Sometimes, you don’t have time to write a full-on blog post. But when an editorial calendar dictates publishing a post, curated content can help fill the gap between longer thought leadership. A well-designed editorial calendar will blend original thought leadership, company/product news, and responses to curated content. Doing so provides a steady flow of diverse content that keeps your readers engaged.
In fact, careful, robust curation can help build your blog’s profile, reputation, and reach by integrating new ideas and sources. If your goal is thought leadership, curation shows that you’re in touch with others across the industry, while giving you a platform to add your two cents. Just take a relevant article, think about how your company accomplishes what’s described, and write a short post that cites the original piece. (Bonus points if you can use your post to promote an existing piece of your own content, such as a white paper that describes the solution in more depth.) Then, promote your post via social channels, with a gracious hat tip to the original poster.
Marketing Land has 7 great tips for content curation, ranging from the basics to more strategic considerations – including how to curate for different stages of the sales funnel.
But how do you begin curating? And how do you determine the “right” content?
I’ve launched social media programs for three different companies. In each case, my goal was to understand the industry and seek opportunities to boost our thought leadership profile. I found Twitter to be a particularly effective place to start building lists of industry influencers, from analysts and media to competitors and trade associations. I also track RSS feeds of relevant blogs. I’ve used tools like Curata to pull several such sources into a single dashboard.
Curation goes beyond just finding the conversations, though. By checking in with these lists at least once daily, I can gauge the pulse of the conversation and assess opportunities to comment or add my perspective. Meanwhile, I look for gaps or unanswered questions – and develop original content to prove our thought leadership.
Over time, your list will evolve. New players will emerge, and old ones may fade. By keeping tabs on them and sharing interesting content, you can gain your own place in lists of curated content.
Lately, I’ve found Cate Conroy’s @Concentric_CM to be a font of great pieces on content marketing, including the Marketing Land piece cited above. What’s your favorite source for curated content?
Vesely Creative 