What is content curation?
Content curation, as the name suggests, is the act of collecting content on a specific topic (or set of topics) from high-quality, credible sources and then sharing them to your own audience.
If you wish to learn more about this topic, check out the FAQ section below:
Question #1: How do I do content creation?
As we have seen earlier, content creation is all about collecting content from different sources and then sharing them to your own followers. Sounds simple enough, right? To make the most out of it, however, there are a couple of things you need to consider.
First, you need to really know your audience. Who are they? What are their primary pain points? What are they interested in? What type of language do they use? What is their humor like? The more you know about your audience, the easier it would be for you to find content to curate.
Keep in mind that content curation is not just about collecting random content from other people and sharing them with your followers. You need to find content that you know your audience would be interested in, get value out of, or, better yet, both. So, this means keeping your search within a specific niche (or collection of related niches).
Second, you need to find credible sources to curate content from. While it is extremely easy to find content on virtually any topic you could think of these days, finding high-quality content that contains accurate information is not as straightforward. You need to make sure you are only curating content from established sources known to be authorities in their field.
Finally, you need to fact check before sharing any content you find. The last thing you want is to end up spreading false information or fake news because it can negatively impact your credibility.
Question #2: What are the benefits of content curation?
The benefits of content curation include making it easier for you to:
- Post more consistently
- Provide value to your audience
- Establish yourself as an authority
- Grow your network
Let us take a closer look at each one.
First, content curation allows you to more easily keep a consistent posting schedule because instead of always having to think of and create new content yourself, you can simply share other people’s content from time to time.
Second, as a result of you being able to post valuable content more frequently, you will be able to provide significantly more value to your followers without having to do significantly more work.
Third, another effect of you being able to post a lot of valuable content is that people will start to see you as an authority on whatever topics the content you are posting is about. It does not matter if not all the content you post comes from you. Just make sure you add your own thoughts—even just a sentence or two—whenever you share someone else’s post.
Finally, when you share the content of other people and credit them, you get on their radar and open up opportunities for a collaboration, shout out, or some other mutually beneficial arrangement, especially if your post brings them new traffic.
Question #3: What types of content can I curate?
You can curate virtually any type of content, including:
- Articles
- Whitepapers
- Social media posts
- Videos
- Blog posts
As long as it is well-produced, accurate, and valuable to your followers, you can curate it.
Question #4: What are the risks of content curation?
The risks of content curation include:
- Losing your identity and branding
- Accidentally spreading false information or fake news
- Plagiarism
Let us take a look at each one and see how we can avoid them.
First, since curated content comes from different sources that most likely have a different branding, they might end up obscuring yours. To avoid this, make sure you post everything in your own voice—whether or not it is curated. Also, make sure you post your own content as well instead of relying solely on content curation.
Second, as we have seen earlier, if you do not fact check the content you curate, you risk sharing false information or fake news. So, make sure to always do so before sharing anything.
Finally, do not ever forget to credit your sources. Otherwise, you are just plagiarising content instead of curating it.