Should Content Curation be a Part of your Content Marketing Strategy?

While the term content curation is usually familiar for most marketers, not every marketer prioritizes content curation as an important part of their overall content marketing or content development strategy. 

The truth is, content curation can serve to fill the lags faced in any content strategy and it can help create a more robust and value-driven content marketing process. 

And for those who are not completely in the know, a good content curation effort can also help compliment your overall SEO strategy. 

Back in 2015, research showed that 82% of B2B  marketers and businesses chose to curate content, also citing finding time to build their own content one of their biggest challenges. 

While a lot has definitely evolved in B2B marketing and content marketing since then, with today’s AI-powered content management systems and content marketing software like BuzzSumo, even SEO support tools like Ubersuggest, it is easier for content marketers and B2B marketing leaders to define what type of content they want to create within a specific time frame while aligning it to audience and reader interests with the aim of driving buying cycles. 

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Making Content Curation a Part of your Content Marketing Strategy

Content marketing is by far a creative field, requiring the right mix of knowledge, writing skill, art and science (read: data!) to drive brand engagement and buyer journeys. For anything that requires creativity, like content writing and designing the artwork to go with it, curation becomes an important part of the activity. Good curation can inspire content teams to drive their own unique creativity and flow. 

In today’s digital first marketing and sales environment, there is no dearth of information, every prospect and buyer has access to different kinds of product reviews, comparison charts and brand updates to help them make informed buying decisions. 

Content curation can be undertaken and built into a content marketing strategy to help drive engagement using all this ready made information. For brands that regularly curate and share content written and posted by other influencers, users, brand partners, etc – they create a community of followers and readers that are more engaged and interactive. 

What are some of the Fundamentals to Keep in Mind?

Content curation is an activity that involves collecting online content and presenting it through your own marketing channels (social media, email marketing, etc) while attributing credit to the original content creator and brand. This process also requires content marketers to identify relevant content that is worth curating, content that the audience would react to. 

Understanding these basics can help content marketers who are toying with the idea of building a content curation step into their overall content marketing strategy. 

Top Content Curation Tips and Best Practices

Dedicate a day in the week to post content that’s curated, not created

Most seasoned content marketers will have a content marketing plan in place that showcases content types (blogs, videos, etc) that need to go up date-wise. This helps serve as a sort of content creation calendar. Reserving a date in the week (for example: Fridays) to post curated content can be a start.

Most B2B marketers who curate content post blogs written by thought-leaders, re-share value-add social media posts, retweet an industry update or tip. 

Choose which channels will be used for your content curation activity

Knowing what content to curate and when is one part of the activity. Identifying the marketing channels that would be used to share curated content will help set a stronger process in place. 

Most B2B marketers choose to use their social media channels to curate and share industry specific content. Several marketing leaders also use their brand newsletters and include a section in it that is used to share curated content from the industry as a value-add. 

Curate content that is credible and unbiased

Before using another source or reference/brand, it is important to ensure that the information you are about to reshare or re-tweet is validated, credible and above all unbiased. A brand can still be held liable for what they may share on certain social media channels. 

Maintain a balance between your content curation and content creation efforts

Content curation can be a small part of a brand’s overall content marketing strategy. Content curation can actually be a handy way for lean teams and especially start-ups to build online engagement using the unlimited information and content already available online.

It goes without saying, developing your own original content has to be the integral part of your content strategy, content curation can help compliment it. 

Last Thoughts

Content curation can serve B2B marketers several benefits. Content curation can also help teams with lower budgets or fewer resources to easily engage with more markets and audiences. B2B content marketers who have a strong content curation practice in place usually follow a content curation strategy that aligns with their overall theme and content marketing goals. 

Curated content can feed your content pipeline, help boost online brand presence, interaction and engagement at a fraction of the cost and effort it takes to build your own range of blogs, webinars, podcasts, etc.

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