Does the future of the web belong to content curation?
What does content curation mean? Who invented the term and why is it becoming increasingly important globally?
Content curation, still little known and widespread in Italy, may become an increasingly important web profession in the near future.
But what does it actually mean to perform content curation? On its actual meaning, there is still much confusion. In this article, we shed light on its meaning, and provide you with some useful tips on how best to carry it out.
What is meant by content curation?
Origin of the term
It seems that the term was coined in 2009 by Rohit Bhargava, an experienced marketing professor and author of several bestselling books.
In his "Manifesto for the Content Curator: The Next Big Social Media Job of the Future?", Bhargava argues that in the near future, content on the Web could double every 72 hours. This exponential growth would have a negative impact on the algorithm, worsening the relevance of search results.
Therefore, to satisfy people's hunger for quality content, a new kind of web work would be needed.
The goal of content curation is not to create new content, but to make sense of content that is already online
Finding the best and most relevant content and highlighting it: that's the job of content curators in a nutshell.
Definition
Content curation, or content curation, is the activity of collecting, selecting and optimizing articles and publications relevant to one's field of business.
Part of a broader content marketing strategy-a process that does not end with producing content for the Web-content curation is becoming increasingly important for companies.
Utility
In the initial idea, the Webs of the future-thanks to the work of content curators-would become more orderly, rich in valuable content, and capable of adding value to readers.
The goal is to have more and more interesting content, featuring diverse perspectives and viewpoints, and fewer and fewer sponsored and marketing-oriented articles.
A new craft
The future of the web could have among its protagonists an important number of content curators. The latter, would have the honor and burden of collecting and sharing the best content on the web, becoming in some sort of "citizen editors."
Acting as a filter between the myriad of content on websites and the end user, their work would be instrumental in avoiding information overload.
If you notice, the millions of users who collaborate daily with Wikipedia, the world-famous online encyclopedia, constantly adding new entries and improving existing ones, perform content curation. In fact, their job is to research relevant material on a given topic, integrating and juxtaposing it to arrive at new content.
How to implement an effective content strategy in your company
Content curation is necessary for companies operating in a large number of different industries. We now show you the main steps that are essential for a winning strategy.
Find good and relevant content
Depending on your industry, try to find as much quality content as possible. For this, it is important to monitor a large number of different sources ( social channels, blogs, specialized websites, trade magazines, etc.).
For the widest possible collection and selection, several tools can prove to be a valuable ally.
Rely on the right tool
To be effective, content curation must be done continuously. Given the speed of the web world, it is obvious how this is a critical point.
To obviate, at least in part, this difficulty, choosing the right tool proves crucial to automating as many tasks as possible.
Spidwit, for example, is a software with a sophisticated artificial intelligence system that is perfect for organizing the most interesting content in a dashboard.
Edit and enrich identified content
Changes to existing articles can be of various kinds. Here are a few possible actions:
- adding relevant information to enrich and enhance the original content,
- contextualizing and updating old content to make it more current,
- inserting a personal commentary,
- translation and localization of articles in foreign languages,
- SEO optimization for search engines, such as structuring the article into paragraphs and sub-paragraphs,
- replacing old images with others more in line with corporate values, etc.
☝️ Of course, these actions can be combined.
Choose the right sharing channel
Once you have identified a good base of material, you can incorporate the edited content into your editorial plan. At this point, you can share it with your network through social (LinkedIn above all) or other channels (the newsletter for example).
Content curation: an unstoppable rise?
While this is still an uncommon process in Italy, it is very likely that in the years to come we will hear more and more about these practices.
Indeed, with the overproduction of content of all kinds-and the consequent saturation of information-content curation will be decisive in ensuring an adequate standard of quality on the Web.
Having arrived at this point, you are finally clearer about what it means concretely to carry out content curation. Do you know any companies that practice it on a regular basis? Do you have any best practices to share?
If you want, you can trade with us by commenting below.
Article translated from Italian