What Is Curated Content?
Curated content is content that has been discovered by companies, rather than created by them, before being shared with audiences using a mix of marketing channels: from social media platforms to email newsletters.
But why curate content rather than creating it?
It isn’t always possible, for businesses of any size, to create fresh and high-quality content around every trending topic quickly enough.
Carefully considered curation – choosing content from thought-leaders in the area – can be an excellent way to join conversations, especially those that are time-bound.
Curated content – rather than content that has been crafted to toe the company line – ensures that an interesting range of opinions and a diverse mix of voices can be heard by audiences, too.
The SEO benefits of content curation
An understanding of the SEO benefits of content curation is so commonplace, these days, that it even gets a mention in the OED!
- The selection, organization, and presentation of online content, merchandise, information, etc., typically using professional or expert knowledge.
- ‘curation of online content that is relevant to your business can be an excellent way to drive SEO’
But how does content curation help with SEO?
In a nutshell, it’s because companies that share lots of fresh and keyword-rich content about specific topics benefit whenever that topic is searched.
Content curation best practice
Here are 3 quick tips from the Content Marketing Institute but the entire article makes for a fascinating long-read:
- Leverage ‘underground’ content
- ‘Frame’ your curated content
- Impress the original creators
A balanced mix of content – curated and created – is key so don’t skimp on creating new stuff.
But if you do manage to crack the whole curation thing – selecting content that’s new, relevant and interesting – readers will start to see you as a trusted navigator through dreaded info overload.
Whether the content you’ve found is an article, piece of music, video or GIF, it’s important to frame it, to give it some context for your audience. Why does this matter to them? Is there something in your product or service offering that responds to the issues raised?
And, whatever you do, don’t forget to credit the source and share the love!
