The Who, What, Where, Why and How of Content Curation

Posted: February 26, 2013 by Courtney Iovanovich

As a professional in the marketing industry, I’ve heard the term “content curation” a great number of times. I’ve read articles about the “do’s and don’ts” and found many examples on the topic but the definition has remained vague. I recently attended the SEOmoz webinar, “Social Content Curation: Why, How, What” by Gianluca Fiorelli, Owner of ILoveSEO. After understanding the why, how and what, it’s easier to simplify the ambiguous meaning of content curation.

Who is a content curator? A content curator is an individual or company that seeks, collects and shares the most relevant content in their area of expertise.

Why do we admire content curators? If there’s one thing professionals (and Google) enjoys, it has to be thoughtful leadership. A thought leader is an individual or firm that is recognized as one of the best in their industry. Not everyone can be a thoughtful leader, and for this reason, thoughtful leaders profit significantly.

How does one become a content curator? Anyone can be a self proclaimed expert. In order to understand what to curate, its important to know the personas of your audience. Once you have an understanding of your audience’s interests and demographics, you’ll be able to create relevant content.

Where can I find content in my industry? The Internet is the most obvious answer. Typing in relevant text on Google  is a great way to get information but be selective when finding sources. Wikipedia is often one of the first sites that appear, however, the information on its pages isn’t always accurate. Most search engines now offer a “News” category. This is a better way to search for credible information. Webinars, white pages and evergreen content are other great sources for trustworthy info. You can go the old fashioned route by reading newspapers, magazines and other hard copy print.

What do I do with all this relevant content? Now that you’ve collected the information in your niche, it’s time to organize! Always remember to put articles into specific categories. An easy way to do this is to place them into bookmarks on your web browser’s tab. This may not be the most accessible way to access data on-the-go. Good thing there are extensions that can sync to different devices, making the content more accessible than ever. Now that the articles you’ve found are organized, its time to finish the content curation journey by writing.

“Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.” – Mitchell Kapor.

Content curation doesn’t have to be overwhelming. It is not a copy-paste job either. It’s a process of understand where to collect content, what content is relevant, organizing your findings then creating original pieces. As long as you save evergreen content and categorize regularly, you can become a thoughtful leader in content curation in no time.

Image credit: Judy O’Connell