How to Build and Maintain an Audience With Content Curation
Consistently posting new content offers several benefits, including more organic traffic and higher rankings in Google and other search engine results pages for targeted keywords. But original content creation is time-consuming and can be expensive. Fortunately, there’s a way you can keep your website fresh and continue to serve-up relevant content to your audience: curation.
Although curated content by itself isn’t enough to increase organic traffic or raise the domain authority of your website, there are definite advantages to hosting (and promoting) content from other creators.
Content can be posted on social media channels, such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, or it can be part of a newsletter or a roundup blog post. Mention the source of the article and/or author to build relationships with influencers and thought-leaders in your space who may do the same for your site’s original content.
Why does the Content Marketing Institute recommend this 80/20 split? Because content marketing is considered “pull” marketing – it attracts users by offering topics your audience is searching for rather than pushing sales messages through traditional advertisements. Pull marketing has the potential to transform your relationship with customers by proving that you’re more interested in helping them make an informed decision than overwhelming them with sales pitches.
If you want to streamline your search or provide more targeted topics to your audience, there are tools that can help you present a steady stream of relevant, curated content.
Tools that allow you to find and distribute content will help you stay at the forefront of the subjects your audience is interested in. Some great content curation tools to check out include:
If you’d like to learn more about this subject, the Digital Marketing Summit may be just the place to look. These regional events bring together thought-leaders and experts from every area of digital marketing to keep you ahead of the curve, and the competition. Also be sure to check out our digital marketing resource center for articles, webinars, videos, and more.
Although curated content by itself isn’t enough to increase organic traffic or raise the domain authority of your website, there are definite advantages to hosting (and promoting) content from other creators.
What is content curation?
Content curation is finding material that your audience will be interested in, then hosting it on your blog and/or strategically distributing it on your communication channels. By sharing a variety of content that’s relevant to your customers, you can attract new and returning readers and maintain an online presence.Content can be posted on social media channels, such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, or it can be part of a newsletter or a roundup blog post. Mention the source of the article and/or author to build relationships with influencers and thought-leaders in your space who may do the same for your site’s original content.
Shouldn’t content be tied to my services or products?
A good rule of thumb is to limit branded, sales-related material to about 20 percent of your overall content portfolio; the remaining 80 percent should focus on your customers’ pain points, questions, and needs.Why does the Content Marketing Institute recommend this 80/20 split? Because content marketing is considered “pull” marketing – it attracts users by offering topics your audience is searching for rather than pushing sales messages through traditional advertisements. Pull marketing has the potential to transform your relationship with customers by proving that you’re more interested in helping them make an informed decision than overwhelming them with sales pitches.
What kind of content should I look for?
This depends on your brand and the goals for your content. Of course, you want to maintain an online presence to stay visible and drive traffic, but your content doesn’t just attract attention; it can also educate your audience to help move them through the buyer’s journey toward a conversion. For example, if someone else has written a great blog post that answers some of the questions your audience may have at the awareness stage, hosting that content on your blog and sharing it through email or social media may help drive them to choose a solution – hopefully yours.How do I find content to curate?
If you’re just beginning the curation process and you’re a one-person shop or part of a small team, newsletters , trade publications, and news feeds can be helpful resources. You can also look at sources that provide an interesting perspective on relevant topics, but going to individual sites can be time-consuming.If you want to streamline your search or provide more targeted topics to your audience, there are tools that can help you present a steady stream of relevant, curated content.
Content curation tools
Tools that allow you to find and distribute content will help you stay at the forefront of the subjects your audience is interested in. Some great content curation tools to check out include:
- Pocket – Storing articles in a convenient list is easy with this tool. You can save interesting articles on this software and review them at your convenience.
- Scoop.it – Keep pace with daily updates of subjects that you’d like to share. This tool serves up relevant articles that you can review and share, and also provides a list of complementary topics that might be relevant to your audience. The cost of this software ranges from free (you can monitor one topic on two social media accounts) to $67.00 per month for broader services.
- Feedly – This tool aggregates a few of your preferred sources into a convenient feed that allows you to browse and import content into your communication platform from one device. You can also search for specific content by title, author, or subject matter. The cost of this service varies and includes a free option.
- Sniply – Add a call-to-action to every piece of content you curate with Sniply. Not only can you add a clickable button, you can also shorten the link so that it can be shared via Twitter. The cost of a subscription is between $29 and $299 per month.
Learn more about content curation
When you create high-quality, relevant content that’s focused on your primary audience, you demonstrate that you care about their interests more than you care about yours. The same is true about sharing content from other sources.If you’d like to learn more about this subject, the Digital Marketing Summit may be just the place to look. These regional events bring together thought-leaders and experts from every area of digital marketing to keep you ahead of the curve, and the competition. Also be sure to check out our digital marketing resource center for articles, webinars, videos, and more.