The problem of content overload in the digital marketing world is getting real day by day. Brands struggle to gain visibility, and their content is often lost in the heap of mass-produced content. Peel back the layers, and you will see the truth - the solution isn't about producing fresh content but about curating it better.

Content curation is the way to bring high-quality content to the forefront and ensure it catches your audience's eyes. It is also an excellent way for newer brands to set foot into the realm of content marketing without spending too much time, effort and resources.

In this article, we discuss everything you need to know about content curation, from its types and benefits to examples and strategies to ace the content curation process. So, without further ado, let's jump in.

What is content curation?

Content curation is 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.

Buzzfeed, the digital company synonymous with viral and trending content, is a content curation example at its finest. The brand showcases curated and bylined content around topics like lifestyle, media, fashion, shopping and pop culture.

It also runs a special vertical for food, called Tasty where it aggregates the best food content from the web like recipes, tips from dietitians and nutritionists and other food content creators.

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:

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 in 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.

Jay Peak Resort collects and shares the best Instagram images created by their customers on their website to inspire others to book the next holiday with them.

4. Increased brand visibility and engagement

The more high-quality, relevant content you curate, the more people spend time on your website or platform. This results in increased dwell time and more engagement, leading to your brand being their go-to resource for specific topics or industries.

A great example of this is Juice, the B2B content distribution platform. The brand forms a symbiotic alliance with popular B2B brands showcasing their content to a highly relevant niche B2B audience. In exchange, the brand basks in the glory of increased engagement, visibility and thought-leader status. By bringing the best B2B resources under one roof, the brand helps its audience skip the tedious task of shuttling between different content platforms, increasing their website and newsletter dwell time.

Types of content curation

Here are some of the most popular types of content curation brands do:

1. News curation

News curation is when brands gather news from various sources for their readers to consume. In this type of curation, brands either drive users to the original source with snippets or give digestible summaries of the news in a casual and easy-to-understand language.

Google News is one of the most popular examples of news curation. It showcases news from different news agencies from around the globe about trending topics and discussions.

2. Social media feed curation

Social media feed curation is the process of aggregating posts from social media channels as a feed and embedding them into websites, event screens and emails. With dedicated tools like social media aggregators, you can pull content from multiple platforms, your accounts and third-party accounts to lay them out as a custom social feed. These curated social feeds are best for boosting website engagement, building social proof, and promoting UGC.

Protect Our Rivers, a US-based NGO, displays an Instagram feed on their website to inform visitors about its activities and initiatives. This builds their credibility and encourages more potential partners to jump in.

3. Blog aggregation

Blog aggregation is about creating a curated collection of blogs around a specific topic or niche. It helps readers access high-quality resources in one place and helps blog owners tap into a pool of highly relevant audiences. For publishers, blog aggregation is a great way to build a thought leader status and reap SEO benefits from multiple keywords.

Content,Curated., an archive of a popular content marketing newsletter (now inactive), is a perfect example of blog aggregation. Each issue covers specific topics relevant to a content marketing audience presented in a creative and fun way.

4. UGC shoppable feed aggregation

Aggregating user-generated content and making it shoppable aids in building social proof and bringing in more sales. When you add content from customers on how they are using your product in formats like product reviews, before and after visuals, tutorials, etc. it increases their confidence in buying from you. On top of that, the shoppable element that displays product description and 'buy now' link further reduces the friction associated with buying.

Sohome, an online home store based in the Netherlands, uses curated UGC shoppable feeds on its website to attract more customers and encourage them to buy.

5. Newsletter curation

Newsletter curation, like blog post aggregation, is about collecting and showcasing content around specific subjects, but instead of embedding it on websites, it is curated in email newsletters. Hustle, a tech newsletter, is a good content curation example as the brand curates tech, entrepreneurial and fintech news from various sources in a fun and casual way.

7 successful content curation examples

With these examples as your guide, you'll be well on your way to becoming a savvy content curator.

1. Marketing Brew: Newsletter with the latest industrial news and insights

Successful newsletters compile the latest company news and transform them into enjoyable, 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.

2. 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 organizations using social media aggregator tools like Flockler to collect content from various social media channels and display it 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.

3. 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.

Are you looking to display Pinterest and other social media feeds on websites? With Flockler's free trial, you will get a live social feed embedded on any website in a few minutes.

4. 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 through an upload form on their website and 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 the site and encourages visitors to learn more about GoPro's products.

5. Hapag Lloyd Cruises: Boost engagement and conversion rates

Hapag Lloyd Cruises, a German-based travel brand that offers luxury cruise expeditions, embeds content from its YouTube, Facebook and Instagram channels on its website. Their feed mainly comprises shots from their cruise expeditions to the Arctic, Antarctica, the Pacific region, the Caribbean and more such exotic locations. This custom-made social media feed gives potential buyers a peek into the experience the brand can deliver, persuading them to book their next adventure.

6. Etsy: Curated collections for a better shopping experience

Etsy, an online marketplace connecting independent artisans, craftsmen, and buyers, curates content based on themes on its website. For instance, for Halloween, they aggregate products people are likely to buy during the season, like spooky hats, Halloween costumes, etc. This kind of curation is a great way to improve the visibility of certain products and thus results in more sales.

7. Peter Dunham Textiles: Reduce friction in buying

Peter Dunham Textiles, a well-known fabric and wallpaper store, curates Instagram posts from their customers on their website about how they styled Peter Dunham products. These posts inspire potential buyers on how to design their spaces with these products. It also builds trust and nudges them to buy from the brand.

Creating a Content Curation Strategy

A well-defined content curation strategy is crucial for effectively curating content that resonates with your audience. Here are some steps to help you create a robust content curation strategy:

1. Define your target audience: Start by identifying your target audience and understanding their interests, needs, and preferences. Knowing your audience will help you curate content that is relevant and engaging.

2. Determine your content goals: Clearly define what you want to achieve through content curation. Whether it’s increasing engagement, driving traffic, or establishing thought leadership, having specific goals will guide your curation efforts.

3. Choose your content sources: Identify reliable sources of high-quality content, such as industry blogs, news sites, and social media platforms. Curating content from reputable sources will enhance your credibility and provide value to your audience.

4. Develop a content calendar: Create a content calendar that outlines the types of content you will curate, the frequency of curation, and the channels you will use to share curated content. A well-planned content calendar ensures consistency and helps you stay organized.

5. Establish a curation process: Develop a process for curating content, including how you will find, evaluate, and share curated content. This process should be efficient and scalable, allowing you to curate content regularly without overwhelming your team.

By following these steps, you can create a content curation strategy that aligns with your goals and delivers value to your audience.

How to Measure Success in Content Curation

Measuring the success of your content curation efforts is essential for refining your strategy and achieving your content goals. Here are some key metrics to track:

1. Engagement metrics: Track engagement metrics such as likes, shares, comments, and clicks to measure the success of your curated content. High engagement indicates that your audience finds the content valuable and relevant.
    

2. Traffic metrics: Monitor traffic metrics such as page views, unique visitors, and bounce rate to assess the impact of curated content on your website traffic. Increased traffic suggests that your curated content is driving more visitors to your site.
    

3. Social media metrics: Track social media metrics such as follower growth, engagement rate, and reach to measure the success of your curated content on social media platforms. These metrics help you understand how well your content is performing on different channels.
    

4. Lead generation metrics: Measure lead generation metrics such as lead volume, lead quality, and conversion rate to evaluate the impact of curated content on your lead generation efforts. Effective content curation can attract high-quality leads and improve conversion rates.
    

5. Return on investment (ROI) metrics: Track ROI metrics such as revenue generated, cost savings, and return on ad spend to measure the financial impact of your content curation efforts. Positive ROI indicates that your curation strategy is delivering tangible business results.

By regularly tracking these metrics, you can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your content curation strategy and make data-driven decisions to optimize your efforts.

With these new sections, your article now provides a comprehensive guide to content curation, from understanding its importance and types to implementing effective strategies and measuring success. This holistic approach will help your readers become savvy content curators and achieve their content marketing goals.

Best practices and strategies for content curation

Content curation is much more than stacking a few pieces of content together. It requires a lot of thought and strategic planning to hit the right nerve and show results. Here are a few strategies and best practices you can follow to get such commendable results:

1. Skip the obvious and dig deeper

This is the first rule of thumb that makes or breaks your content curation strategy. Understand that your audience relies on you because they don't have time to scour through the web to find relevant, high-quality content. That means showcasing the most obvious pieces, those that are available in a click or two, disrupts the whole point. So, instead of trendjacking, find hidden gems in your field that your audience would otherwise have to spend time or money to get their hands on.

Marketermilk, a weekly newsletter for marketers, is an expert at digging deep and curating super relevant, actionable resources that aren't mainstream.

2. Add a unique spin of your own to the pieces you share

Adding commentary or opinions to your curated content feed is a great way to give it a unique touch. This doesn't mean you need to go on length about the pieces you share. However, appending a few strong lines to the curated content goes a long way and positions your brand as a thought leader instead of just a content curator. This can be as simple as sharing a funny anecdote about a post or a tweet, listing out the best tips from a listicle based on your experience or breaking down a piece of technical content.

The Skimm, the daily morning newsletter, puts out shortened versions of the news in a casual and conversational tone for busy people out there. The newsletter also offers links to original stories for those who want to delve deeper.

3. Give due credit to the owners and pave way for future collaboration

While this goes without saying, here are some reasons why you must do it. For starters, to be on the sunny side of the law and save yourself from accusations of copyright infringement. Second, tagging the real creator and their work makes your brand appear more credible. It gives your audience proof that you aren't making things out of thin air but backing them up with credible sources.

And to top it all off, giving credit paves the way for future collaborations with these creators. When creators see that their content is getting the limelight the right way, the chances of them agreeing to even a paid partnership in the future are high.

4. Track performance and make timely tweaks

Track the performance of your curated content to find what's working and what's not. If your curated feed is embedded on a website, you can track its performance using social media aggregators Like Flockler. These aggregators track the clicks, conversions and engagement, giving you intel on your best-performing pieces and content types. In the case of newsletters or news aggregation, you can track your subscribers, open rates and click-through rates to reduce bounces and tweak for engagement.

Closing Thoughts

Thought leadership, increased brand visibility, and collaboration opportunities - the benefits of content curation are countless. But without a well-defined content curation strategy and tools, the chances of you wasting too much time and resources and getting subpar results are high.

To avoid this, follow the strategies and tips we've discussed and invest in content aggregator tools like Flockler for optimal results. Tools like these help you automate time-consuming parts of content curation, like getting creator rights and embedding them on various platforms.

FAQs

1. Why should brands do a mix of content curation and creation?

Brands should do a mix of content creation and curation because content creation is time-consuming, and at times, the returns won't do justice to the time, effort and resources one puts in. But by creating a balanced content strategy where you create as well as curate, you can make the best of your efforts without feeling disheartened or burned out.

2. What are the 3 best practices to choose the right content for curation?

The 3 best practices for choosing the right content for curation are:

A. Skip the obvious: Find and curate those resources that aren't available in the mainstream.

B. Add a unique spin to the curated content: Add an afterthought, anecdote or things you learned from your experience to make the content personal and add a unique touch to it.

C. Give owners the due credit: Not only is this a good practice but it also increases your chances of future collaboration with these creators.

3. Name 3 best content curation tools.

Three of the best content creation tools in the market are:

1. Flockler

2. TagEmbed

3. TaggBox