Content curation

Content curation is about finding and collecting online content and presenting the best pieces in a structured way. Unlike content marketing, curation is not about creating your own content. Instead, you research and share information created by others that your audience will appreciate and act on. Like all other aspects of marketing, content curation increases the value of your brand and creates lasting relationships with your customers.

How is content curation used?

Content curation is ubiquitous on the Internet. All places where content is shared and discussed are good examples of Content curation, such as RSS feeds, social media posts, news aggregation sites, and links and articles referenced in blogs. There is also no single type of content. Websites often curate and share text, video, audio, images, and infographics.

Why is this valuable to the user?

As more and more companies Inbound marketing operate, the web is increasingly crowded with content. Companies around the world are trying to compete in their industry and producing a huge amount of content in the process. This leads to a situation often referred to as content saturation. When so many publishers are writing about a particular topic, it's difficult for consumers to sift through the content and find good information. Companies that curate content and publish their own material help their customers get good information quickly from the best sources in the industry.

Three popular strategies for content curation

Many companies collect helpful articles from other online resources, organize them, and share them with readers. In this way, they turn their brand into an online magazine that shares the best content on relevant topics that users like. The goal is to make your website a one-stop shop for the best information about your products and services.services so that consumers no longer have to search elsewhere for related topics.

1. "Best of" aggregator blog posts - Some brands compile articles over a period of time and publish them on a specific day of the week or month. This creates an expectation among readers that they will get the best articles in an easily digestible format and at a predictable time. One example is Hootsuite's weekly post titled "This Week in Social," which features the latest trends, announcements and features from the world of social media.
2. Email newsletters - Email is another great channel for content curators because it allows direct contact with consumers. You can send them quality content directly and save users from having to search for it. Many email marketing sites like AWeber offer A/B testing where you can test different headlines to see which one generates the most response.
3. Share on social media - When you offer valuable information from other industry leaders, it can be of great benefit on social media. You show your followers that you know your business well and value the opinions of other influential people.

SEO benefits of content curation

Content curation can also boost your efforts to Search engine optimization by receiving inbound links from other influential websites. This process is sometimes referred to as preciprocation. Start by building a list of influential websites that are willing to link to other resources, whether through blog content, news round-ups, or "how-to" guides. Share their articles on your social media and email channels, and make sure they hear about it after you do. Also, interact with them in their blog comments or via email. Make sure your interactions with them show that you really appreciate their work by asking good questions and making thoughtful comments. The next time you write about a related topic, reference them in your article and after you distribute it to your fans, ask your link prospect if they would share it with theirs. Don't expect a quid pro quo. Even if your company promoted their work, it doesn't obligate them to do the same. Still, your chances of being shared and linked to are much greater if you've made the effort to build a genuine relationship with your prospect.

Content curation benefits everyone. It benefits the publisher whose work you're sharing, it benefits your users because they no longer have to spend time searching for good information, and it benefits you because you're keeping your customers engaged and making them like your brand. By curating content, you can come up with new ideas for your own content strategy while earning the respect of your industry peers.