If you are a content writer, chances are that you would have come across the term “Curated Content” in the past.Although most content writers may tell you what curated content refers to, not many can tell you how to use it to shift your content marketing to the next level.

Fact is, there are lots of benefits you can reap if you intelligently curate content on your blog, website, or social media accounts. How can you do that?

This article will be teaching you all you need to know about curated content and how to apply them for optimum effect.Let’s get going!

What is Curated Content?

According to Co Schedule, curated content refers to content from the web that has been sorted through and shared on a brand’s digital platforms. This type of content is created by other organizations but shared by a brand because they believe it will be of interest to their audience. See https://coschedule.com/marketing-terms-definitions/curated-content/, for details.

Hootsuite defines curated content as content created by others that you select to share with your audience. This could be a valuable blog post from a company in your field, expert advice from a relevant thought leader, or anything else that you think your audience will appreciate and enjoy. Visit https://blog.hootsuite.com/beginners-guide-to-content-curation/, for details.

Content.ly defines curated content in simple terms. According to them, curated content isthe strategic sharing of other people’s work. Just as museum curators select, arrange, and display artifacts, digital content creators synthesize a handpicked collection of content for their target audiences and disseminate it via their online platforms. For details, visit https://compose.ly/strategy/what-is-curated-content/.

From these definitions, it is quite clear that content curation or curated content refers to sharing selected content created by other organizations on your digital platforms, to meet the needs of your audience.

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What are the benefits of Curated Content?

The benefits of curated content is what makes it popular even among established brands. Here, we will be discussing just some of the benefits of curated content. So what these benefits?

Keeps your content calendar Full

We all know how important it is to keep your audience engaged by posting content frequently across your blog, website, and social media touchpoints. However, sometimes it may become a challenge producing quality posts consistently for your digital platforms.

Curated content helps you fill up blank spaces on your content calendar, maintain high engagement with your audience while meeting their needs as well.

It’s Cost Effective

There is a general feeling among folks that free stuff is usually substandard. However, in the case of curated content, there is nothing farther from the truth than that kind of statement.

With curated content, you can get high-quality content at no cost. All you need do is search for quality content in your niche, and share it on your digital platforms. However, to avoid having any issues, acknowledge the source you got the content from and you are good to go.

This is an effective way to maintain engagement with your audience when you do not have the resources to consistently produce high-quality content.

Offer value to your audience

As the popular saying goes, “no one is an island”. Sometimes, trending content that is of interest to your audience might be just outside your area of expertise. Sharing a carefully selected content on such occasions ensures that you keep offering value to your audience.This is another reason why even popular brands use curated content.

Using curated content on your digital platforms demonstrates to your audience that you care about providing quality content to meet their needs.

Establish yourself as a brand leader

When you share the best content out there with your audience, it is a sure signal that you knowyour stuff. Besides, it makes your audience confident that every content they find on your digital platforms is worth reading.

However, as you curate content on your digital platforms, ensure to add your thoughts on the content. It could come as a short introduction that summarizes your take on the issue.

Build your network with thought leaders

Sharing the content of other organizations will help you connect with thought leaders in your field especially if the shared content results in new traffic for them.

In addition, you can do one better by sending them a message, appreciating their content, and telling them how much your audience enjoyed it. These will help you quickly connect with thought leaders in your niche.

It improves your search engine ranking

Did you know that properly curated content makes your blog or website more attractive to search engines? Yes, it does! This is so because of frequent posting, keywords used, and links.

In fact, google spiders and social media algorithms favor frequent updates. They prioritize your content over others when you post quality content frequently.

In addition, sharing links to the content of others may result in these or other online media, sharing links to your website or blog. This will lead to an increase in the ranking of your blog or website. So, you always win when you curate content intelligently.

How to curate content for great results

It would not be altogether surprising if at this moment you were already considering how to go about using curated content in your content marketing efforts. This section will be guiding you on how to curate content for maximum results.

Know Your Audience

Have you noticed that all the adverts you see on Facebook and other social media platforms are usually about things you are interested in? This is only so because their Apps have been configured to save your browsing data and transmit it to their servers. This forms the basis for the adverts you see when you log into your Facebook account.

Even though you may not have the resources at Facebook’s disposal, you should at least pick the principle oflearning about your audience before sharing any content with them. Knowing your audience simply refers to understanding your audience, their needs, what resonates with them, etc.

This knowledge should guide your decision on what to share with them or not.This is the first step in learning how to curate content for effective results.

And as you start sharing some content with your audience, look out for those that engage them the most and share more of that kind of content, as that is an indication of what your audience is interested in.

Add your perspective

People visit your blog, website, or social media page because they wish to read what you have to say. Curating content does not mean you should not add your perspective to it. In fact, it is even more reason why you should add your perspective, so you do not come across to your audience as lazy.

As mentioned earlier, your take does not have to be elaborate. It could be as little as two or three sentences. However, ensure that you offer your perspective on the issue in those short sentences.

Tag the original source to your post

Content curation is all about sharing another’s content, not stealing or plagiarizing it. To maintain professionalism and credibility, ensure to tag the source of your curated content. This can help connect you with thought leaders in your field and reinforce your credibility with your audience.

In addition, when curating content, do not copy and paste the whole article on your blog or website. Simply copy a few lines and then add the link to the original page, so that those interested in completing the article can proceed to the original page and finish up.

Curate content from credible sources

As much as possible, try to limit your curated content source to only credible and recognized organizations that easily command respect. Why should you do that?

Firstly, these organizations invest lots of resources into research.So you can be sure that most, if not all their content is credible and backed by data.

In addition,the credibility these organizations command will rub off on your blog’s credibility when you share their content. For instance, if a tech blog shares a blog from Microsoft about the tech industry, it adds to the credibility of the tech blog.

Finally, your audience will be more enthusiastic to read a blog bearing the tag of another big organization than they will be willing to read that of an obscure organization.So try to limit your curated content source to only popular and established brands.

Check the facts before sharing

Even when you curate content from only established brands, do not make the mistake of publishing it on your digital platform without cross-checking the facts. This becomes even more necessary when you are sharing the content of a not-so-known organization.

You do not want tobe remembered as the website or blog that shared false content, do you? That is why it is necessary to crosscheck the facts before sharing another organization’s content.

Conclusion

Content Curation has lots of benefits waiting to be tapped if you know what to do. Simply follow the guidelines presented in this article, as you add curated content to your content marketing strategy.They will help you master the art of maximizing the benefits of curated content. To your success as you proceed on your journey in content curation!

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