What Is Curation?
Curated content is repurposed content from external sources, such as well-known brands, social media influencers, or industry experts. When you share interesting, relevant content, you are curating that content.
While the term “curation” is often used in the context of social media curation, it’s well-suited for most media, including blog posts and video content. Curation has such a close association with social media because it’s common for businesses to share a mix of original and curated content in their social media feeds. However, curation can be equally effective for any type of published content.
The most common mistake in curation is reposting or repurposing content indiscriminately. Curated content should have significant value for your audience, as it’s not meant to be the equivalent of a news feed or an information dump. Instead, you can relate content curation to the role of a museum and the curators they employ. A museum curator’s job is to pick the most important representative samples to display. As a content curator, your job is to choose only the best pre-existing content to share with your audience.
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What Are the Benefits of Content Curation?
As a content marketing strategy, curation offers several benefits, including:
Time and money savings
While it takes significant time to research, write, edit, and publish original content, curating content has a rapid turnaround time. Sharing something on social media is a quick and easy process, allowing you to keep your social media feeds active with regular posts. And since time equals money, you can also look at content curation as a cost-saving strategy. If you do well with curation, it can be one of the most cost-effective content marketing efforts.
Online networking
The internet presents endless networking opportunities. Curated content helps you build a network that’s relevant to your customer base and followers. When you share or repost existing content and tag the original author, it creates opportunities for your companies to work together. This has the side benefit of placing your company in the same conversation as industry leaders and well-known brands.
Content diversity
As you develop your
content calendar, you’ll likely notice some patterns. Any company’s content tends to cover a fixed number of topics. You and your company’s opinions become well-known to your audience. Mixing in some curated content to your social media feeds or blog posts is an excellent way to diversify your content. The key is to keep all curated content focused and relevant, with each shared post offering insight and value to your audience.
Thought leadership
Curating the most exciting and relevant content in your industry can position you or your company as a thought leader. A well-curated feed shows you"re up-to-date with the latest happenings in your industry. Even though you didn’t write the curated content, you can still convey your knowledge, tastes, and position in the industry.
What Are the Best Practices for Content Curation?
Even though curating content doesn’t require the same effort as generating original content, there are still right and wrong ways to go about it. Here are the best practices for effective content curation:
Perform audience and market research
Knowing your audience and performing market research are key components of any marketing strategy, but they are doubly crucial with content curation. Your audience should welcome each piece of curated content as helpful or relevant. At the same time, you want the curated content to match and promote your brand identity. Achieving this requires careful audience research and market analysis.
Always credit the original source
Content curation should never be about stealing other people’s content. It’s about sharing information and reporting relevant information. Just like a good news reporter, always
cite your sources by crediting the shared content’s original author. Most social media platforms allow you to tag the original creators with the @ symbol. For curated content in blogs, use citations with source links, and curated videos should explicitly acknowledge the original source.
Add original thoughts
While it’s not strictly required for every piece of curated content, adding your own original thoughts is an excellent way to contextualize shared content. You can add a few lines explaining how you see the shared item as relevant to your audience or talk a bit about what it means for the future of your industry. One of the best, most eye-catching ways to do this is to share a link that starts with a quote from the original content and then write a few words hyping up the content. This helps build excitement in your audience and associates your brand with the one you’re sharing.
Strategically schedule curated content
Just as your original content should follow the schedule laid out in your editorial calendar, so should your curated content. Identify gaps in your posting schedule when curated content can fill in and keep your social media feeds active. Many social media
management tools aimed at content marketing professionals offer scheduling features with special features for curated content. Utilize these functions so curated content is posted strategically rather than irregularly.
Determine the right balance
Maintaining a consistent publishing schedule is a cornerstone of any content marketing strategy, but don’t post too much curated content just to keep your feed busy. Some social media experts recommend a
50/50 mix of original and curated content, while others recommend
60% original and 40% curated content. In reality, there is no perfect ratio that applies to all companies and marketing campaigns. A thorough understanding of your audience and market will help you determine the right balance. No matter how you decide to balance original and curated content, stick with the strategy. Your audience will appreciate the consistency, making them more likely to stay engaged with your feed.
Recommended Readings
Further reading about excellent content strategies can be found here:
How to Set Up an Effective Content Marketing Strategy
11 AI Statistics for Marketers in 2023
Grow Your Audience and Increase Engagement with These Top 5 Promotion Platforms for Marketers
What"s an Audience and Why is it Important in Content Creation?
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