Content curation has been our focus for about two weeks now, so you should hopefully have a decent idea about what it is and how you can do it yourself. Curation is like a lot of the more advanced strategies you can employ in running a blog: Full of terrific promise and criminally underutilized.
Here’s how you can go further and really make content curation pay off.
1) Curate According To A Consistent Strategy
Curation works best when you’re doing it according to an overarching plan for your marketing. Every piece of content you deploy should further your goals – it goes without saying that you need to know what those goals are!
Let’s say you’re about to publish a set of reviews you’ve collected on fashion week. How does your compilation fit the theme of your blog? How does it play into your plans for monetization? How are your followers going to react?
Make sure that the content you choose to highlight makes sense not just for your audience but for your brand. Building consistency can be an uphill struggle, but investing in it makes you memorable when your competitors tend to get forgotten.
2) Choose One Theme
That last tip might have put the cart before the horse a bit by mentioning your theme. Having a theme is critical to curating content successfully.
Social media is one of the most powerful tools available to you for identifying themes that have great potential. What kind of content is going viral in your niche?
In order to stay ahead of the curve, it’s important to browse the right social platforms. You’ll see new topics and memes pop up on niche networks long before they hit Facebook, Twitter, or even Instagram. Get on board and give the rising trend your own unique interpretation!
3) Put Effort Into Your Headlines
Great content will make visitors appreciate the time they spend on your site. It doesn’t sell itself, though. People are going to make the decision to read your articles – or pass on by – based on their headlines.
Feel free to replace dull titles on the content you curate. If you can put a tempting headline on a strong piece, you’ll be adding real value to the exchange of information by attracting a wider audience for the author and his or her subject.
Success in content curation is all about great packaging. Your job is to provide the best possible headlines, graphics, and marketing.
4) Cut To The Chase
As a curator, you’re endorsing every piece of content you present to your audience. Don’t waste their time with dull, shallow, or repetitive content! Take the time to cull the wheat from the chaff so that you’re only bringing the best to your readers’ attention.
5) Always Aim To Deliver Shareable Content
Whether you’re rehosting, curating, or generating your own content, one of your prime goals should always be to give your readers pieces that are share-worthy.
There’s a simple checklist you can use to judge all of your content’s sharing potential. The points listed here might (in fact should) be familiar to you by now:
* Timely (as judged by your readers)
* Focused (without fluff)
* Interesting
* Accurate
Don’t forget that a major part of getting readers to share your content is asking them to do it. Make sure they know you’re eager to share your content and they’ll catch a little bit of that excitement. Utilising a tool such as Instamacro can help too.
6) Use Email To Promote Your Content
There’s nothing wrong with giving your past readers a gentle reminder to come and catch up on your latest content choices. Send out an email on a monthly basis that shows off the very best of the content you’re providing. Don’t overload it with too much info; give recipients just enough to whet their appetite and tempt them to come back to your site.