More than 60 million new posts are being published on WordPress.com each month. Wait a second, that’s just WordPress. Let’s not forget the other blogging platforms such as Blogger, Tumblr, TypePad, and Posterous.



That’s overwhelming, right?



This is where smart content curation can go a long way. Let me explain the concept quickly.



The world is changing fast. Offline, we’re no longer willing to go to the butcher to buy fresh meat, than drive the car to Mr. Pete’s “tech store” to purchase some batteries for the remote control and on the way home stop at Emma’s to get milk. Nowadays, we are more interested in the Walmart or Tesco model. The game is called: one-stop shop.



The same applies to the online world. We no longer want to visit all kinds of websites that provide content specific to a niche; we prefer to bookmark one or two killer websites that do all the work for us — that is, they filter killer posts and provide us with the best stuff in one place. This is content curation. It’s basically the online version of the Walmart and Tesco offline concept.



Mike Kaput of PR 20/20 describes the evolution of content curation as follows:




In a world of nearly infinite content, consumers are looking to one-stop shop.




Human Content Curation: Humans vs. Robots



Never underestimate the importance of the human element.



Robots, machines, and algorithms can do a great job in terms of searching for blog posts that meet your criteria, however, nothing can beat handpicked content curation. Giving your articles that human touch makes your writing stand out. No machine or algorithm knows the pain points of your prospects and clients better than you do, and no robot can draft content that speaks directly to the heart of your audience.



Here are three significant benefits of content curation for your website:




Build trust and gain credibility. Whenever you link back to another website you give your readers the opportunity to learn and discover something new while increasing your credibility.



You delight your readers with quality content. Provided your content curation is top-notch, you can become the go-to resource in your industry.



You save time. Finding quality content and adding your unique style to the piece is often times more effective than writing a story from scratch.




To wrap this up, I’d like to cite Mark Sherbin who wrote an interesting article about content curation on Content Marketing Institute:




Content curation features handpicked content, often introduced with a snippet of copy from the curator. Performed correctly, content curation can create a big value addition.




What’s the 911 Rule?



A couple of weeks ago I was in San Diego at the mega-conference Social Media World 2015 (#SMMW15) organized by Social Media Examiner. It’s one of those conferences where:




you get to rub shoulders with the biggest names and brands in social media



and you also get the opportunity to attend some amazing sessions where you can soak up the latest content marketing and social media marketing strategies and techniques.




One of the best sessions I attended was “How to Create Your Integrated Social Media System” by Neal Schaffer.



I’m a huge fan of integrated systems and processes that helps you increase ROI and save time. I don’t like those woo-woo marketing strategies where you act randomly, guessing around and hoping that one day someone will hand you over a $1,000 check.



Neal is just my kind of type and I resonated with everything he talked about in his presentation, cause let’s face it:




“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.” – Edwards Deming




So, here’s the 911 or 9-1-1 rule of content curation Neal talked about:




9x Content of Others. This could be content from key influencers, advocates, customers, fans, or joint venture partners.



1x Your Content That Adds Value. This is your primary content. It can be one of your blog posts, articles, podcasts or videos.



1x Promotional Content. An awesome offer you created that is highly relevant to your audience.




Now, to give you an idea on how to implement this concept in your own marketing activities and thus boost the pulling power of your tweets, shares, pins etc. — here’s an example from my recent Twitter feed. All tweets are blog posts written by industry experts. The last tweet in this feed is a quote by Henry Ford.











Test it out for yourself



Model successful marketing systems, processes and strategies. Test the 911 rule of content curation and let me know how this concept works in your business.



Success leaves clues. Implement the above mentioned system for content curation, stick to proven processes and strategies, and stop wasting your valuable time on lousy advertising and marketing.



How do you see content consumption changing? Is content curation part of your online marketing strategy?



Image: mastersenaiper / Pixabay.com
The post Content Curation: How To Apply The 911 Rule appeared first on StrengthInBusiness.

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