“Curation” is a tricky word. 

Depending on who you ask, the context can be as wildly different as an art gallery or a set of wines at a special event. – and sometimes even the meaning of the word is different, if, for instance, you ask a butcher (the “curing” process on ham).

But what does wine, ham, or a Picasso have to do with your marketing? Well, despite the multiple contexts and complexities of the world, the essence of the word is one single thing: it’s all about careful selection. 

And organization. 

And research, so it’s actually three single things. 

Boy, we really should have CURATED this part of the blog, shouldn’t we?

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So back to the blog then.

What is “content curation”?

The short version is this: content curation is a process of researching, selecting, and organizing third-party content for your marketing channels, particularly social media and any other your main target may use to get through to you. The keyword here is “third-party”, as the content isn’t made by your team and doesn’t necessarily have a “marketing” intention behind it. 

That’s the interesting and, honestly, most liberating part of the process: you can choose any content of your liking really, as long as the intention you have behind it for curating it. Is possible and reasonable It can be a video from another part of the internet, a funny Tik Tok, or even a meme!

Naturally, you can’t choose just any content you find yourself with – that´s when data and intuition come in. A dedicated content curator’s job is to understand the essence of the brand, and its goals on the marketing spectrum, and deliver a unique experience to their target audience through the content they share. A meme isn´t just a meme in that case, but a confirmation of the audience’s wants regarding their channels (particularly, their social media).

How can I curate better content?

As we said previously, the key is knowing what content you should select, and in this respect, content curation is no different from any other form of growth marketing: you research relevant data, then start from there.

Here is a couple of question that may help you with data insights:

1. What does my general demographic normally consume within their social media?
2. Which are the most common formats they consume? (images, video, stories, etc.)
3. How do they interact with said content?
4. What does that say about them as consumers?
5. What does it communicate about your brand if you were to post them?

Use some of these insights to start your research. Find which are the most interacted upon posts and how do they interact with them. Do they comment in a different way than with your brand? Why does that happen, specifically? Remember, content isn’t just content – it’s a form of expression, a clue to what your audience might enjoy out of your brand. Treat every piece of content, yours or not, as such.

What you’re looking for is as much information about the content’s relationship with the audience as possible. Things that can be replicated and, if you’re really good, turned into an A/B testing strategy to then gather more data, push for better results, and so on and so forth. Curation, then, turns into a job of trial and error, with each trial based on data you gathered previously and each future trial coming from the previously gained data.

Tips for curating better content:

So how can you implement that into a practical workflow? The answer varies a lot depending on which member of the office you ask (some programmers, for example, usually get a kick from using the word “compiling” a lot). However, there are lots of best practices if you’re looking to improve your external content input on social media (while giving you inspiration for future contents, fingers crossed):

1) Search by hashtags

Maybe your target doesn’t use hashtags that much, but this is still a great way to understand the overall view of what exactly is the internet as a whole talking about. 

Stop for a moment the impulse of looking for obvious ones regarding your brand (for example, looking for #medicalmarketing if you are a clinic) and instead start with the data you gathered. Does your audience consume a lot of, let’s say, ironic memes? Maybe even DIY videos? Look for those, see their formats and what topics they delve into. Then look for the obvious hashtags, and look for whatever may overlap. If you find a match, you just got yourself a new post –  and even if you don’t, you still found yourself with a future post idea you may create!

2) Follow the comments

What does your audience comment the most on? What do they comment? In short, why are they interested in this particular kind of content? 

More than hashtags, their comments can be a literal description of what they like and look for out of content, perhaps a particular brand that does mostly the same as yours. Always keep an eye on those.

3) Always, absolutely ALWAYS give credit where credit is due

Plagiarism is wrong. Yes, that’s as uncontroversial an opinion as you can get, but you may be surprised by how often this happens – especially without intention!

Always share the post instead of posting it yourself; even if you give credit to the post, it’ll only look bad for you and it won’t support the original post. Also, try giving shoutouts from time to time to said posts and accounts. In the utilitarian (and cold) sense, this creates major traction for both posts and increases awareness for your brand; in the cool sense, you help other brands with a mention while they help you (you know, as it should be).

4) ABS – Always Be Searching

Making aside the ironic implications of choosing this particular reference to make this point, the goal is still the same: search, search, and then search some more to get the best options possible.

Even when you already made a post or don’t need any for the time, keeping your sights on the lookout can always reward you with new insights, new ideas, and in the worst-case scenario, new content.

In Nomad Digital, we want your business to thrive not only in your operations, but in your team’s creative input as well.

Looking for a growth marketing agency you can very much call “a part of the team”? We’ve got you covered!