When the subject of content strategy comes up, most people think about generating content. Creating content is essential to maximizing your marketing efforts. A broader perspective focusing on engagement with other content creators takes content marketing to the next level. The name of this process is content curation.

What is Content Curation?

Content curation is defined as “the process of gathering information relevant to a particular topic or area of interest, usually with the intention of adding value.” Similar to the way a museum curator would strategically design a collection of art, content curation is made up of carefully selected and respected sources. This content can be sourced from other companies, thought leaders, researchers, known media and brands. It is then utilized within your own content “collections” to showcase ideas, news, trends, alternative theories and thought leadership your firm supports. In today’s digital landscape, curation occurs most often via social media. It also has its place in email outreach, newsletters, blogs, articles and sales efforts. More than a buzzword, content curation involves the attention, energy and interest you invest in content produced by other thought leaders and marketplace brands.

Why is Content Curation Important?

We create and share content daily. There’s content that is geared to business in general, to niche industries or to specific companies. With so much content in the world, it’s important to create, engage and share. Here are the top six reasons to curate content:

1. Establishes your thought leadership. You may think that creating your own content is the only way to establish you or your company as a thought leader. Yet, supporting, sourcing and sharing quality content from other thought leaders plays an equally important role. It shows that you value information from other reputable resources, support ideas outside of your own wheelhouse and understand when something is worthy of consideration. Adding your own insights furthers your position as an expert in your field.
2. Keeps your content from becoming overly self-promotional. When you share relevant content that comes from other companies and resources, it keeps your own content stream from being too self-centered. Carefully curated content from other sources provides a broader perspective, balance and new information to your audiences.
3. Prevents you from becoming an echo chamber. If your content doesn’t reference and use resources beyond your internal library, it’s at risk of becoming an “echo chamber.” An echo chamber is a dangerous media concept defined as an environment in which a person or entity encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own. This means their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered. Echo chambers are stifling to education and restrict growth within individuals and companies. Ensure you pull from a wide variety of authors, even including some who may represent opposing sides, alternative ideals and new concepts.
4. Gives your team a chance to engage in ongoing education. By incorporating content curation into your daily content strategy, education becomes a naturally occurring priority. Business is shaped by ever-changing trends, technologies, events and circumstances. Keeping a pulse on those changes facilitates personal and professional growth.
5. Gives your team a chance to breathe. Similarly, your team benefits from not always focusing on content creation, distribution and optimization. Curating content from other resources gives your content team a chance to read, digest and allow new ideas to form, without overextending themselves. This breathing room is vital to productivity, but also avoids putting too much strain on time, energy and budget resources.
6. Supports and establishes important relationships. Content curation supports business networking. It allows for shared promotion, develops new connections and sparks conversations with other individuals and companies. Ensure that you curate content from a variety of resources. Prioritize sources who fall into your network of partners, clients and prospects. This will naturally lead to shared promotion.

Curation Websites and Tools

There are many resources available to make the content curation job easier and more manageable. This list doesn’t include the popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn. That said, if you’re not already using those platforms, that’s the place to start. However, similar to a social media feed, the following tools enable users to aggregate resources from many outlets in one easy-to-manage space. If you’re not using them, check out these services to see what works for you:

1. Flipboard is a free tool that allows users to curate from a variety of resources in one place for easy access. It is one of the most popular content curation platforms with some 145 million users.
2. List.ly is an online tool for curating from the many lists that exist in digital content today. It also allows you to create your own lists to share across social media or on your own website.
3. Medium is a publishing platform that centers on themes. It allows users to curate based on topics or a combination of topics. Therefore, it congregates a unique variety of authors and resources.
4. Hootsuite has a number of possible uses including content scheduling, analytics and promotion, but it also has tools for a content curation library. This fully integrated software allows users to maintain an organized source library to be used in conjunction with its many other features.
5. Scoop.it provides users with the option to create a topic page and then suggests content based on the interests and news sources you specify. From there, you can quickly publish these lists or individual pieces of content to pages or easily share with social media audiences.
6. Curata claims to “increase your content velocity” by showing you how to discover, curate and share relevant content from around the web. It is specifically designed to improve with use by analyzing search results, interests and shares, curating relevant sources based on that data.

This is just a sampling of the many content curation tools that exist today. There are free options, monthly subscription plans and pay-per-use programs. Which platform works best for you will depend on your goals, industry, resource libraries, budget and time. We recommend testing a few of the most popular free tools first. With that experience at hand, and through testing, analysis and adjustments, you can determine how to refine and expand your options for the best possible results.

Curation is Listening

Remember, content curation is in itself a form of communication. It demonstrates where your organization looks for information and showcases other thought leaders within your network. Most importantly, it proves you’re in tune with the marketplace. In a world full of buzz, it’s easy to forget that communication is a two-way street. A word to the wise…don’t get too caught up in shouting your own ideas from the rooftops. Instead, incorporate listening and sharing into your communications strategy.