I just read a blog post by Joe Pulizzi at Junta42 Content Marketing about content curation. It got me thinking. His claim - first articulated by Rohit Bhargava in 2009 - is that, as more companies develop a content marketing strategy, a new role is emerging for a content curator, defined as:
Someone whose job it is not to create more content, but to make sense of all the content that others are creating. To find the best and most relevant content and bring it forward.
The pendulum is swinging again, as it always does. With the amount of content creation that has exploded since the Social Media craze began 2-3 years ago, there now exists in every field more content than anyone can take possibly absorb. It is no wonder that curators and gatekeepers are the next evolution of digital marketing.
But wait a minute....doesn't a curator work in a museum? Isn't content creation a job for the media? And what does this mean for marketers?
For Bloggers - A Cure for Writers Block
If you've thought about creating a blog but suffer from writer's block, this concept is great news for you. You don't necessarily have to become a star journalist overnight. Instead, start as a curator. Read all the blogs you can in your niche market, then sort and prioritize, hand-pick the best, and share them with your readers. A "Top 10 posts" on a particular topic makes a great blog post. Or, find a post that stands out for you and add your voice by sharing your reactions on your own blog (like I'm doing here!). Always link back to the original writer, of course, and invite feedback if you want to make it a dialog. The good news is, you don't need to write your own blog from scratch. Think of it as part of an ongoing industry conversation, where your role is to bring forward the best-of-class thinking for the benefit - and involvement - of your unique audience.
For Social Media Types - Sharing With Purpose
This is what most of us do everyday on Facebook and Twitter: share interesting information and links with our friends and peers. But content curation takes it a step further and makes your sharing part of a larger content strategy. As a content curator, you don't just share what seems interesting; you prune through the overload, find what's most valuable to your audience, and share it - branded with your perspective. Make sure the content you're sharing is consistent with the brand or image you want to convey - and that it feeds social media followers to related content on your blog or website. The idea is to share the right information at the right time, to the right people. As Eric Tsai says in his Business 2 Community blog, attention is the new currency online, and content curators are the gatekeepers to increasingly limited attention spans.
For Webmasters - Digital Assets That Drive Traffic and Conversions
A comprehensive content marketing strategy should have your company website at its center. A content curator will aggregate your company's best digital assets for display, much like a museum curator creates a thoughtful exhibit to display historical or artistic artifacts. The criteria for displaying content on your website should be all about what drives traffic and conversions - and you can back that up with web analytics to show you what works.. Most companies have a wealth of information to share; the important question is what information on your website will lead visitors to the next step you want them to take.
In a world of information overload, the attention will soon turn to those who can help us make sense of it and bring the cream to the top. Build a reputation as a trusted content curator in your line of business and your audience will return again and again.