Question: We notice a lot of B2B marketers share content beyond just what is posted on their company sites. What is your take on this and should we be doing it?
You know what they say about the cream always rising to the top?
Well in the area of Content Marketing there is a TON of great information out there and smart companies are getting better at recognizing this trend and capitalizing on it.
If I were a betting man, I would guess that you are seeing a lot of this on Twitter. B2B’s are getting more and more comfortable picking out articles (Curating) and sharing them in their Twitter Stream. Sometimes the articles come from other businesses that are even somewhat competitive. Making you ask, why in the world would they do this?
I’ve talked a lot in the past about how content should be used to build trust and relationships.
If you subscribe to that philosophy like I do, then think of other sources of content like you may think of experts, testimonials and referrals. By sharing the content a business might be saying…
- We agree with this (for the most part)
- We like this (a new or different way of approaching a topic)
- We feel this is valuable (for our customers, employees and stakeholders)
Since creating all original content can take up time and resources, curating great content is also a way to stay in front of your audience and continue to educate them on the value that your company can deliver.
Where To Curate Content From: Tips, Tricks and Do Nots
To curate isn’t the question. If you have time it is absolutely something you should do.
Here are some simple guidelines for smart and successful content curation.
- Use Trusted Sources (Read what you curate or be sure it is from someone you trust implicitly)
- Give Proper Attribution (Link and Written)
- Share at least 3-4 relevant article from curated sources between promoting your own content
- Find great content that isn’t over shared (More than just Mashable and USA Today)
- Try to add to the conversation with a note as to why you shared or what you (your business) liked about the piece
A Few Tools I have Seen or Used for curation
HootSuite: If you aren’t familiar it is a great tool for sharing on multiple platforms. I have open searches for topics interesting to me and then I favorite posts and tweets I may want to share later.
Triberr: This blog amplification platform offers content creators a place to review and share content from like minded (and not so like minded) thought leaders. This tool also can pull your feeds and offer your content to be shared by others in your tribes.
BundlePost: A software suite designed to let you choose your favorite sources, see the content drawn off the feeds in one place and schedule/share to all of your Social Sites.
So what are your most effective content curation tips for showing thought leadership beyond your sharing and promoting your own content? .
Check out this short video for more on how approach Sales in your B2B Content Marketing and Blogging.
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Daniel Newman is the co-founder of V3*Broadsuite and is an experienced C-level executive, serving as a strategy consultant for small and mid-sized businesses. He’s also an insight/analyst partner to four Fortune 50 enterprises and previously served as the co-founder and CEO of EC3, a hosted IT and communications services provider. Prior to that, he served as the CEO of United Visual, Inc. in Chicago Illinois.
He is a widely published writer who contributes weekly to Forbes, Entrepreneur, Huffington Post and industry publications such as Commercial Integrator, Sound & Communication and Corporate Tech Decisions. He’s also author of three best-selling business books including The New Rules of Customer Engagement, The Millennial CEO, and just recently Evolve: Marketing (^as we know it) is Doomed.
Daniel has established a reputation as a leading thinker in topics such as Social, Big Data, Cloud and Mobile. He has been named to many top influencer lists in all of these areas, including recognition by the Huffington Post as one of the 100 business and leadership accounts to follow on Twitter. He is also an adjunct professor of management at North Central College.
