3 Ways Content Curation Can Boost Your Marketing Strategy

You’re probably most familiar with content curation in the form of social media sharing. 

When a brand tweets out an article written by another company, that’s content curation. You’re providing your audience with material that was not written by your team, but that you still find valuable. 

Content curation covers a lot more than social media sharing. There are entire companies that have built their business on curating the best content from around the web.

This method is so popular that many businesses employ the use of content creation software that allows both the curation and creation of new content for your blog, newsletter, or website. 

Now more than ever marketers are embracing the power of curated content.

But it’s important to understand the right way to do things. Even with all the tech in the world available, content curation is still an art. It takes a certain finesse and skill to pull off.

How To Curate Content The Right Way

You can think of a content curator the same way you would an art dealer. Their job is to sort through everything and select the content they believe is the most helpful to the audience, regardless of who wrote it.

They then organize the content they’ve chosen in an easy to understand way. This allows the reader to find exactly what they need in the simplest way possible. 

Content curation is not synonymous with copy and pasting an article into your own blog and calling it a day: that’s plagiarism.

There’s an art to curating content in a way that both honors the original creator and benefits your team as well. Here are a few tips on how to curate content the right way.

1. Quote the source, and then quote them again

You need to establish very early on that the content you’re using is curated. Quote the original source of the piece, link back to the original work, and then give credit again. Make it impossible for the reader to misunderstand where the source is coming from.

2. Create something new out of the old

Your curated blog post should not have the same title or featured image as the original piece.

Even though you’re pulling from an original source, you still need to switch things up. A new title that creates an allure for your audience is important.

Original branded images from your own team add something new to the mix.

Curation is about mixing your original take on existing source material. Including quotes from the writer mixed in with your own commentary on the piece is what makes content curation successful. Don’t just parrot what the original post said, add some flavor! 

3. Add context to the piece

Content curation is not reposting an article in its entirety on your blog. Curation is about calling attention to another piece of work and providing context for why you found it useful.

If you’re curating a blog post, this should be done in the opening paragraph with at least two links back to the original work. 

An example of adding context to curated content could look like this: 

“I came across this piece from Amy Adams on the new Google Core Update on Twitter yesterday and was blown away by her analysis. Here at XYZ company, we’ve seen how these updates can impact SEO in a negative way if not handled correctly. It’s one of the reasons we expanded our content team to include both an editorial and a full-time SEO team. Read Amy’s incredible piece here.”

This step is important for both ethical reasons and SEO purposes.

Google will knock your website if you completely copy and paste an article, even if you credit the original writer.

The original writer might also come after your company if you simply repost their work. Curated content needs to be different enough from the original source while still giving full credit to the author.

3 Ways Content Curation Can Boost Your Marketing Strategy 

Now that you understand the correct way to curate content, it’s time to dig into how it can benefit your marketing strategy.

Content curation does a lot more than simply save your team time and resources. There are strategic benefits to curation as well.

1. Content curation creates a dialogue 

Content curation is about taking an idea and pushing it the extra mile. This does more than just create noise, it opens a dialogue between yourself, the original writer, and your audience. You are unique and your perspective on a situation can bring new ideas to light. 

Oftentimes, your perspective can bring new issues to the table and create conversation.

Challenging the ideas of others in a respectful and constructive way creates conversation. This fuels your team and your audience to think critically and form opinions for themselves. 

2. Content curation builds credibility 

If you’re looking to become a thought-leader in your industry, content curation is one easy way to get started.

It shows that you’re plugged into the pulse of the business world and thinking about new ways to innovate. Adding context to existing ideas, challenging the status quo, and interacting with other thought-leaders boosts your credibility by association. 

You can take this a step further by sharing your curated content on social media and tagging the original author. This alerts them that you’ve referenced their piece and opens a dialogue. It can build relationships and create chatter around your curated blog post! 

3. Content curation strengthens business relationships 

Whether you’re a fledgling business or an established enterprise the use of content curation is perfect for building relationships.

Curated content is one of many ways you can send love to industry influencers and leverage their followings. It’s also great as a value-add for when your sales team is trying to close a big deal. Or you can help someone early in their career get some well-deserved attention!

What’s great about content curation is that it doesn’t discriminate. From the entry-level employee to the CEO, content curation is about the quality of the work. That means you’re free to bring the best ideas to the forefront and fuel the conversation. 

You can quote me on that.

When you stop focusing your content on the way it serves your agenda and focus on your audience instead, amazing things will happen.

Think about the different ways you can use content curation to build trust with your audience. When you put the customer first, the customer will keep coming back for more. 

Author Information: Lauren is a Senior Content Specialist at G2 with five years of content marketing experience. You can find her work featured on CNBC, Hubspot, Yahoo Finance, and on the G2 Learning Hub. In her free time, Lauren enjoys listening to podcasts, watching true crime shows, and spending time in the Chicago karaoke scene. LinkedIn | Twitter