Let’s face it — continuously coming up with fresh content to keep your email readers, followers, and fans engaged isn’t easy.
It may be part of the reason why you skipped sending your latest email newsletter, or why you haven’t committed to a consistent social media posting schedule.
What if there was a way to ease your content creation burden and still get awesome results?
That’s where content curation comes in.
What is content curation?
Put simply, content curation is the process of finding existing, relevant content and sharing it with your online audience.
Rather than creating every new article, infographic, video, or blog post yourself, you can add other people’s content into the mix.
You’ll save time and also experience added benefits by:
- Demonstrating your expertise
- Offering your readers something valuable
- Building relationships with others in your industry
- Providing multiple viewpoints on issues relevent to your audience
Not too shabby, right?
Wondering how to curate content for your business?
If you’re ready to give content curation a try, here are four things to keep in mind:
1. Make it easy to find the right content
With thousands of new articles published every day, you might feel like sorting through and finding the right thing to share is the hardest part.
Make things easier on yourself by using a tool like Feedly. Feedly is an easy-to-use content curation tool that sorts through content for you.
Rather than visiting sites individually, Feedly displays all content in a layout similar to your Facebook newsfeed. You can categorize the content easily and even download the app version to sort through articles from your mobile device.
Here’s an example of what my “Marketing” feed looks like:
2. Offer your perspective
Even when you’re sharing someone else’s content, you can still make it personal by offering your own perspective.
There are a few different ways that you can do it:
- Ask a question: Instead of just sharing a link to an article or blog post, add a question to help engage potential readers.
Here’s how we shared a social media marketing article on the Constant Contact Facebook Page:
- Summarize: Don’t just hit share and hope people will want to read the content. Add a few lines explaining the main idea or pointing to a key takeaway.
Here’s how real estate agent, Dakota Riley, includes a quick summary of articles included in her email newsletter:
Tip: You can easily curate content in your email newsletters using Constant Contact’s “Read More” feature.
- Highlight a quote: Pick a quote from the content you want to share and use it to pique interest and highlight why you think it’s a good read.
Here’s an example from nonprofit, Artists for Humanity:
“Painting gave me a way to connect with my patients at a personal level,” says Dr. Sidhartha Pani via @BostonGlobe. https://t.co/9M4BAelNop pic.twitter.com/YjUNnexQBm
— Artists For Humanity (@AFHBoston) May 28, 2017
3. Give credit where credit’s due
Sharing someone else’s content can be a great way to start a relationship. Don’t miss out on this opportunity. Make sure you’re giving the original author or source credit by mentioning them whenever and wherever you’re using their content.
Be sure to include the Twitter handle of the site and/or author that originally published the post. No matter what social media network you’re sharing from, mentioning the source means they’ll get a notification.
When people see you’re using their content, there’s a much better chance they’ll interact with you!
4. Encourage others to share
The great thing about sharing is that it’s contagious. Your readers will appreciate you’re sharing more than your own content — and they’ll perceive your business or organization as more trustworthy because you’re focusing on more than just self-promotion.
Be sure to ask others to share your curated content. That way you’ll get in front of an even larger audience and you’ll generate more views for the original source.
A simple call to action can make all the difference. Here’s an easy way to encourage your Twitter followers to retweet your posts:
Happy Sunday! #EverydayMotivation from Peter Drucker – RT if you agree! pic.twitter.com/HR3GegMutE
— Constant Contact ✉️ (@ConstantContact) January 24, 2016
Ready to start curating content for your business?
Set a goal for yourself, even if it’s just sharing three posts a week.
Striking the right balance between original and curated content will strengthen your online presence and help you create long-lasting relationships.
Soon, when people are on the lookout for existing content to share, they’ll be visiting your page for ideas!
Have you used content curation before? Tell us in the comments below what types of benefits or challenges you’ve experienced.
