Content curation is one of the proven paths to online success if you're looking for a competitive edge. It establishes your authority and brings more followers.
What is content curation?
The definition of content curation is pretty straightforward. It’s the process of searching, selecting, commenting on, and sharing the best content already available on a subject to your audience. Curated content typically contains a list of high-quality, relevant, and shareable resources on a given topic.
Why do brands need content curation?
Content curation is an excellent addition to your content marketing and social media strategy. Here are the top three reasons why brands curate content for their audience:
- Save resources & have a wide range of available content.
- Position yourself as a thought leader.
- Build great relationships with your customers and other stakeholders
1. Save resources & have a wide range of available content
If you have a small team or no one fully dedicated to your social media, you know how difficult it is to find time to create social content. Thus, curating and sharing high-quality content created by others will spare you time, energy, and expense.
This curated content can also fill in the gaps in your current content plan, providing additional information or expertise that might otherwise be lacking in your blog and landing pages.
2. Position yourself as a thought leader
Curating the best stuff shows that you’re in the know about your industry and its trends. However, to become a thought leader, you will need to do a bit more than just share other people’s content. To tailor a unique fit for your audience and encourage a conversation, add some of your expertise and opinions together with the curated piece of content.
Dharmesh Shah, the Co-Founder of HubSpot, demonstrates this exceptionally well with his recent tweet. Dharmesh is a thought leader in entrepreneurship, and he often uses X (formerly Twitter) to show expertise and spark conversations.
3. Build great relationships with your customers and other stakeholders
User-generated content is a common type of content curation. It involves collecting images, videos, and text from customers, influencers, or employees.
Curating UGC will show customer voice and social proof. Also, sharing UGC opens up conversations between your brands and customers and helps build an engaged community and attract new customers.
For more inspiration, here are 7 great examples of user-generated content campaigns.
Best content curation examples your brand should know about
With these examples as your guide, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a savvy content curator.
Marketing Brew: Newsletter with the latest industrial news and insights
Successful newsletters compile the latest company news and transforms them into enjoyable and easily digestible bites.
Marketing Brew is one of the finest examples of businesses sharing relevant content over email to an identified audience.
In addition to showcasing their content, their editorial team curates some of the week's best stories. The section "What else is brewing" often includes four to five important business news from some of the web's most trusted sites.
Which tools should your business use to create an engaging newsletter with curated content?
Many businesses use Pocket, Instapaper, and Google News to search for and save the latest news and must-read articles for their audience.
Next, they combine a list of original and curated content and add their opinions and thoughts.
Finally, they use tools like MailChimp, HubSpot, or Benchmark to send the newsletter and measure the success.
Deutsche Bundesbank: All social media news in one place
Besides a newsletter, having a dedicated social media news feed will make it easy for your website visitors and employees to follow the latest industry news and trends.
Deutsche Bundesbank is one of many organisations using social media aggregator tools like Flockler to collect content from various social media channels and display them on a social media wall. This page helps internal and external audiences discover the latest news on monetary policy, people behind the scenes, and career opportunities.
Maryann Rizzo's Pinterest Feed: Find, save, and share the best ideas
Curated content is the bread and butter of Pinterest. The social network's primary purpose is to help users find, organize, save, and share the best ideas for other users' inspiration.
Maryann Rizzo is not necessarily a content marketing expert, but she has an eye for great interior design, and she uses Pinterest to save other people's beautiful houses and share her design ideas. She’s built a brand with more than 9 million Pinterest followers.
You can curate content with Pinterest by creating boards according to a subject or theme and then filling them up with relevant ‘Pins’ - posts, images, and gifs. These boards will allow people to discover and save your content, helping you reach a wider audience and build an engaged community.
Many brands take it a step further by embedding their inspiring Pinterest boards and profiles on their website to increase dwell time, make their site look vibrant, and grow engagement on Pinterest. The more followers and engagement you grow on Pinterest, the more traffic your site will eventually get. You can also take it a step further and mix content from different channels together with Pinterest content with a content aggregator.
GoPro: Curate and show customer testimonials
Adding UGC to your Instagram strategy can be one of the best ways to create a stronger sense of community, build brand trust, and drive sales.
GoPro is one of many brands that collect customer testimonials, images and videos, with an upload form on their website and through social media. The best entries are shared on their official Instagram accounts with the hashtag #GoProAwards.
With Flockler, GoPro displays customer reviews in a beautiful stream on their website. The stunning social media wall increases the time spent on site and encourages visitors to learn more about GoPro's products.
