What is content curation?
Why do I need it?
These are precisely the questions I want to answer for you in this article.
And that’s not all…
As a bonus for sticking around and reading, I’m going to also share some practical ways to make your content curation less time-consuming.
Let’s find out all you can about content curation and why you need it…
WHAT is content curation?
The word “curation” might sound funny to you, but don’t let appearances fool you. It’s serious business.
According to Wikipedia, content curation is “the process of gathering information relevant to a particular topic or area of interest”.
In other words, content curation is the process of constantly searching, organising and sharing relevant, top quality content on a specific topic for a specific target audience.
WHY should you consider social media content curation?
Consistently creating high-quality content (blog posts and social media posts for a variety of social networks) takes a lot of time and effort. Not to mention the struggle of coming up with new, original and relevant topics on a daily basis!
Nearly impossible.
There are a few good reasons why you should consider content curation. Let’s take a look at a couple of them:
- No matter how great your organisational skills are, when you’re working with a team you’re always going to have gaps in your social media marketing plan. Content curation can help you fill in those blanks easily.
- It will help you create a reliable follower base. Just think about it: constantly sharing content from reliable sources can convince users you are also a reliable source – soon, they will start coming to you for answers.
You might also be interested in: 4 Great Ways To Rescue Your Top Performing Old Content
HOW to curate the right type of content?
As you can imagine, curating top quality content can be quite time-consuming.
With so much online information, how can you identify the right sources for you?
You need some reliable tools and the right approach to curate your content like a pro.
Here are a few reliable tools you can try:
- Use your Facebook News Feed to your own advantage. Every Facebook business page has the potential of becoming an amazing content curation tool. How? By following the pages in your industry that provide quality content.
How? Go to Insights tab – click on Pages Feed – click on Like other pages and from then on feel free to like all of your industry’s top influencers.
- Create a Twitter list of influencers or top trending hashtags. Here you’ll learn how to create your list on Twitter step by step.
Now that you have the tools, let’s find out more about that right approach I’ve mentioned earlier.
1. Find out what your audience likes most
Does your audience prefer blog posts, videos, podcasts, quizzes?
Your Facebook Insights can help you find out what your target audience likes to click on.
Look out for certain patterns of increased engagement on your posts.
For example, let’s say you identify a 23% increase in engagement on some videos you posted last month. Focus on curating video posts this month.
2. Make sure your sources are reliable
This is an essential step to your content curation.
When curating content, research your sources thoroughly.
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The content you share must be top quality. Otherwise, don’t even bother sharing it because it will do your business more harm than good.
Here are a few questions you could ask yourself before sharing any piece of content:
- Did the writer clearly answer the question posed in the title/beginning of the article?
- Can I write my own unique and compelling social message to accompany this piece of content?
- Is the content easy to read?
Seems like a lot of work? Well, I’m not going to lie to you, it is…
But these simple steps can help you keep identify and keep track of a few reliable sources that can help you curate top quality content for your social media networks.
The truth is, you may need a qualified hand to manage your content curation and social media marketing. I am here to help you with that, so why not get in touch today?
