Constantly creating original content for your social media feeds can be time consuming or costly. Sure, it lets you get creative and is a great way to show your knowledge. But sometimes, the push to come up with consistently high-quality posts for socials without looking like you are just marketing all the time can become draining. I know. It happens to me too! What if I told you it was not only ok to share other people’s content but that there is a word for it, and everyone is doing it?
Let me introduce you to curated content. Curated content is your way of being part of the bigger conversations in your field without always having to start from scratch. It’s your way of showing your audience you have your finger on the pulse. The trick is to curate high-quality content your audience knows they can trust because they trust you.
And always, I mean always, give credit to the original source.
Curated content – capitalise on the content you read
If you are like me, you probably consume a lot of industry-related articles and social media feeds. You know where to get your information from, who to trust and who to watch as competition (probably don’t include your direct competition in your curation – we aren’t trying to send them business!). So make the most of what you read. These are a few of my favourite ways to share curated content:
Collate content from experts in your field
Collating content means collecting, summarising, and presenting a collection of relevant pieces to your business. Run a business with strong environmental credentials? Upcycled clothing, for example. Perhaps you read a few great articles on the weekend about the impacts of clothing on the environment. Pull them together and share a post along the lines of ‘My favourite reads from the weekend. It looks like we are on the right track here at <business name>.’ Make sure they are accurate and up-to-date before you hit post.
If I was to curate some great resources on content curation, here’s what I would include – just in case you want a different perspective on the topic:
Agorapulse – What is curated content. A simple pros and cons list of both content creation and content curation.
Magnus Murage Gichuki – Content Creation vs Content Curation. I agree with the suggestion that we should use both strategies
Stephanie Fehrmann – Content Creation vs Content Curation: What’s the Difference? Stephanie raises an interesting suggestion about following a 60% original / 40% curated mix of content.
Note that I didn’t just dump some links here – I’ve told you why I think they are worth your time – that’s best practice curation. And don’t forget to include your own article on the topic if you have one!
Share your thoughts/Add value to your curated content
This is quite common on some platforms, especially LinkedIn. Read something controversial lately and had strong thoughts? Perhaps you agreed with an article promoting a new floristry technique or (respectfully) disagreed with an article that suggested solar panels are not the way of the future. Share a link with your thoughts if it’s relevant to your industry. Use it to start a conversation and ask your readers what they think.
Content curation tips
Keep a folder of inspirational content
This is especially good as you browse Twitter. Take a screenshot (including the handle) of relevant tweets to share on other platforms with your thoughts later when you plan your socials.
Use content curation to build relationships
Sharing someone’s post with your positive take on the topic, or endorsement, is a great way to boost a complimentary business. Be sure to leave a comment under their original post. This can also be a great excuse to reach out in DMs and start a conversation.
Summarise don’t plagiarise
This warrants its own section because it’s really important. Don’t steal. It’s terrible karma and can cost you and the original poster, especially if you post an entire blog post to your site from someone else’s. The Google spider bots that crawl the web will penalise you both for duplicate copy. So always link back to the original post or blog, whether it’s on your web copy or social media.
Does it still sound too good to be true? I promise it’s not. You really can save time and stay relevant by curating high-quality content relevant to your field as part of your social media marketing strategy. And if you have questions or would like a hand…
