Content curation involves using other people's content for your business blog and it is a surprisingly common practice. In fact, it has been estimated that 95% of all marketers use curated content to some degree. However, it is important to understand how content curation should work and when it should be used if you don't want this particular strategy to backfire on you.

What is Content Curation?

There are several forms of content curation. These are:

  • Content Aggregation. This involves compiling relevant information on a particular topic into a single location. It is the most common form of content curation and many websites that use this strategy post numerous blog posts in a single day on a particular topic. Content aggregation encourages visitors to come back to your blog repeatedly as there are always lots of new content to see.
  • Creating Content Mashups. Content mashups are a mix of content published on other websites and original content you have created. Mashups are ideal if you like a portion of a particular blog post or article but don't want to repost it in its entirety on your site. This strategy is also effective if you come across older content that is still useful but needs to be updated to be fully relevant. Furthermore, adding an original twist to existing content can boost your standing in Google, as the search engine giant is always looking for high quality original content as opposed to reposted content from another website.
  • Content distillation. Content distillation, as the name implies, involves using only certain quotations, tweets and/or other social media posts from other organizations. Distilled content may use various sources in the same post; however, none of the content in the post is originally created by you.

The Advantages of Curated Content

Content curation has a number of advantages:

  • It enables you to stand out as a thought leader in your field
  • It generates traffic to your blog and increases social sharing
  • It is a good way to network with others in similar industries as you share related content from non-competitive businesses and they return the favor by sharing your content on their websites.
  • It helps you get a blog started off on the right foot as you can immediately pack it out with good content from the getgo.
  • It makes it possible for you to keep your blog up to date without having to spend a lot of time and money creating a steady stream of original content on an ongoing basis.

When to Avoid Curated Content

Content curation is great but it does have its limitations. You should never curate a white paper, ebook or any other type of content that will be used as an incentive to collect email addresses. People expect content offered as “landing page bait” to be original.

You cannot rely on curated content to help you promote a particular product or service. While promotional blog posts should not make up the majority of your blog posts they are important nonetheless. You will need content that has a clear call to action at the end and such content should always be originally created either by you or by a content marketing firm who understand the benefits of your goods and/or services.

Never use outdated content that contains statistics or financial facts and figures. You can make yourself look really bad if your readers research your content and find out it is out of date and inaccurate. What is more, you can be held legally liable in some cases if you publish some types of inaccurate content. This point holds especially true for educational institutions, financial institutions and lawyers but may also apply to a number of other industries.

Is it Right for You?

Using curated content is a common business practice that enables companies to provide a steady stream of targeted content to potential customers and business partners. If you do careful research and choose high quality, accurate, up to date content on an ongoing basis, those who read your blog will come to see you as a thought leader in your industry even though they know that not all the content is yours. This can in turn generate a social media buzz around your blog that will in turn increase your standing in Google.

At the same time, every business owner should understand that a blog simply cannot run on only curated content. It must also have an abundance of original content in order to effectively promote products and services, stand out in Google's search engine and provide up to date information that you may not be able to find from other sources. If you are unable to create your own winning content on an ongoing basis, consider getting in touch with Brandgy at your convenience. We offer several content marketing plans that include top quality content and social media posts to enable you to spread your message in a professional, attractive manner both now and in the future.