It’s very easy to fall into the trap of posting only about yourself and your company when starting off in social media. Although there is definitely a time and place for self-promotional posts, you need to balance out your social media strategy.
That’s when curated content comes along. Curated content is any material you find online that was not created by you or your team. It can be anything from a blog post, photograph, meme, video, podcast, an interview, to an infographic.
“Content curation is similar to what a museum curator does to produce an exhibition: They identify the theme, they provide the context, they decide which pieces to include, how they should be annotated, and how each piece should be displayed for the public.” – Kathi Kruse
Here’s a couple of reasons why you need to be including curated content in your social media strategy.
Establishes Credibility
Curating content gives you the opportunity to stay current with what’s going on in your industry and increase your credibility. Sharing relevant curated content can help position you in your field as an industry expert without focusing on only promoting your own knowledge on a determined subject.
“Curating content makes you appear informed and puts you ahead of your competitors in important knowledge.” – Business.com
Helps Building Relationships
Sharing and curating content from others help you make connections with leaders in your industry and spark conversations with your audience in general. When you share a post and tag the author of the content on it, you’re starting a conversation and it’s a great opportunity to connect with them.
“By citing, referencing, and mentioning other authors, a content curator signals his presence, appreciation and viewpoint to them.” – Robin Good
Saves You Time
The best part about adding this element to your overall strategy is less work for you and your business. Even though curating content requires planning, it definitely takes less time than creating pieces from scratch. Most people don’t have enough original content to be posting with the necessary frequency to get the results wanted. By curating content, you can continue to offer good information.
“Curating content saves you time and keeps your social media pages looking active and engaging.” – Meet Edgar
Provides Value To Your Audience
Overall, the addition of curated content to your social strategy not only benefits you and your team by saving you time, it also benefits your audience by providing them with awesome and relevant information. Curated content isn’t only valuable to your audience because of its content. When you’re curating content, you’re also adding your own value to it and delivering something useful to the audience.
“Don’t share the content passively. Make sure it adds value to your social presence. That will in turn add to your stature as an expert in your field.” – Debbie Hemley
Other Things To Consider
The most important thing when using curated content is to give credit where it is due. Plagiarism isn’t cool, and it’s also not going to get you further if you try to pass content off as your own. The beauty of curated content is sharing others’ relevant content to your followers.
Also, make sure to click through and read the content you’re sharing to ensure you’re delivering valuable information to your audience. What you share is a reflection of you.
As with anything, content is about balance. You will still need to create your own original content and share it across your channels, but curated content offers a much-needed break and will benefit you in the long run.
Need help adding curated content to your SMM mix, but aren’t sure what you should be sharing? Contact us today to set up a FREE discovery session with our team – we’d love to help!
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January 2019 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.