Content Curation Makes You A Solutions Provider
Posted by Beth Hrusch on Fri, May 25, 2012
One great thing about content marketing is the fact that it turns you into a resource. You become the place to get information about your topic. Wouldn’t it be awesome if people thought of you first when they have a question, need an answer or just want to chat about that thing you do? Of course it would!
How did Kleenex become synonymous with tissue? QTips with cotton swabs? Coke with pop? Well, in the days before content marketing, these brands were, well, content marketing. Establishing trust with consumers through content creation and distribution. Sure, the methods back then were traditional, i.e. TV ads, print media, etc. But, boy did they work.
Today, we have curation. What is it? Well, you’ll find many definitions on the web, but you’ll quickly notice that they all say basically the same thing. Content curation is the discovery and compilation of high quality content pertaining to a certain subject. The curator takes this valuable and useful content, mashes it up or cites it, then distributes it for interested parties to read and share.
What is it not? Rehashing or scraping of content, or publishing others' original work without citation.
Of course, only the best content should be curated. As you know, all content is not created equal and your job as curator is to determine the value and relevancy of the content you find. The better the content that you curate and distribute, the more authority you will have with your market. You wouldn’t want your name put on an inferior product, then have to make excuses about why your name is attached to an inferior product, would you?
It’s a beautiful thing, all this content curating and sharing going on nowadays. If you’re looking for fresh content for your site, if you want to become a solutions provider, a resource where readers can find a variety of hot and fresh information on a topic without having to search the web themselves, if you want to catch industry buzz as it happens—then content curation is for you.
You can use curation tools, you can do it manually (you probably already do anyway, you just didn’t know it), or you can hire someone to handle it for you. Just be sure to add it to your content strategy, and do it well.
And speaking of being a resource, here's something useful to look at--a short video from Agent Evolution that explains the differences between content creation and content curation (you can and should do both, by the way):
Do you have any tips for efficient content curation? Go ahead, share them!