A good blog post is characterized above all by one thing: added value. The use and distribution of third-party content is an important factor. Because it can serve to strengthen one’s own image positively. The term content curation is therefore increasingly used in connection with reputation building.
One thing is very important to me in my blog posts: I want to link as much as possible to further posts in order to give you as much input as possible as my reader. So I use an important thing: namely, international content! They serve to strengthen my position or statement. How? By decorating myself with foreign feathers? No, quite the opposite. I gather information and prepare it with my blog post topic to support my articles. So I do not disguise the author of foreign content, but make it visible. In short, I run Content Curation.
Content Curation: What is it?
The term Content Curation is composed of two words or terms. 1. Content = Content and 2. Curation = Curate. According to Wikipedia, the word curating derives from the Latin word curator, which means as much as caregiver or representative. At the same time, the Latin curare also means “take care, take care of”.
Maybe you have heard the job title “curator”? Depending on the profession, the meaning differs a little bit. For example, the curator in a museum is responsible for the collection or archiving of the exhibits. In the film, he organizes the artistic compilation of the material. One can therefore say that a curator is responsible for the care, organization and dissemination (e.B. in exhibitions or through public relations) of his objects.
Definition Content Curation
I found two definitions of Content Curation that I like very much. On the one hand, Wikipedia itself defines the term as follows: “Content curation is the process of collecting, organizing and displaying information relevant to a particular topic or area of interest. […]”
On the other hand, Falk Hedemann describes the term in his article “Content Curation: Inspire Brands with Foreign Content”: “Content from different sources is collected, put into context and classified!”
Basically, both describe what we all do (at best) or over and over again: you take posts, podcasts, videos or other sources and share them. This can be a retweet on Twitter, a pout on Pinterest, sharing a post on Facebook or Google+, or simply linking it to a further source within a blog post.
One thing is very important:
“Content is king” is still considered the top priority! This means: pay attention to the quality of the contentyou share, because it also forms your reputation.
Image through foreign content: Is this possible?
Producing your own articles is the A & O when blogging. The better your lyrics, videos, podcats or other content, the better your reputation in the scene. However, it is very useful if you support your content with other sources (I’m not talking about content theft!) or maybe also critically question it – so you also create a good basis for discussion.
Two examples: In my contribution “From the Myth of 1,000 Words” I take up a statement by Vladislav Melnik and present my view on the subject. I link to his contribution (so share it) and also quote from it. At this point, I deal very intensively with a topic from the blogger field and show that I have enough knowledge to deal with an argumentatively critical approach to a thesis.
Another example is Stephanie Kowalski’s contribution ” Image Rights and Social Media: Always in the Picture?”,in which she not only refers to further links, but also names book sources to a) support her reasoning and b) show that she is familiar with matter.
It becomes clear that we, as the author, take the position of curator and screen, sort and classify the relevant information on a topic (our article). As Falk Hegemann so beautifully says, we are “discoverers and relevance filters” in one person.
One thing is very important: other sources are used to support your own content! Spending it as your own production is not only bad style and on the verge of legality, but also shows that the principle of social media has not been understood.
Note: Content Curation does not mean content theft, but the distribution of content with indication of the source.
Use Content Curation to establish yourself
I think the benefits have become clear:
Benefits for you
Strengthening your expert status
Complement your own posts with additional content
Increase your awareness
Better ranking at Google with the relevant keywords
Last but not least, you’re leading by example by moving to other content and continuing to carry the idea of social media.
Benefits for recipients
You save time and energy for research on the topic.
You will receive articles with a special focus.
You will find other interesting posts with links, which they also take forward.
Benefits for the Content Producer
Its contents are disseminated
Its notoriety is growing
He receives backlinks and other traffic on his content
It’s a good place to be targeted when using Content Curation, because it’s about your reputation. This means that you should always keep an eye on the interests of your readers. So here are seven tips from me:
1.Tip: Pay attention to the quality of your source. Does she have a good reputation? Does it make serious contributions? Are the content informative? If you can answer all your questions with yes, it’s definitely worth sharing.
2.Tip: Make sure that the content you share suits you and YOUR content. It doesn’t make much sense if you blog about writing tips but then publish tips and links to dog education. Lights up, right?
3.Tip: Make a conscious choice of how and where you share your content. For example, on Twitter, you only have 280 characters to respond to your source. On Facebook and Google+, you can write an introductory sentence or text. Depending on the source, sometimes one, sometimes the other makes sense.
4.Tip: Offer your readers a summary of your collected content. For example, a weekly or monthly contribution in which you agree on the most important things separately. Or you can add more information sources or reading tips to your newsletter. My colleague Julian Heck and I do this and offer our newsletter subscribers a special service.
5.Tip: Be nice, and tell the content producer if you link him. When a post is linked, the linked (content producer) usually gets a pingback. This means that he automatically receives an e-mail that says who has linked him where. Unfortunately, these pingpacks don’t always work and for security, a short email with a note to the author of your source is recommended. This has two advantages: 1. The author is happy about it (promised!) and 2. you already have a first contact. So you will definitely stay in good memory.
6.Tip from FlowerBe: If you’re curating something on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or any of your other channels, always specify the source. For example, on Facebook, you can link a person’s profile or fan page to a person’s profile or fan page in the introductory text with @name. The linked then receives a notification, i.e. an information about it. The same game applies to Twitter & Co. Not only do you share your content and point to the source, but you can assume that the linked share your message in their community as well. So you get both traffic.
7. Tip: Curating content doesn’t just make you feel like an expert. You also strengthen your network, because the more often you refer to colleagues whose opinions are incorporated and possibly open a discourse, the sooner you will be perceived as relevant. Of course, this pays back into your expert status and btw. I think that’s just smart people sharing content from others. Why and why I described in “Why only experts share content from others”.
One more thing and many forget that. Since you strengthen your expert status and support your network, you also have the chance to generate more orders or even customers. Because let’s face it: You’d rather recommend someone you know and estimate as someone you’ve never had contact with, right?
