Question: We only have time to blog about 1x per week but want to expand our efforts of posting by curating content. But not just typical find and share, but making it more relevant and meaningful. Any suggestions on how we do this?
I completely understand what you mean about more than just find and share, although I do recommend that companies do a certain amount of find and share on platforms like Twitter and Facebook and even on LinkedIn because so long as the content is relevant and useful, it is valuable for it to come from you. It shows that your company cares about educating others, which is really important these days.
In terms of the more “Thoughtful” curation, I recommend finding a couple of articles that closely reflect ideas or values associated with your brand. Perhaps the content is written by a supplier, vendor or customer (usually not a competitor, but sometimes) and then adding 100-200 crafted words to explain how the content is in alignment with your business vision.
The other big difference with curating this way is that I recommend posting the content on your blog and then featuring an excerpt and proper attribution back to the post you are curating. This can help in two ways. First the reader can immediately see the referenced article rather than having to click and exit your site. Second, the company whom you are sharing content for will see that you referenced their article and this may bring awareness back to your company.
To successfully start doing this type of curation I recommend subscribing and staying connected to content sources that you find to publish excellent thought leadership and then identifying the articles you want to further curate. Often this doesn’t have to be done in real time as you can find articles and bookmark them to further curate later. In fact this can give a partner company a second life while letting your company latch on to their ideas.
I hope this help. Good luck with your curating and driving great thought leadership to your audience!
What ways do you use curating content to stay in front of your audience?
Do you have a question for “The Mailbag?” Click Here to submit your question and have it featured in an upcoming Mailbag.