The plot for Social Media Marketing has moved on to the next level. While the list of labors required for success has new elements on it, thinking shops have thankfully added new tools to get the machinery up to speed too! The new buzz that’s been making the rounds and drawing every social media enthusiast’s attention is content curation.
Why curation?
Today, 74% of marketers realize that curation is a vital component in their content strategy and 58% even believe that effective curation is crucial even to keep their company going in some increasingly competitive segments.
As we entered 2014, there were already 27 million content pieces being shared through various channels all over the Internet, each day! If that seems phenomenal, one can only imagine the surge in numbers today. Content curation has given online and content marketing new meaning and at the delivery end is social media marketing, raking in all the perks!
Curation and the social media angle
Here are 5 powerful ways in which the magic wand of content curation can radically change your social media efforts, introducing a potent boost to your marketing setup in ways you never thought possible.
Access to virtually limitless content: With curation, every social media marketer has ready access to volumes of content from all over the Internet. All that has to be done is choose the most relevant pieces that apply to a particular theme and put it through the curation mechanism. In no time, you have a string of resources at hand, with a whole lot of variety too. With content curation, the term ‘the whole world’s your playground’ suddenly seems a lot more meaningful.
Presenting a viewpoint that may be different is easier: The best part about curation is that you do NOT need to agree to everything written in the content you may be presenting. In fact, putting forth an independent viewpoint is a valid and even necessary component of curating and this aspect has several benefits of its own. Coming across as an authoritative voice in the segment being dealt with is easier, so is approaching the content at hand with a fresh perspective the original author may have overlooked.
Hitching a ride on the fast-paced social media train: It’s all about speed on social media. If marketers do not make their presence felt in a particular scenario at the right time, the opportunity is lost forever. With content curation, keeping up with the changing, and sometimes whimsical trends of social media is a lot easier. Why? One does not need to spend time and efforts creating stuff remember? All one has to do is jump on to the existing bandwagon and hitch a ride!
The ability to present an eyeball-grabbing mix: If you have been on the content creation side of things, you know how mindboggling it all is. Can a campaign be framed entirely around content curation though, with no creation at all? No. Since duplication of content is a strict no-no, even curation requires a wee bit of refreshing reconstruction. With curation however, you have the stage to yourself, and the freedom of choosing the most colorful cast. Mixing it all up and presenting videos, images, infographics, written pieces and more keeps the mix interesting, and creating the right balance is surely simpler.
Definitely a lot easier than content creation: Creating content has its limitations and on social media, the creation of content surely needs more commitment and direction. Finding the perfect writer for a piece of written content, a graphic designer for an infographic or a videographer for that perfect video – all this is difficult guys! Yet, the fact that hardcore subject matter experts are not usually required is a huge weight off the content marketing team.
Do you know of other content curation perks that have provided your social media campaigns the proverbial shot in the arm? Share it with us and contribute to this list!
Image Credit: B2BMarketingInsider.com
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