Curated content is like the “get out of jail free” card that helps you grow and engage your social media audience.
Unlike the constant hamster wheel of creating organic content, curated content saves you time while also positioning you as an expert and serving your audience what they want.
It’s a win-win.
Curated content is “content gathered from trusted sources relevant to your industry,” according to Hootsuite.
See our five reasons why you should include curated content in your social media strategy.
But how is (good, relevant) curated content found?
Here are four tips to help you find the best curated content for your social media publishing.
Determine your ratio
Before anything else, it’s important to decide exactly how much curated content you want to mix in with your organic, unique content. How much is created by you, and how much is created by someone else?
A good mix to start with, according to Hootsuite, is 40 percent organic and 60 percent curated content.
Of course, always keep an eye on the performance of your posts and adjust as necessary. But this mix is a good place to start.
Consider the topics you want to cover
This depends on your brand. Do you want to be hyper-focused on the topics you’ll share with your audience, or should you be broader?
A custom closet company, for example, could focus on closet organization as a topic. Or, it can expand into the broader topic of interior design.
Take a moment to brainstorm the topics that are relevant to both your brand and your audience. What helps make you appear to be an expert in your industry?
Identify your sources of curated content
It’s time to make a list! The key to finding great curated content is to have your go-to trusted sources.
This can be as simple as taking your list of topics and begin Googling.
But you should feel confident that your selected sources are both trustworthy and in sync with your brand.
When you find a source, look through the entire website to see if the totality of the content produced is in line with your company’s goals and purpose. Also, examine the About section of the website to confirm the mission behind that publisher.
Remember that while content can be shared to your social media directly from a website, you can also share from another brand’s account on any social media platform.
So, while you want to compile a list of trusted websites, be sure to perform similar searches on the social media platforms you plan on sharing curated content. Your main list from Google might differ from who you find specifically on Twitter or Facebook, for example.
Consider yourself in a constant state of discovery
Now that you have your list of topics and sources, it’s time to commit to monitoring your channels so that you can find and share the specific pieces of curated content for your audience.
While curated content is a time-saver, you cannot slack on discovering what would work best. However, you can set a scheduled amount of time daily or weekly to stay on top of it.
Curated content is an excellent way to diversify your social media offerings, and it will naturally evolve over time. Keep an eye on how what you’re sharing is performing and pivot accordingly.
Need help finding the best tool to make curated content discovery easier? Check out our list.
And if improving your digital marketing process is on your mind, consider DailyStory, which features automation, dynamic audience segmentation and more. Schedule your free demo with us today.