Why Content Curation is Important and How To Get Started

Nothing beats original, high-quality content to get the attention of your customers and connect with them. But carefully selected, relevent pieces from other sources can be a great complement to your mix. It can help you fill gaps in your content schedule, increase trust with your customers as a reliable source of information and even earn you thanks from the original authors. Understanding Content Curation Many businesses are increasingly using curated content to add diversity and interest to their social media channels. One study even showed that one-third of content marketers share some kind of industry news or other related information on a daily basis. The key to curating successfully though is the unique editorial slant or commentary your brand adds to it.For example, provide your own thoughts on why you disagree with the author or you could just highlight key points you agree with.Whatever you decide, the best results will come from adding some value when you share the piece rather than just sharing it with no context for your unique audience. Benefits of Curating While thought leadership is probably the most compelling reason to incorporate content curation in your marketing strategy, there are several other benefits: Conserves resources:Curating content allows you to boost your online presence without the same time and effort that comes when creating your own original content. This give you more time to devote to optimizing your strategy and other tasks. Improves SEO:Sharing interesting items can help make your content more â€Å"link-worthy,† adding significant SEO juice.For the biggest SEO boost, focus on sharing visual content such as infographics and videos.Research shows that posts featuring videos earn triple the inbound links of their text-only counterparts. Boosts visibility:If you want to stand out in a competitive social-media marketplace, it’s important to maintain your visibility and post on a regular basis.Curating allows you to do just that. Filling those gaps with carefully curated content will help keep your brand visible. Furthermore, tagging the original author will increase your visibility with them which can come in handy when you’re looking for people to share your original content. Not sure where to begin with curating content?Here are a few free or cheap tools to help you get started and turn you into a content-curation master in no time: Pocket:This save-for-later app is a must-have for the new content curator.No need to keep sending yourself links or bookmarking countless items:Pocket lets you keep all your saved articles, videos and images in one place.You can add the Pocket button to your browser and get the app for your phone for easy cross-platform functionality. And the app integrates with Evernote and hundreds of other apps. Twitter lists:Without lists, it can be difficult to organize information and manage the various handles you follow.Twitter’s list functionality allows you to create custom groups of users you follow. For example, you could start a â€Å"content marketing† list for all your must-follow accounts related to the field.If you’re using Pocket in conjunction with Twitter lists, curating content gets even easier:You can save articles found on Twitter right to your Pocket account. Scoop.it:For marketers who have already nailed the basics of content curation, Scoop.it can help you take your curation game to the next level.Choose a topic that interests you, and Scoop.it will deliver relevant articles for you to read and share.Even better, it will generate related topics that might interest you and suggest Scoop.it users you may want to follow.The most robust version of the platform costs $11 per month, but you can try the free version first before you subscribe. Boosting Your Marketing Strategy In the world of content marketing, nothing will ever trump the power of high-quality, original content. But content curation can be a valuable tool in any brand’s marketing strategy.By understanding the benefits of content curation and using the right tools for the job, you can use curated content to maintain your online presence and establish your brand as a real authority in its field.