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.