How to Understand Content Curation

Content Curation

At times do you find yourself in need some inspiration?

Do you find yourself asking, “where do I even find content to curate from?”

Happy Wednesday to you all! I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful! We spent time with my side of the family, which consists of 6 grandchildren! All are within 7 years of each other. Needless to say, this Thanksgiving was a blast.

In my last post on blogging, I shared about the art of blogging from your own voice in How to Be Yourself and Blog. One of the tips I gave was to create your own content.

But, what happens when writer’s or should we say blogger’s block hits? What if you are a ghost writer and write for blogs for a companies that you have no experience with? That is where curating comes in handy.

What does it mean to curate content? That is a great question. When I started writing, my editor told me about curating content, and I thought she wanted me be plagiarize! After some research and some further explanation, I found out that content curation is far from plagiarizing and a huge part of social media.

Forbes describes content curation as,

Content curation is a form of content marketing where a publisher (in this case, a small business) editorially collects the best content related to a specific niche and targeted to a specific audience then enhances that content by adding personal opinions and expertise.”

Before I became a writer, I was a reader and I loved it when my favorite bloggers would curate content. In one post, they would offer a world of information on a topic that I wanted to know everything about.

But, it wasn’t just the information I was looking for since the blogger had established the know, like, trust factor with me I wanted to hear the blogger’s opinion!

So, where is this great content to curate from?

There are a few different ways that you can find great content that will shake up any blogger’s block.

  • Have A Mentor: I know this sounds a little weird, but what I mean is to have a goal and an example of what that goal looks like. Then, look at what your mentor is publishing on his or her blog.
  • Google Something: Start researching.  There is even a Dummies.com How to Choose What to Blog About.
  • Reminisce: You could remember why you got into blogging in the first place- and blog about that or about something that happened in the past week.

What have you found to be the best way to find great content to curate from? How often do you curate on your blog? I would love to hear your experiences!

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16 Comments

  1. Brooke Ballard says:

    With Content Marketing driving social media and SEO, this is great timing! Thank you for educating us more about content curation and creation. I think it’s important that more marketers verse themselves in these tactics. Maybe you’ll even provide us with some follow up tips?? 😉

  2. Robin, sounds like you had a memorable holiday! I found the best way, for me, to curate is Goggle Reader feeds, Mention, Quora, social platform questions and experiences. I’ll check out the “dummies” link that’s a new one I hadn’t heard about. Great article!

  3. Kerry Armour says:

    I love curation! Like you, Christine, I am a reader first and the writing follows. When I read an article that takes me off to a host of related ones I end up feeling much more informed!

    1. Kerry,
      I agree, especially when that blog has already built trust with you. Thank you for your comment, I’m glad I am not the only reader/writer. 🙂

  4. Judy Bowker says:

    This is a wonderful post! I think it is important to know who the industry leaders are and make sure you are curating from the best sources. Writing block is the worst, but you are correct, having mentors and Google are always a plus! Thank you for the post!

  5. Carrie Keenan says:

    Great post! Curation is so important! I could not imagine only sharing 100% content about/by one brand! No one would want to follow anyone!

  6. Jessie Zubatkin says:

    Great blog post! I’m glad to see that curation is becoming a more popular trend these days. One point I like to stress is while you’re choosing the right articles to curate, also annotate! I can’t stress this enough. Providing context to your audience is key to keeping them engage, gaining their trust and keep them coming back.

  7. Melanie Kissell says:

    Wouldn’t be surprised if someone grabs the link to this post, Christine, and shares it on their blog. 😉

    I think curating content does a darn good job of breaking the monotony of blogging — not only for the blog author but for his or her readers, as well.

    It’s always good to keep in mind the different personal preferences of your readers as far as how they like to “consume” content. Some people love videos, some audios, and some prefer text-only posts. So I think it would be great to “mix it up” a bit when looking for content to curate. 🙂

    1. Melanie, Thank you so much. It is one of the biggest compliments when someone curates from you isn’t? I love your idea of video and audio blogging. It really does add a little spice. Thank you so much for your comment.

  8. I love curating and highlighting other great writers. Frankly, I am too busy to research and write each day and sometimes I feel like I can’t say it elegantly enough anyway. I have some favorites who’s work I tweet out regardless of whether I’ve read it or not. They ONLY produce great content. Love finding those folks. 🙂

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