When it comes to owning and running a blog, the toughest challenge is producing large volumes of high-quality content constantly. Often, it appears that you can either have a lot of poorly written posts or a few well-crafted masterpieces that can take days or sometimes weeks to write. Content curation, on the other hand, is a viable solution to this problem.
Curating some or all of your blog posts can actually result in rapidly producing some very prime quality content in terms of insightful information and value.
Focusing on news and information coming from the topmost sources and repurposing it together to create something that offers combined value and a clearer bigger picture is what content curation is in its most simple form.
It fulfills your content need and fills up your blog with content that you can be proud of for years to come.
In this blog post, we will cover the following topics: –
- What is Content Curation?
- Why is it beneficial for a blog site or section?
- How to curate content for your own blog?
- Which tools to use for content curation?
Let’s begin!
What is Content Curation?
Let’s start with what it’s not! It’s definitely not copying and pasting content from other blog sites and shamelessly calling it your own.
Instead, content curation is a process of collecting and compiling valuable information from trusted sources, with added value in form of your own fresh insights into the subject.
Curated Content | A Definition
Curated content comes in different forms.
It can be content created by a variety of other content creators; brands or individuals that you collect and share on your social media platforms with your set of followers.
Content curation can be referred to as an act as simple as sharing a link within a blog post, a list of quotes from industry experts, or simply sharing a social media post originally published by someone else.
That is the simplest way to define what curated content is; however, there’s a lot more to it.
What is a Web Curator?
Similar to a museum curator whose job role is to acquire, look after and develop a collection of artifacts to be displayed at museums; a Web Curator discovers only the best content available on Digital Media; which includes web, mobile, and others, to be shared with its relevant audiences.
A Web Curator conducts research, coordinates, edits, and integrates the work of various writers; analyzes the content need and studies content consumption data to optimize new content and develops a schedule for updates, archiving, and keeping a check on ongoing productions; with designers to create layouts that adhere to established branding and style guidelines.
How to curate content for your blog
You can curate content that you believe your audience will find useful, add your own commentary, and publish it on your blog. As long as you don’t plagiarise, break any laws, publish duplicate content, or fail to attribute the source with a backlink to the original content, content curation is a viable way to bring interesting content to your audience and increase your blog post publishing schedule. The following are six simple ways to curate content on your blog in a useful, legal, and ethical manner.
1) Know your audience:
Put as much thought into your audience’s alignment with the content you’re curating as you do when you’re creating from scratch. Is this content worth planning? Ask yourself:
- In what ways does this piece of content benefit my audience?
- How does it relate to the problem(s) they’re experiencing?
- Is this consistent with the way my target customers perceive my brand?
- Is it worth the effort? Am I able to work it? Is it permissible for me to remove this link, flip it, and incorporate it into my social content feed?
2) Credit your sources
A reliable source of curated content must be recognizable, trustworthy, and relevant to your target audience. Choosing credible sources has an effect on your own credibility and the quality of your blog. When evaluating a source, ensure that its claims are factually accurate and supported by research.
Additionally, you’ll want your sources to consistently produce high-quality content. Avoid sources that contain a high number of grammatical or spelling errors and those with poor web design. Regularly updated sources are preferable because you can rely on them to deliver content.
3) Excerpt and annotate your content
As we mentioned earlier, Content curation does not mean stealing from another website and posting it on your own, it does mean using that content in a new and creative way. Each post you curate needs to have some of your own words and ideas added to it. Because of this, it is essential to take this step.
For starters, copying other people’s content and claiming it as your own is illegal. Plagiarism also doesn’t earn you much respect in the blogging community. It will almost certainly harm your reputation, reducing your chances of gaining a loyal following.
You’ll also want to add annotations to the content you’ve sourced for SEO reasons. If you write the same thing over and over, it will be hard for you to get on the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs). Differentiating your post gives it a better chance of getting more attention from people who read it.
4) Aggregate additional content
The term “aggregation” refers to another way to properly curate content. This is when you put together a list of articles or other resources that you think your readers will be interested in and share it with them. A lot of news sites, like theSkimm, use this strategy.
If you want, you can use aggregated content to make up the majority of your blog posts. However, for the same reasons mentioned in the previous steps, it’s good to write a summary for your own site highlighting key points and then linking to the original article.
5) Curate Content Into an Online Video
Curated content does not have to be published in written form on your blog. You could make a video with your insights about a single piece of curated content or multiple pieces of curated content, upload it to YouTube, and embed it anywhere on your blog. Just make sure to include the URLs to all of your sources in both the video and the written description.
6) Publish Curated Round-Up Blog Posts
Publishing round-up blog posts are one of the most popular ways to use content curation to boost your blog posting schedule and share interesting content from around the web with your audience.
For instance, you could write a weekly round-up post in which you share links and descriptions of great content from various sources on a specific topic. You can even include a brief comment with each link. This is an excellent way to share useful information with your audience and demonstrate to other content publishers that you appreciate what they’re doing. Consider it a first step toward establishing a relationship with other publishers you admire.
Digital curation tools and software
1) Hootsuite
Not to brag, but Hootsuite can not only help you plan, schedule, and analyze your curated posts, but it can also find the content for you.
You can use Hootsuite Streams to track keywords, topics, or specific accounts and see all new content posted. You can leave a comment or share relevant content directly from the stream for super-fast content curation. Nothing on the planet is easier than that.
2) Google News Alerts
Google Alerts allows you to enter any topic or name and receive email notifications whenever there is new information about it. You can use Google Alerts to keep track of any mentions of your company’s name or of your competitors. Alternatively, keep up with general news in your industry by searching for terms like “social media marketing.”
3) Talkwalker
When it comes to social listening, Talkwalker turns the volume all the way up to 11. Talkwalker does more than just index social media platforms; with over 150 million sources, it delves deep into the subject matter. Websites, blogs, forum posts, product reviews buried deep within obscure websites — you name it, Talkwalker will find it.
They have a Hootsuite app, which means you can easily curate great content right from your Hootsuite dashboard, which is the best part. Everything from top publishers to unique user-generated content can be discovered and shared on this platform.
4) Curate by UpContent
Curate by UpContent is yet another powerful content discovery tool that finds the highest-quality content for you to share across all of your social media channels.
This app allows for a great deal of customization, including the ability to change calls to action, URLs, and the ability to upload custom images to keep curated content consistent with the brand.
5) ContentGems
ContentGems is an easy-to-use tool for keeping track of topics and discovering new content. Its strength comes from its simplicity: fewer distractions = more focus on the content.
The best part is that ContentGems is completely free to use, and it even works with a free Hootsuite account. From side hustlers to Fortune 500 companies, curated content automation can benefit anyone.
6) Filter8
Filter8 is free to use, just like ContentGems, and comes with a free Hootsuite account. It finds content based on topics you specify, but the ability to sort results by popularity is a particularly useful feature. You can find top-tier content this way, or you can sort by least popular to find hidden gems that will help you stand out.
Filter8 shares the posts you choose in a compiled magazine-style format by default. However, you are not required to use it in this manner. You can use it to find new content, then copy the URL and schedule it in Hootsuite just like the rest of your content.
Curated Content Sites
We’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite Curated Content Sites that make effective use of content curation to create interesting and useful content.
1) Life Hacker
One of the first productivity blogs to appear on the internet was LifeHacker. “Lifehacker curates tips and tricks for living better in the digital age “Curated articles cover a wide range of topics, including how to put together a nice wardrobe for a low budget, new apps that improve your life, productivity techniques, how to be happy and manage practical aspects of your life, and even simple domestic tasks, such as an easier way to separate egg yolks with a plastic bottle or how to manage your money more effectively.
2) IO9
Io9 is part of the Gawker Media blog network, which also includes Life Hacker. This blog is about science, culture, and entertainment in the future.
In order to keep the information to a minimum, they use a lot of good visuals, gifs, and images.
3) UpWorthy
UpWorthy is a generic news site that gained a lot of attention after a rapid increase in its audience.
A lot of their content is based on generic news, but their headlines are known for their meticulous attention to detail and they’re well-known for their meticulous attention to detail when it comes to crafting catchy headlines.
4) 99u
99u is a Creative Career Tips website, and its motto is “Insights to Make Ideas Happen. “They curate productivity tips, career advice for creatives, innovation, time management, and so on.
They also provide conferences and events, as well as unique proprietary content. They have a section called “Workbook” that is entirely curated content, in the traditional format: introduction + opinion, quote, and link to the original source.
5) CMO.com
As the name suggests, this one is highly focused on marketing. CMO is all about saving time. The curated section contains one introductory hook paragraph, and the headline is usually long and illustrative.
It’s a quick way to stay up to date on the latest marketing trends, and they have two scheduled newsletters, such as a Marketing Fundamentals Weekly Digest.
They use curated content to reach out to their target audience with high-quality articles and to promote the Adobe (again) Marketing Suite.
Conclusion:
It’s always important to add some value to the content you’re sharing: summarise, include key takeaways, or how your industry or company is different from other businesses when it comes to this piece of contentContent curation is an excellent way to keep your audience engaged while you create unique and compelling content.
