Having an engaging and consistent social media presence has now become a necessary tool in any content marketer’s tool belt. Where once posting a blog a week to your website was enough to get attention and traffic, people now want curated content fed directly into their, well…feed.

Be it Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, every industry has a social media platform that helps you reach your audience. However, posting once a week or a few times a month just isn’t enough. Social media is designed to be a real-time, constant flow of information. So posting infrequently means you may get lost in the noise.

But how do you keep up with that much volume? Most of you likely struggle to find the time to produce one original piece of content a week, let alone one a day as Twitter recommends. That’s why many have turned to curated content as the answer, and maybe you should too.

What is curated content?

To curate content is to collect articles other people have written and share them on your social media page. You usually accompany them with a quick comment about why that content caught your eye or why it would interest your audience.

These articles can include anything from news stories to blogs to published white papers. The type of content isn’t important – it’s the message that it delivers and the engagement it sparks.

How does sharing someone else’s content help me?

The mainstay of content production has always been posting original, thought-provoking content to demonstrate the knowledge your clients need. So how does sharing content from other people help you? It does in a few ways:

• Stay consistent across all your platforms: As stated before, each social media platform requires a consistent flow of posts to keep your audience engaged. Upload two posts per day on Twitter, one post per day on Facebook and 1-2 posts per week on LinkedIn. Finding content rather than creating all of it is much less time-consuming, so keeping up with that volume is easier.
• Build credibility by presenting value to your audience: By sharing content that shows value to your audience, you become known as a source of information. This means that when they have a problem or need a service, you are top of mind.
• Better understand your audience and what’s important to them: Understanding what topics your customers engage with can help you decide the ones worth creating as original content. For example, say one of your curated posts drives a high rate of engagement or prompts a lot of questions. Use your next piece of original content to answer those questions and provide more in-depth thoughts on the topic.

How do I choose what content to share?

The internet is full of a seemingly endless supply of content, but not all of it is share-worthy. It’s important to select your curated content articles with care. After all, while you may not be writing the content yourself, by sharing it, you are attaching your name and your company’s brand to the ideas that it includes. To ensure that your content makes the right kind of impact, make sure that every piece of content is:

• In line with your audience and adds value: Every piece of content you share should have a goal that is aligned with your target audience. Even if the purpose is to demonstrate what not to do, ensure that your message gives them a valuable takeaway.
• Timely: Social media is a live feed of information that is constantly refreshing. Therefore, WHEN you share has almost as big of an impact as WHAT you share. If you share a much-talked-about topic, or one that’s slightly dated, ensure you highlight what’s different about your information. What are you offering that is new or makes it worth listening to?
• Reliable and trustworthy: Always ensure that your source is one that you can trust. Your credibility is on the line with every post. So, make sure you fact-check and only present information you are confident in.
• Engaging and well written: Even if all of the other checkboxes are marked, if the content you are sharing is hard to read, full of grammar errors or contains awkward sentences, your audience is likely to tune out before they even begin.

What if I don’t have time to find content?

While curated content is less labor-intensive than creating original content, it can still take time to find the perfect article and craft a message that drives engagement. Consider outsourcing this task to a content curation service such as Tempesta Media. You’ll receive maximum social media marketing benefits without sacrificing other aspects of your business.

To learn more about how Tempesta Media can help you reach your audience and deliver quality content at scale, contact us today.