How To Curate Effectively

Never miss a relevant post again!  Curation takes time, patience, and strategy.   You want to ensure that you do not miss the most important posts, and you want to share them in a timely manner or else the content may already become old.   Here are some tips:

• Create a short list of news sites and blogs whose content you’d like to align with your business.
• Set up Google Alerts, YouTube channel alerts, or a Twitter list to follow news or updates from these sites as they happen. (There also exist content curation platforms which do all of this for you.)  You should also set up filters to ensure you do not also catch irrelevant, time-wasting content.
• Digest the relevant content quickly, and decide if it is something you’d like to add to your business’ media channels.
• Consider the comments you’d like to add, then quickly publish.
• Measure the response from your customers, employees, partners, or perhaps even the original publisher.

 

Final Thoughts:  Don’t worry about sharing content that aligns with your business – publishers encourage it! However, be sure to add your own personal comments to make the piece relevant to your customers, employees, and brand.  If relevant enough, the content can be shared continuously, furthering the value chain and keeping your company top of mind.

 

ChangeU:  For your independent independent study ...

 

5 Simple Steps to Becoming a Content Curation Rockstar http://bit.ly/1A8jrWc

An eBook from a content curation platform vendor, Curata, on how to find and share content more effectively.

 

Content Curation:  6 Strategies to Add Value With Your Own Commentary http://bit.ly/1xhkst8

From the Content Marketing Institute, a detailed approach to curation involving commenting and summarizing relevant content appropriately.

 

How to Speed Up Your Content Curation Process http://bit.ly/1xUTrk0

From Social Media Examiner, some methods to identify relevant content intelligently and quickly.

CATEGORIES:

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References

3 Content Marketing Trends That Will Rule 2018

2015 TechTarget Media Consumption Report: Guided by content – How IT buying teams navigate through the research and purchasing process