What is curated content and its benefits?

 

 

It is the content that has been created by other people and that you select to share with your own audience. This content could be a valuable blog post from a company in your field, professional advice from a relevant thought leader, or anything else you think your audience might appreciate and enjoy.

Just as in a museum the role of a curator is to select the most important artifacts and works to display, your role as a content curator is to select only the best content to share with your followers.

The definition of this curated content is not complex. In fact, each retweet is a very basic way of curating content, for example. But to get the most value from content curation, you have to take things a step further.

Benefits of content curation

1. Fill in the spaces of your content calendar

As part of your content marketing strategy, you should be posting content to various social networks several times a week.

Most of the content is probably internally generated, but if your social media content calendar has some holes, curated content is an easy remedy. Sharing the valuable content of others is a low-cost option for maintaining a regular posting schedule.

2. Give value to your followers

Your followers follow you for a reason. They want to know what you think about your area of ​​expertise and they want to learn from you to improve their own lives or skills in some way.

But not all the wisdom you share has to come straight from your own keyboard. You are not the only authority in your industry and you should not pretend that you are.

When you carefully curate content to share with your followers, you provide them with additional value by giving them access to multiple perspectives.

Remember that the relationship with your followers cannot be merely transactional. You have to provide value, and sharing curated content shows that you care about giving them information and resources, rather than just growing your list and generating sales.

3. Position yourself as an opinion leader.

How do you position yourself as a thought leader by sharing other people's content? Easy. Sharing only the best content available so your followers know that every time they find information in your feed, it's worth reading.

As we'll explain below, you can (and should) also add your own opinions when sharing curated content.

Your focus should always be clear. With just one or two introductory sentences you add a lot of extra value. Also, if you can include a unique perspective, this will also help you build your reputation as someone who truly understands what's going on in your field.

4. Build your network of contacts

Sharing other people's content is a great way to get on their radar, especially if your posts drive them extra traffic.

If someone else's content seems really valuable to you, be sure to tell them. Let him know when you share his content with your followers, but don't ask for anything in return (it's super annoying when someone you don't know emails you saying, "Hey, I shared your content! Can you return the favor with a link?" ).

Rather tell him what you find most valuable in his content and that you will be following his work to see what he has to say on the subject in the future. Over time, this will allow relationships with other leaders in your industry to grow organically.

These relationships will be far more valuable than exchanging links with someone who feels compelled to return a favor.

10 content curation software and tools

1.Hootsuite

It probably won't surprise you to learn that Hootsuite is one of our favorite content curation tools. The dashboard helps you find relevant content to share and schedule your curated content to fill gaps in your content calendar.

To find content using Hootsuite, create columns based on keywords relevant to your industry. This way, when you want to create a post with curated content, you'll have a content feed that updates automatically.

For even more access to shareable content, add the Hootsuite RSS Syndicator to include RSS feeds on your Hootsuite dashboard. Syndicator also has tracking features, so you can bookmark content, assign articles to your team members, and keep track of what you've shared.

Once you've found content you want to share, create a post and use the Hootsuite Planner to find the best time to post it.

2.BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo helps you find the most popular content based on keywords relevant to your industry. You can also specifically search for content that gets the highest levels of engagement over time. This way, you can ensure you're sharing content with lasting value instead of just jumping on the latest trend.

BuzzSumo also helps you identify influencers in your industry so you can review their latest content to see if it might be of value to your followers.

3. Twitter lists

You probably follow people on Twitter for a number of reasons. You might spot content you want to share with your followers just by checking your Twitter feed, but Twitter Lists can help you find share-worthy content with clear intent.

Create a list of people who post valuable and relevant content to your audience so you can check it out whenever you're looking for content to curate. You can even create multiple lists for different types of content, so you always have options to work with.

4.Pocket

Pocket is a great resource for saving content while you surf the web. Anytime you come across an interesting article, video, blog post, or other type of content, you can add it to your Pocket account.

You can add and access content from multiple devices, including your computer and your phone. You can also access your saved content from any device.

Then, when you're ready to create some curated content posts, you'll have a collection of material ready to share, and accessible from anywhere.

5.Instapaper

Instapaper is another great resource for saving content while you browse the web. Plus, it has the added benefit of letting you highlight and comment on every article you save.

This is a really useful feature as this way you will never forget why you saved a certain item, or why exactly you thought it was worth saving. It's much easier to remember the impact element of an article when you've just read it.

Making a few notes when you save content can make it easier for you to create your curated post later.

6.Google Alerts

Instead of looking for content as you browse the web, sometimes you want content to come to you.

Set Google Alerts for keywords relevant to your industry. In this way you will get a notification via email every time Google finds new content on the web with those keywords.

Then, set up a filter on your incoming emails so alert notifications don't go to your main inbox and go to a folder instead. You now have a feed of fresh content that you can review every time you want to create curated content posts.

If you're using Hootsuite's RSS Syndicator, you can also add Google Alerts to your Hootsuite dashboard.

7.TalkWalker

TalkWalker is a social listening tool, which has an alert feature that is very similar to Google Alerts: you set your keyword preferences and TalkWalker alerts you to new content posted on the web.

TalkWalker alerts offer some additional benefits. First, TalkWalker also includes social results, while Google only provides results from the web.

Then TalkWalker allows you to target based on the type of content. For example, you could set your filter to alert you for blog posts only. This helps you ensure that your alerts only notify you when there is the type of content that you are most likely to share.

Instead of setting TalkWalker alerts to go to your email, you can also set TalkWalker as a column in your Hootsuite dashboard.

8.UpContent

UpContent automatically searches the internet to find the content that is most likely to appeal to your target audience. You can then filter the content based on factors like influencer and shareability.

UpContent also allows you to add notes to content you want to share, making it a great solution for curating content with a team.

9. Trendspotter

Trendspottr helps you find trending content to share with your audience. This tool uses real-time intelligence to predict trends, allowing you to share content before everyone has seen it.

10. ContentGems

ContentGems is an app from the Hootsuite App Directory that is specifically designed to help with content curation. This tool creates a column of content that you can refer to when you're ready to create a post from your curated content. You can customize your content streams through advanced search and preferred social signals based on your chosen interests.

Hootsuite can help you with your content curation for social networks. Find shareable content, schedule it to be posted to your social channels, and track your success, all from a single dashboard.

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