What’s the difference, between content creation and curation?
As the name suggests content creation is brain storming to create content to post to your followers or subscribers. Now think of Content Curation which is the process of sourcing information has been published from the likes of blogs, social media posts and downloadable publications.
Imagine it like a museum curator, who sources content (artifacts) from outside then displays them in the Museum for all. Someone who searches for material (content) around a particular subject matter. Once found it should be relevant to your audience and fanbase.
Ideally you need to know your audience well to deliver material that’s relevant to them to engage. Curating boring old material won’t work if you audience expects something new and insightful. Start to think out of the box.
As you become more confident you need to think about your audiences preferences and judge what material will resonate with them. Start to consider curating material that is relevant to your business offering. Otherwise you can loose your audience by posting rubbish that’s unconnected to them and your business. It should be an extension of what you or your business stands for.
Where do we discover our content?
There exists many great sources of material that we can list here. But first we need to ask what makes a good (and bad) content curator? It should be personal in the way it’s written NextDraft is the personal touch and context that its authors gives to each story.
Create value by telling them something they don’t yet know. Don’t recycle old stuff. Find something new to teach each time and keep them abreast of the latest industry practices. Become their go to trusted source of latest industry news. By delivering a the information they crave you save them time and they reward you by coming back for more, time and again.
Content curation isn’t about selling.
Your material needs to inspire and inform your audience, so they are comfortable and trusting with your brand. Relationships are precious and need to be nurtured. Your audience needs to be confident with your brand before they commit themselves to the purchase of your product. Great friendships are built on trust, respect and longevity. This is the same criteria for establishing strong lasting brand relationships.
I personally buy and drink ‘Innocent’ juices, but i regularly drink other brands as i cannot always find them. However i subscribe to their monthly online newsletter and Facebook page. To read their witty and sometimes surreal company news updates. For me the company that sits behind Innocent juices keeps me loyal to the brand even when i cannot find it in my local store. Their content is delivered in a funny, fresh and entertaining way that keeps me liking and sharing it to others.
Top 10 content curation sites:
It’s true that everything’s online and it’s easy to find information sources that are right for your audience. Here is Sandpaper’s top 10 list of sites help you find and manage your content curation. But first remember once you start you have to continue, sporadic posts to your audience won’t led you to become a trusted source of information. To get started use these 3 simple sources of information, Pocket, Twitter, Newsletters.
Pocket
A great new site to visit, browse, accumulate, save and share. That can organise and manage your interesting photos, text articles, and videos in one place for quick access. Also it categories topics and articles with tags and the site has a key search for finding. It also features most popular ‘saved’ features @PocketHits.
Twitter Lists
Twitter lists helps you curated groups of Twitter users that you can organise and follow separately from the rest of your feed. Also if you have a Pocket account you can save articles from Twitter directly into your twitter list account.
Newsletters (subscriptions)
Relevant newsletters subscriptions help remind you to do content curation each day. It will prompt you by delivering the kind of information that you look for on social, but have missed it for some reason. This way if you miss something on social you get another opportunity to see it via an e-newsletter email.
Quartz Daily:
Quartz has figured out how to make a text-heavy newsletter a stalwart in the news business with its Daily Brief.
Internet Brunch:
This site helps you find great best news, GIFs, and trends from across the Internet. Subjects include from holidays to current events to celebrity birthdays this roundup is sure to cover the important stuff that helps readers stay in the loop.
Scoop.it
Is a one stop shop (paid subscription) of content curation and social media with a cool user interface. Select a subject of interest and Scoop.it will search it’s database with the most relevant material to match your search so you can view and share.
It’ll also recommend similar topics around your search subject. Scoop.it can send you regular updates of the topics you follow too to help you keep up with relevant news feeds. The free version allows you to monitor one topic for posting on two social media accounts. For a more robust platform that follows multiple topics for sharing across all your social channels you might want to look into the paid options.
Feedly
Feedly is a RSS Feed (really simple syndication” or depending on who you ask“rich site summary). Content curation takes two different paths. Most of use browse different sites one at a time to copy and past a URL link. Then we post, share or email to others. By adding a few of your favorite sources to Feedly you can collate all these feeds in one place from your desktop and mobile device.
Storify
Storify allows Users to search and browse or create stories from social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and twitter. From there they can use that content to re tell or follow a story. It appears a bit complex initially but once you get into it t’s a useful tool to use.
Sniply
Sniply helps send your readers directly to your site via a call to action ‘link’ button. It gives you the option to insert a link button. It can also use a a link shortener.
The follow 3 sites are for the more advanced curator
These platforms are designed for companies looking for a reliable system that a team of users (editors and content curators) can use.
Curata
Curata can help users find content relevant to their target audiences. Users can personal chose and categorize content sources for review and then share them through their channels.
PublishThis
Like Curata
Publish This uses an algorithm to source content for your specific target audience to save the time and hassle with curation. Also as well as customizing curated content to specific audiences PublishThis manages and distribute original content as well as adding call to action button (direct links to your site). and finally…
TrapIt
Trapit’s platform offers users the ability to find, organize and publish content to their specific audience. It helps users prospect network and build relationships by sharing the information that’s going to be most relevant to their targeted audiences.
So what’s the best one for you?
Beginner and Intermediate
For the beginner and intermediate content curator the first 7 sample options should suffice for your needs (especially as they are free to use).
Advanced
As your team and business grow content curation becomes more important and may need more powerful software tools. This is when some of the paid sites can offer advanced features to help save time curating and giving your team a platform they can all access to co-manage.
For today’s social media beginner or expert content curation is an essential part of content marketing strategy. A good content curator engages with their target audiences. The curator’s job is an essential component in the social media mix as they filter through the massive amounts of online information. Stay ahead of the game and hire a good content marketing agency with proven writing and curating skills.
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