Creating original content is crucial for effective content marketing strategies. However, one powerful technique to enhance marketing efforts is content curation, which involves repurposing and improving existing content.
Content curation can be an effective strategy for many brands, so getting familiar with it is always a good idea. In this article, we’ll shed some light on what content curation is and share a few excellent methods to enhance your strategy, so stay tuned!
What Is Content Curation?
Content curation is the process of finding and improving online content and presenting it in an organized manner to your audience.
Content curation is a vital skill in today’s information-overloaded world. With so much content being published daily, it’s difficult for people to sift through it all and find the most relevant gems.
Content curators are expert researchers and presenters, above all. A decent content curator can help companies by finding and sharing the best content on a specific topic. For example, a curator for a technology blog might find and share the latest news on artificial intelligence, highlighting key insights and adding their own comments.
To be successful, a content curator needs to have a solid understanding of their audience and what they’re interested in. Knowing the target audience’s interests is essential for being an effective content curator.
Key Takeaways
Content curation refers to the process of finding, collecting, organizing, and presenting existing online content in new and exciting ways;
The main goal of content curation is to provide users with access to the most relevant content on a specific topic, simultaneously improving the engagement and reach of a company;
A weekly newsletter is a common strategy for sharing curated content, as it offers an opportunity to users to opt into regular high-quality pieces.
How to Define Content Curation?
Finding, classifying, and disseminating the best and most pertinent content on a particular subject is one way to define content curation. Users should be able to get all the information they require on one specific issue in a single location that is well-organized and simple to navigate.
A team of editors can curate information manually by reading through all the articles on a subject and choosing their favorites. Alternatively, algorithms can do it automatically by finding and selecting the most pertinent articles.
In a nutshell, the process goes as:
- Identify the topic – choose a specific subject ideal for your target audience.
- Search for content – Find relevant sources.
- Evaluate and select – Pick the best content.
- Organize and enhance – Categorize and add insights.
- Share – Disseminate through your channels.
In each case, the objective is the same: to give people access to the most outstanding, most relevant knowledge on a certain subject in a single place. With good content curators, the time required to produce new content can be significantly reduced.
Why Is Content Curation Important?
Content curation plays a crucial role in today’s digital landscape.
1. Provides value to both brands and consumers
The importance of content curation lies in the value it offers to both brands and consumers. By filtering through vast amounts of content on the web, it presents information in a useful and easily consumable way.
2. Saves time
Curated content is a great resource for busy individuals who don’t have the time to sift through everything on their own. It also benefits those seeking trustworthy, reliable information.
3. Surfaces hidden gems and diverse perspectives
Content curation, when done by a reputable source, can highlight valuable content that might otherwise be overlooked. It brings together various pieces of content on a particular topic, helping readers explore different perspectives and discover new and exciting information.
What Are The Best Content Curation Strategies?
As a content curator, it is essential to have a strategy for finding and selecting content to share with your audience.
There are several ways to go, and the best approach will vary depending on your specific goals and audience. However, here are a few strategies to implement when curating content:
1. Keyword searching
Use search engines like Google, social media sites, and online aggregators to find relevant information based on keywords.
After compiling potential content sources, evaluate and select the best pieces to share.
2. Following trends
Another approach is to keep an eye on specific industry news sites and blogs and look for content being shared frequently or recently published. This can help you identify popular topics and trends your audience may be interested in.
3. Utilizing newsletters
Finally, a good content curation strategy is to make a weekly or monthly newsletter that gathers the best content from around the web. This is a great way to deliver high-quality content to your audience regularly.
4. Engaging with influencers
Follow and engage with industry influencers on social media platforms. Influencers often share valuable and trending content, which can help you find high-quality pieces to curate for your audience.
5. Using content curation tools
Leverage content curation tools like Feedly or Flipboard to aggregate and organize content from various sources. These tools can help streamline the process of finding and selecting relevant content to share with your audience.
Additional Tips & Tricks
- Curated content is often present on social media. Since many users may post about similar events, seeing how accounts curate content can help your own social media profile or website;
- It’s often a good idea to mix original content with curated information. This can enhance your initial content piece and add more value to it;
- Tools such as content curation software can make it easier to discover valuable sources of content that are appropriate for the audience of a specific company.
The Bottom Line
Content curation is the process of categorizing and organizing internet content. It is possible to locate, pick, and present existing digital resources about a new subject, theme, or problem. By making content simpler to access, comprehend, and apply, it can offer value to customers and brands alike.
You’ve learned what content curation is, why it is crucial, and you’ve got strategies for content curation. With all this knowledge and information, it’s up to you now to determine if content curation is the marketing approach you need to take for your company or organization.
Content Curation FAQs
Good examples include newsletters compiling industry news, social media accounts sharing relevant articles, and blog posts featuring roundups of expert opinions or resources.
When curating content, it’s best to source from authoritative sites that present information in an easy-to-use format. This simplifies integration into your blog or website.
Content curators are responsible for discovering, arranging, and presenting online content in an interesting and fresh way. Content curators require some market research skills and an eye for quality, even when it does not come from the most popular sources.
- Aggregation: Collecting relevant content from various sources.
- Distillation: Summarizing the key points of the collected content.
- Elevation: Adding insights or commentary to enhance the value of the curated content.
The most common form is aggregation. This involves curating the most relevant content about a specific topic into a single location. It serves as the foundation for many content curation services, allowing for the efficient organization and presentation of content by filtering out the “noise” and focusing on the core concepts.
Both have their merits. Curating content helps build authority and provides valuable information from diverse sources, while creating content allows for unique, original insights and deeper engagement with your audience. A balanced approach is often the most effective.
