I recently attended the event, “Content (Curation) is King” where Shannon Harvey shared what she knew about content curation. A simple definition of content curation is making an editorial decision about a lot of content. Think of your online presence as a museum, as a curator, your responsibility is to secure the best pieces of art for public consumption. Museum curators have to sift through a lot of pieces to get to the gems. This process helps to strengthen the brand of the museum, and it is the same for you. Curating content is not an easy task, but it is worth the effort, especially when you get it “right” and offer content that your readers really like.
Why Curate Content?
- For competitive research to monitor what your competitors are doing.
- Extend your reach and brand.
- Stay abreast of current events.
- Build credibility.
- Improve search engine optimization.
- Uncover new trends that are shaping the industry.
- Professional development.
- To generate leads.
- To market your products and services.
- To find new customers.
6 Steps to Curating Content
- Step 1: Define the topic that you plan to curate content for.
- Step 2: Know your audience, who they are and what they are interested in. Where do they look for content and what types of media they consume. Create an audience profile – use http://www.quantcast.com to help you in finding the demographics of your readers.
- Step 3: Find your sources for great content: Look at what thought leaders are saying, can sign up for people to follow on LinkedIn. News sources are another way to find great content, and sign up for Google alerts, SmartBriefs, Alltop, Management Issues, HuffPost, LinkedIn Today. You can find great articles at Magportal.
- Step 4: Gather and filter. Choose the content wisely and pick content from a variety of format types – video, article, blog post, presentation, infographic…
- Step 5: Add value. Do not just present the information as is, add your opinion and why the content should matter to others. How can people apply the information?
- Step 6: Publish and re-purpose your content and always remember to attribute the source.
Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. How do you curate your content and what sources do you use for content curation? If you enjoyed this post, please share it.
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