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August 16, 2021 Content Chat Recap: Content Curation At Scale

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Brand communities want to receive valuable content and resources from a range of reputable sources on that brand’s content channels—not just the company’s owned content. Especially if that owned content is a blatant sales asset.

In this #ContentChat, we explain how to curate content that your community will love. Read the full recap below for tips on how to find the best curated content sources for your community, our favorite content curation tools, and engaging ways to share curated content across your channels.

Q1: What is content curation, and how can it benefit a brand’s marketing strategy?

Content curation is a process in which you identify and share reputable third-party resources with your brand or personal community.

An effective content curation strategy can build your brand reputation, help nurture relationships, and ideally drive website traffic.

The content you curate should lend a perspective on a topic of interest to your community. Ideally, this content will naturally extend from the content you create and answer new questions for your community.

Content curation can also lighten your team’s content creation needs.

Q2: How do you identify the best curated content sources for your community?

Audience research is essential to find your community’s preferred content sources. Start by talking with customers or peers as relevant, and validate this information with a broader reader survey.

Identify thought leaders in your space and follow them on social media, subscribe to their newsletter, and regularly visit their blog. If relevant, you can create a Google Alert to be alerted of new content on key topics.

Tools like Feedly are helpful for content curation, and we share more tool recommendations in Q6.

When evaluating sources, Erika recommends you avoid sites that have spammy ads or pop-ups that detract from the reader experience. If a piece of content does not link to its sources, do not share that content.

And be conscious of if sites disclose compensation or conflicts of interest (i.e. a paid engagement masked as general “thought leadership”).

Q3: What goals can content curation support?

Content curation can support a range of business goals. Erika and the community most often use content curation to support thought leadership, influencer outreach, website engagement, lead nurturing, and brand building objectives.

To drill into specifics, effective content curation provides value to your audience, nurtures your relationship with them, and can help drive engagement on your channels.

Content curation places your brand within the larger industry that you and your customers operate. It invites conversation and engagement.

Rachel explains how content curation is a springboard for expertise, exposure, and ease:

Q4: What does your content curation process look like?

At a high level, most marketers first find their curated content, organize that content, and then share it in a variety of formats across channels.

Finding content can take a considerable amount of time if you are not focused. It is easy to get lost in the day’s news or your social feeds, and before you know it 2 hours have passed and you have nothing to share.

Melanie recommends filtering newsletters into a separate email folder so that you can review them during a set time.

Rachel sets aside one day a week to find content to curate for her clients.

Q5: What channels can marketers use for content curation?

Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are often the first channels that marketers think of for content curation, but don’t limit yourself to those three (or any combination of social channels). Share content in blog posts, podcasts, email newsletters, within your brand communities, and in any internal communications channels like Slack or your intranet.

Think of your customer journey. What channels do they engage on throughout their day?

Regardless of the channel(s) you prioritize, explain why a piece of content is relevant and be creative in how you share the content. Your audience will gain no value from a laundry list of links.

Q6: What content curation tools do you recommend?

Check out all the content curation tools and resource recommendations below. They include Feedly, Flipboard, Evernote, Pocket, Bear Notes App, blog and industry publication RSS feeds, and more.

Per Martin, the key to effective content curation is to share it in a way that shows why you care and why your community should, too. Which leads us to our final question…

Q7: How can marketers share curated content with their community in a fun, engaging, and natural way?

Do not auto-share every headline of a potentially relevant post in your content curation channels. You need to share content in a way that encourages people to engage.

Explain why a piece of content resonated with you/your team or why you may disagree with it. Or, explain how you would take the piece further and add a piece of advice or an area that could also be explored.

Ask a question to your community.

And include a call to action like the ones Rachel recommends below:

Do not simply post a link with “Thoughts?” This posting style is common to spark disagreement amongst followers, and it could support unhealthy discourse in your communities (which will eventually tarnish your brand reputation).

About Alek Irvin

Alek Irvin is a content marketing professional with a rich history in social media management, executive thought leadership development, and media relations. As a consultant at Erika Heald Marketing Consulting, he creates human-focused content and thought leadership platforms that help brand leaders connect and engage with their communities. Alek has worked with a range of startups and Fortune 500 companies across the B2B technology and consumer spaces, including IBM, Dell Technologies, Hitch Works, Emtrain, Integrate, and Frameable. Connect with him on Twitter @AlekIrvin.

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