Content curation is one of the best ways for freelancers and agencies to generate attention and reach online. For example, with the aim of demonstrating expertise. When implemented strategically, it is an excellent way to build your own brand. But what is important? And how can content curation be implemented in practice?

Content curation: maintain your content!

The term "content curation" consists of two parts. Content means content, curating in this context means preparing and distributing. Specifically, "curation" is derived from the Latin word "curator" - it means caretaker or representative. You may be familiar with curators in relation to museums, where they are responsible for archiving exhibits. In the artistic field, they are responsible for compiling and exhibiting the material. So you could say that curators are responsible for the care, organization and dissemination of objects.

If we associate this description with the word content, then content curation means nothing other than the compilation of content and its distribution. My esteemed colleague Falk Hedemann defines the discipline in his article on content curation as follows:

Content from various sources is compiled, put into context and categorized.

How does content curation work?

Perhaps you have already done some academic work. Then you have read sources on your topic or thesis, which you then cited as evidence for or against your topic/thesis. This is exactly what content curation is. You take content, a statement or a position from someone else and cite it to support or argue against your statements/thesis.

Broken down into steps, it looks like this: You ...

1. Scan sources
2. Select these
3. Prepare them
4. Publish these

This can be a tweet or a post/comment from someone else. You can take any third-party statement and use it in a blog article. However, it must be identified as such - simply copying it is not permitted. If in doubt, you should ask, as copyright law is interpreted very strictly by some sources, such as publishers.

I work with content curation quite often. Specifically, for example, in the article The myth of 1,000 words. In it, I addressed the statement by my colleague Vladislav Melnik, who is of the opinion that a blog article MUST have at least 1,000 words. I was and am of a different opinion. I argued this in the article to make my position clear. The article subsequently generated a lot of discussion on his blog and mine. This in turn brought us a lot of traffic and attention online - this is exactly how content curation works.

Tip: It is always important that the source is reputable. Only then can you establish yourself as an expert. Because anything else shows that you have no idea how to tell good sources from bad ones. The online community would mercilessly beat you over the head with such mistakes.

Become an expert with external contributions

For years, it was taboo to share other people's content, especially that of your competitors. After all, you only wanted your own content to be noticed. Sure, the idea is understandable. But too short-sighted!

Because scientific work shows how it's done: Only when you look at statements, results and opinions from other scientists and your own thesis is verified or falsified on the basis of this, does it show that someone is familiar with the subject matter. This person:

• Is able to assess the industry
• Knows what the current (scientific) status is in this area
• Can give meaningful reasons for his/her own opinion

It is precisely these points that help to build up and consolidate your own expert status.

My colleague Robert Weller shows what this looks like in practice. He writes about content strategy on his blog toushenne. He has recently published an article entitled "The ultimate brand monitoring and social media listening guide". In it, he works with an extremely large number of external sources to formulate his list and explanation:

He has linked to these sources and named them clearly. This shows that he knows his way around the topic. Because he knows exactly which sources and authors to cite in order to give his article structure and content. At the same time, he compares and evaluates these sources in his explanations and then draws a conclusion.

This not only strengthens his expert status as a content strategist, but also his personal brand. He also draws the attention of the people mentioned to himself through the links. In the best case scenario, they thank him publicly for the mention, reply to him or share his post on their channels. In this way, Robert gains access to communities that he would otherwise not have reached or would have found difficult to reach.

Tip: If you mention people in your articles, tweets, Facebook posts etc., tag/mark them. This has several advantages: People become aware of you. In the best case scenario, they will inform their community that you have mentioned them.

This will expand your reach and other people will become aware of you. In the best case scenario, the personalities mentioned will also follow you on your channels and you will have the chance to expand your network further.

Formats for content curation

Sharing content on your social networks and in blog articles are two popular ways of practicing content curation. But there are more:

E-Paper

Tools such as Paper.li or Nuzzel offer the service of curating various articles into a kind of newspaper or article compilation. Bundling good specialist articles together for the target group can be a very good way to enhance your reputation.

Infographics

Infographics are quick and easy to create visually. With tools such as Infogram or Pictochart, you can create good infographics quickly and easily in the respective basic version. They are a real eye-catcher because not everyone always offers such graphics.

Only if you are working with external facts in the case of content curation: If these are not common knowledge, or if they are provided by someone else, ask the authors in advance if you can make an infographic out of them. Ideally, they will then also share it with their contacts.

Expert interviews

Interviews with experts offer various advantages. They are perfect for

• Provide exclusive content
• To show that you know who is relevant in the industry
• To demonstrate that you can also have a discourse

On the one hand, you can ask exclusive questions in this way and thus gain unique insights. On the other hand, contact with experts complements and strengthens your network. Christa Goede has published an interview with content marketing expert Carsten Rossi from the Kamann Rossi agency that is well worth reading. Her example shows how well such interviews can work.

Case Studies

Presenting and discussing an authentic case study from practice is a very good way to engage in content curation. Discussing a case, presenting the advantages and disadvantages of actions and evaluating results show how much you know about the subject matter. A case study can also be supplemented with sources from other experts, so that a detailed and qualitative discussion can be created. This can further enhance your own reputation. You can find examples of case studies in content marketing at textbroker.de, for example.

E-Books

Electronic books are very suitable for content curation. This is easy if you already have several blog articles on a topic and then publish them together. Then you simply formulate the introduction and the transitions and add contributions from other experts. The result is a collection of well-founded sources including your own texts, which are also published under your own name as a "book".

As an example, take a look at the performance e-book from Raidboxes. In a kind of internal content curation, the team's collective knowledge was used - including references to suitable external sources:

Books are simply still THE WAY to be perceived as an expert. Admittedly: A printed book published by a publishing house will pay even more in terms of reputation in many areas. But an e-book is an excellent start.

What is important when curating

Good content curation involves being clear about who your target groups are and what information they need. So think in advance about the topics you want to curate content on. In my case, for example, it concerns the topics of social media and blogging.

Think about a system with which you can view and archive sources. I use Pocket and Evernote for this. I use Pocket to save articles that I want to read later and don't want to lose. Pocket itself also offers the option of following other users and their content, as the example of content expert Klaus Eck shows:

In Evernote, I make notes on certain content and save the relevant source(s).

As already mentioned: Make sure that your sources are reputable - read the content carefully. Do you have the impression that the source is not entirely "clean"? Or you can't understand the content? Then leave it alone. If the latter is the case, you can of course take a critical look at it. However, the question is whether you might trigger a shitstorm and get caught in the crossfire yourself.

Save time and use planning tools to share content. Buffer or Hootsuite (free in the basic version) are suitable for this. You can use them to plan your content in advance and publish it automatically.

I recommend that you always write an accompanying and categorizing text when you curate content. This shows that you have actually read the content, can categorize it and which aspects/points you agree or disagree with. Incidentally, this is also one of the central tasks of serious journalism: categorizing events. If you curate content without commentary, your target groups/fans/followers won't be able to categorize the content.

However, I have to admit one thing: I sometimes share tweets on Twitter from sources that I trust unconditionally because, for example, the headline speaks for itself. And because I know that my community can classify the content. Then I sometimes rely on the feedback from my contacts. You learn something new every day and "look out for each other".

My conclusion

Content curation can be an extremely good way to build your reach and expert status - if you put in the effort. Your engagement with further sources and statements also ensures that you expand your own knowledge and think outside the box.

It is precisely the discussion of other points of view and approaches that offers you the opportunity to create your own content that builds on this or considers a counter-thesis. Content that represents a counter-opinion and deals critically with a statement is read and shared with pleasure. Even if your personal goal is to strengthen your brand, the relevance of the content for your readers should always be at the forefront.

Featured image: Andrew Neel @Unsplash