To Create or Curate?
It's not quite Hamlet, but it's certainly a big question for business owners who want to harness the power of content and to avail themselves of a carefully built network on LinkedIn or in other professional communities. Content creation requires a combination of time, inspiration and the skill of writing (and even researching for longer pieces).Content curation is a much quicker process although it too requires some skill.
Good curation is like running a museum, or a charity shop. There's no shortage of items to display, but which ones are interesting, or likely to result in a sale? Choosing content and presenting it well are the two main skills needed to be an effective content curator. You can dip your toe in by selecting a few pieces of content (blogs, whitepapers, research, videos, infographics) that you and your team have read each week (or month) and starting a “we've been reading...” section in your newsletter.
When you're confident you are selecting useful, shareable content it's time to bring your personal insights to the display case. Share content (either in your newsletter, or) on LinkedIn or other suitable online spaces with your take on it. Ideally you'll share things you are positive about, but if you can critique someone's content in a constructive way, adding your points of view, this can be a good way of encouraging debate (and therefore engagement) in your social spaces.
You don't need to write hundreds words to accompany every piece, a couple of paragraphs will suffice. If you can bring a personal story into it you'll show that you're passionate about and connected to what you're sharing; done well this can almost seem like you'd written the original post yourself.
Like any marketing activity, you need to start with a strategy and some goals. What are you trying to achieve with your curated content? Is it intended to have a direct impact on sales? Is there a particular angle you're trying to explore or advocate? When you know what you want to achieve you can discern the type of content you want more easily.
For example, if you want to curate content to directly drive sales, look for examples of people having a problem you can fix, and share that content with your solution. If you want to explore a particular angle or cause, find content around that to comment on. It could be a case of using content unrelated to your industry, but with a link to a common cause you can talk about.
Look out for the untapped potential in your business and wider network. If you have employees with a flair for writing why not get them to create an article for you? If you have staff that are great at making video clips or who take great photos they could create a social story or TikTok that you can share further. Your professional network may be jam packed with people who would love to write a guest blog for you – it's exposure to a wider audience for them too.
Well curated content increases your reach (the original posters may share or comment on your post, sparking a discussion), it boosts your visibility so your name is in people's minds regularly, and it also adds credibility to your professional position. When you're sharing your take on content people may already be familiar with it sets you up as a thought leader, someone to trust and to listen to.
While we can create great content, you can take on content curation and let your expertise and knowledge speak volumes for you.
