Content curation is one of the easiest most fun I’ve had when creating a marketing strategies. It helps when you see positive results. Oo I bet you’re saying I’ve gone over the edge by suggesting using content curation in a marketing strategy. Well color me blind. Been wanting to use that in a post, and when I found the rainbow umbrella image it was destined.
What Content Curation is NOT
Let’s start by saying content curation is NOT content aggregation. Each methodology, discipline, practice, whatever you want to call it, has its place and role in the world of strategizing for maximum results in a content marketing campaign. But what most people tend to forget or add time for during their busy day is taking the time to listen, watch, and observe everything around you. We’re all in such a hurry. Look I know you’re guilty, so don’t even go there, I’m sure a lot of you RT stuff because it’s from a “famous” person, or because you liked it (without reading it), maybe someone asked you to, I can think of a hundred and one reasons why I share, RT, G+ in a day. The only thing that saves most of us from pissing off a few hours a day is we have to stick to a strategy, a plan, and the ultimate goal.
Business Strategy for Curation
What does that mean exactly? Let’s break it down to small bites. What does a business strategy really mean. Wiki’s definition is “Business Strategy entails specifying the organization‘s mission, vision and objectives, developing policies and plans, often in terms of projects and programs, which are designed to achieve these objectives, and then allocating resources to implement the policies and plans, projects and programs.” Therefore when managing and creating a strategy your ultimate goal is to convey a message that connects to your users. It grabs them and says “pay attention“.
Therefore, as a content curator you must first understand the message and then use the (mind-set) classical definition of a museum curator. Share only excellent content, videos, infographic, etc. I know most of you are thinking it’s not an easy thing to do. You’re right. That’s why from the onset you have to WRITE THINGS DOWN. Everything from your keywords, to what content you will use, how often etc. Remember this is only a small part of the whole content marketing campaign. As always, keep it simple but great.
Scoop.it The Cool Tool
It should be of no surprise to anyone I love using Scoop.it. We’ve had some great results, and the practice of curating content, becomes a passion. With Scoop.it I’ve grown accustomed to the dashboard, the output is gorgeous, when coupled with Hootsuite you can’t ask for a better and easier task for creating a strong brand in your content curation campaign. But to be fair, look around don’t take my word for it. I’ve seen Curata, used Pearltrees, actually here’s a post by Shirley Williams with over 40 Social Media Curating tools. Therefore, make sure whatever tool you use it can do a few things:
- Share easily with your social networks
- Options to pull in as many RSS feeds as you like
- Ability to edit even after you posted a link
- Is good-looking
- Allows you to post your own images when relevant
- Offers some type of analytic
- Lets you connect with your readers
And that’s how you can grasp, create and command an excellent understanding of content curation. The actions will show in the results and this will help define and brand your message.
In Summary
Now that we’ve cleared up a few things about content curation, don’t forget to use relevant keywords in your strategy. Consider words that best describe who/what/why/where your brand is and incorporate them within your keywords. So now I ask take five-minute ride inside my brain via the video below. Actually, you may have already seen the video, but there’s always so much more to say when it comes to something you are passionate about. Content Curation, is my passion but it’s also a smart choice when used correctly. If you have a favorite curating tool please share it in our comment area below. Enjoy the video!
3 Responses
The aforementioned curation tools provide easy and free access to the world of content curation. But for those that are serious about curating their content, Curata provides a content production and distribution tool designed to deliver high quality leads and elevated market visibility. It’s content curation and marketing rolled into one.
Hey Ramiro, thanks for your input. I’ve never used it personally but I’m willing to give it a try. In retrospect I’m glad I added them (Curata) as another option. 😉
Content curation may not be a popular way to do things, but that’s part of what makes it effective. Thanks for the post.