Content curation involves finding, organizing, and sharing relevant and valuable content with a specific audience.
This guide provides a comprehensive overview of content curation, its importance, best practices, and its application in corporate marketing settings.
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Definition and Background
Content curation can be defined as the process of discovering, selecting, and presenting content from various sources to a target audience.
It involves filtering through vast amounts of information to find the most valuable and relevant pieces that align with the audience’s interests and needs.
Content curation has gained prominence due to the overwhelming amount of online content, making it challenging for individuals and businesses to find quality information efficiently.
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Importance of Content Curation
- Filtering Information Overload: With the exponential growth of online content, content curation helps cut through the noise and present the most valuable and relevant information to the audience.
- Establishing Authority: By curating high-quality content, individuals and businesses can position themselves as knowledgeable and trusted sources of information within their respective industries.
- Building Relationships: Content curation allows for the discovery and sharing of valuable content from other creators, fostering collaboration and building relationships with industry peers.
- Saving Time and Resources: Instead of creating original content from scratch, content curation enables businesses to leverage existing content, saving time and resources while providing value to their audience.
- Enhancing Engagement: Curated content that resonates with the audience’s interests and needs can lead to increased engagement, such as likes, shares, and comments, thereby expanding the curator’s reach and influence.
5 Ways to Curate Content
- Social Media Monitoring: Monitor social media platforms, industry forums, and online communities to identify trending topics, discussions, and valuable content shared by industry experts and influencers.
- News Aggregation: Utilize news aggregators and RSS feeds to gather relevant news articles, blog posts, and industry updates from trusted sources.
- Content Curation Tools: Leverage content curation tools like Pocket, Feedly, or Flipboard to discover, organize, and share curated content efficiently.
- User-Generated Content: Encourage user-generated content by curating and featuring content created by your audience, such as testimonials, reviews, or case studies.
- Collaboration with Influencers: Collaborate with industry influencers and thought leaders to curate and share their content, leveraging their expertise and expanding your reach.
Why Companies are Interested in Content Curation
Companies are increasingly interested in content curation due to several reasons:
- Establishing Thought Leadership: By curating valuable content, companies can position themselves as thought leaders in their industry, gaining credibility and trust from their audience.
- Engaging Target Audience: Curated content that resonates with the target audience’s interests and needs can increase engagement, fostering a loyal and active community.
- Building Brand Awareness: Sharing curated content allows companies to showcase their brand’s values, expertise, and industry knowledge, increasing brand visibility and awareness.
- Driving Traffic and Conversions: Curated content can drive traffic to a company’s website or blog, increasing the chances of conversions and generating leads.
- Staying Updated: Content curation helps companies stay updated with the latest industry trends, news, and insights, enabling them to adapt and respond effectively.
10 Content Curation Best Practices
- Define Your Audience: Understand your target audience’s interests, needs, and preferences to curate content that resonates with them.
- Curate Diverse Content: Include a variety of content formats, such as articles, videos, infographics, and podcasts, to cater to different learning styles and preferences.
- Verify Sources: Ensure the credibility and reliability of the content sources before curating and sharing them to maintain trust with your audience.
- Add Value: When sharing curated content, provide context, insights, and commentary to add value and demonstrate your expertise.
- Maintain Consistency: Establish a consistent content curation schedule to engage your audience and build anticipation.
- Give Credit: Always attribute the original content creators by mentioning their names and handles and linking to their content to give proper credit.
- Engage with the Community: Encourage discussions, respond to comments, and engage with your audience to foster a sense of community and build relationships.
- Monitor Performance: Track the performance of your curated content, such as engagement metrics, click-through rates, and conversions, to refine your curation strategy.
- Stay Ethical: Respect copyright laws and intellectual property rights when curating content, seeking permission when necessary.
- Stay Relevant: Continuously monitor industry trends, news, and changes in your audience’s preferences to ensure your curated content remains relevant and valuable.
Standard Model of Content Curation: The 4S Framework
The 4S Framework is a standard model used for content curation:
- Search: Identify relevant content by using search engines, social media platforms, and content discovery tools.
- Select: Evaluate and select the most valuable and relevant content based on your audience’s interests and needs.
- Sense-Making: Add context, insights, and commentary to the curated content to provide value and make it more meaningful for your audience.
- Share: Distribute the curated content through various channels, such as social media, newsletters, or blog posts, to reach your target audience.
5 Examples of Content Curation in the Workplace
- Employee Training: Curating relevant articles, videos, and resources to support employee training and development programs.
- Industry News Updates: Share curated news articles and industry updates to inform employees about the latest trends and developments.
- Internal Knowledge Sharing: Curating and organizing internal documents, case studies, and best practices to facilitate employee knowledge sharing.
- Social Media Management: Curating and scheduling social media content to maintain an active and engaging presence.
- Customer Education: Curating educational content, tutorials, and guides to help customers make the most of a product or service.
Maximizing Content Curation
To maximize content curation efforts, consider the following:
- Consistency: Maintain a regular content curation schedule to engage your audience and build a loyal following.
- Personalization: Tailor curated content to your audience’s interests and needs, ensuring relevance and value.
- Engagement: Encourage discussions, respond to comments, and engage with your audience to foster a sense of community and build relationships.
- Experimentation: Continuously test and refine your content curation strategy to identify what resonates best with your audience.
- Collaboration: Collaborate with industry influencers, thought leaders and your audience to co-create and curate content, expanding your reach and influence.
Features and Benefits of Content Curation in Corporate Marketing Settings
- Increased Brand Visibility: Curated content helps increase brand visibility by sharing valuable information and positioning the brand as a trusted source of industry knowledge.
- Enhanced Thought Leadership: By curating high-quality content, companies can establish themselves as thought leaders and gain credibility and trust from their audience.
- Improved Engagement: Curated content that resonates with the target audience’s interests and needs can increase engagement, fostering a loyal and active community.
- Time and Resource Savings: Content curation allows companies to leverage existing content, saving time and resources while providing value to their audience.
- Expanded Reach: Sharing curated content from industry influencers and thought leaders can help companies expand their reach and tap into new audiences.
What Makes a Great Content Curator
A great content curator possesses the following qualities:
- Deep Industry Knowledge: A thorough understanding of the industry and its trends, enabling the curator to identify valuable content.
- Strong Research Skills: Finding and evaluating relevant and high-quality content from various sources.
- Curation Expertise: The skill to select, organize, and present curated content meaningfully and engagingly.
- Critical Thinking: The ability to analyze and interpret content, adding insights and context to make it more valuable for the audience.
- Engagement and Communication Skills: The capability to engage with the audience, foster discussions, and communicate effectively.
Content Curation vs. Created Content Strategy
While content curation involves finding and sharing existing content, a created content strategy focuses on producing original content. The main differences include:
- Time and Resources: Content curation saves time and resources by leveraging existing content, while a created content strategy requires more time and effort to produce original content.
- Expertise: Content curation allows curators to leverage the expertise of others, while a created content strategy showcases the curator’s expertise.
- Variety: Content curation offers a variety of perspectives and sources, while a created content strategy focuses on a single perspective or brand voice.
- Engagement: Curated content can foster engagement through discussions and sharing, while created content can provide a more focused and tailored message.
- Balance: A successful content strategy often combines content curation and created content to provide a well-rounded and comprehensive approach.
Summary
Content curation is a valuable practice that helps individuals and businesses filter through overwhelming online information.
By curating relevant and valuable content, companies can establish thought leadership, engage their target audience, and build brand awareness.
Following best practices such as defining the audience, adding value, and staying relevant can enhance the effectiveness of content curation efforts.
A great content curator possesses industry knowledge, research skills, curation expertise, critical thinking, and practical communication skills.
Content curation complements a created content strategy, offering time and resource savings, variety, engagement opportunities, and the need for employee training courses.
By incorporating content curation into corporate marketing settings, companies can increase brand visibility, enhance thought leadership, improve engagement, and expand their reach.
With 30+ years of training experience, I founded Oak Innovation (oakinnovation.com) in 1995. I help busy training professionals and business managers deliver better training courses in less time by giving them instant access to editable training course material. I received my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from University College Cork. I hold qualifications in Professional Development And Training from University College Galway. Clients include Apple, Time Warner, and Harvard University.
