Content curation is all about adding your personal touch and branding to a carefully selected collection of existing content that usually revolves around topics of interest relevant to your business. For example, if you run a bakery shop, part of your social media strategy would be to collect existing content that revolves around baking ingredients, supplies, pastries, baked goods, baking tips, or even seasonal baked treats and the likes. In social media terms, you or your social media manager will be collecting content that you think would add value to your brand.
Every business owner is striving to get noticed through a constant stream of witty and distinctive content. However, not everyone has the time, resources, or knowledge to create unique content for their business. This is where sharing content that isn’t necessarily your own, comes into play.
While it is necessary that business owners keep creating fresh and engaging content, content curation should also be an important part of your social media marketing plan and branding strategy. There is a lot of amazing content out there that you can tap to provide value and drive conversion towards your business. Some might not have even reached your audience yet. So, not only are you giving the original creators a signal boost, you are establishing yourself as a reliable source of information. This boosts your own credibility as a brand. Excellently curated content builds trust and authority which leads you to be seen as an expert in the industry. Here are some content curation strategies that according to social media experts provide the best results.
3 Most Successful Content Curation Strategies
- Ask yourself “Is this relevant?”
Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Why would they follow a brand like yours on social media? Did they find your content useful? Informative? Funny? Worthwhile? Timely? Did it add value to their lives?
You have to be a bit of a treasure hunter and trend finder. If you happen to find content that fits any of those criteria, then collect them. The next step is to filter out the content that is relevant to your brand. Don’t be afraid to experiment and find a tone you’re comfortable with.
- Add your “voice” to the curated content.
It’s always good to add a personal touch to the content before sharing it. Can you sum it up? Can you engage your audience by asking a thought provoking question? Is there a quotable quote that you can get from the content? Can you add value to it with your own commentary?
- Tag the original content creator.
It is also best practice to let them know personally via a quick message or a DM. Not only is this polite, but it also gets you noticed and could actually open doors for future collaborations or co-branded content. Another best practice would be to link to the original source of the content so that you don’t steal traffic but push traffic. If you impress the original creator, you’re very likely to be top-of-mind and they might share your content with their audience.
Content curation is an incredible opportunity to build your brand, add value to existing content, and expand your network while cultivating goodwill within the industry.
