Content curation gathers, picks, classifies, remarks on, and presents the most relevant, highest-quality information to meet the brand’s audience’s needs on a particular subject. In my last blog on content curation, I mentioned that content curation cannot be the pivot of any content marketing strategy. However, I also stressed the importance of content curation playing an important role in the broad content mix and for the objective of lead nurturing.
Web content has hemmed readers in today (I even think it might eventually drown us). Over the next few years, there will be more content than ever on the Worldwide Web, as the Internet is only growing.
So what can a marketing person do with all this content? How do he/she discover his/her own great ideas, add their own stamp, and display content that matters?
Content Curation, I believe, is the base from which marketers can both create content (from scratch) and share relevant content (other people’s work in their industry) that their customers and followers will engage with and read.
So Why Curate?
The reality is that most of the customers/buyers are already reading, or at least should be. And since they are reading, sharing relevant information with this audience is a great way to feed content that the marketer doesn’t have to create.
So if the company/brand has an audience on social media platforms like Twitter or LinkedIn or Google+ or Facebook, all that the marketer reads, doesn’t matter if it’s online or even offline, the marketer can transform it into a post that he/she curates and shares. Incidentally, this activity also creates a connection with the people who create the content originally. It’s is called Networking. Ultimately this is the premise on which the Worldwide Web was built on: this idea of garnering attention through other people’s audiences.
- Marketing Promotions Have a Diminishing Return
Audiences today don’t read marketing promotional offers unless they are looking for a deal or information before buying. Most people ignore ads regardless of where they appear and how they look. There are numerous studies that state that self-promotion on social media platform by itself returned a fraction of the clicks with less than average conversions. Au contraire, the combination of original and curated content (read relevant content) returns twice the clicks and delivers better conversion rates.
This makes innate sense since the brand/company is not repeatedly saying ME, ME, ME. Self-promotion is seen for what it is and hence, participants don’t pay attention. Whereas audience think that social media is a method in contributing to the community.
Content curation enables the marketer in speaking about issues crucial to their business and brand while providing their prospects with information they need.
- Marketing Resources Are Forever Limited
Usually, marketing teams don’t have enough budgets and/or resources. This restricts them from constantly creating new and original content. Moreover, it scatters their efforts for maximizing the reach and longevity of their existing information. Most often cited reasons from any marketer is – Lack of time, Inability to produce adequate content, Inability to produce adequate and relevant content and (the highest) Lack of budget. Content curation enables the marketer to renew existing content through good classification and referencing. Most marketers tend to limit themselves to using content from their teams. If they can think holistically about content management across the entire company, then they get access to relevant and equally important free content. The focus should be on re-promoting content that’s still relevant and to re-imagine older content and renew it.
- Buyers Want to Do Their Own Research
A buyer always wants to do his/her own research. This is true irrespective of the business selling to another business or to a consumer. Studies have revealed that buyers are more than half way through their buying process before they contact/reach out to a seller. Buyers are looking for peer content or third-party experts’ content during the buying process and usually have to exit the seller company’s website to find this valuable information. Content curation enables businesses to bring all types of content into one location, so they can be the chaperon and lead the buyer through the buying process.
Content curation requires dedicated efforts. It’s a regular activity and odds are that the marketer won’t see returns initially. However, the efforts are worth it, since the company’s online reputation and social media presence will be even more important in foreseeable future of tons of content. Although several new tools and platforms are popping up daily and making the marketer’s job simpler, human participation is still the most important element for success. Creating a connection with the audience, evaluating content exclusively and discovering the precise mix between creation and curation will define the popularity of the brand’s online presence and its ability to become an industry influencer itself.
