There’s a lot of valuable content out there, and it doesn’t necessarily all come from your own team. Content curation is the process of culling media from other brands to amplify the authority and reach of your own. It’s different than content creation, which is when you craft original content for the same purposes.

Distributing content from your brand on social media and in email messaging is imperative. But it also doesn’t hurt to share relevant pieces of content from other brands that are interesting and informative. Here’s why incorporating other content into your distribution strategy is smart (as well as some ideas on how to do it).

1. It Shows You’re Doing Your Research

Content serves a lot of purposes, but one of the most important is that it helps you build authority with your audience. When you curate content from other sources, it’s like saying to your network that you have your finger on the pulse of other noteworthy topics and articles in your industry. It’s also proof that you’re doing your homework by being invested in engaging with your field — even if it doesn’t necessarily get you a link back to your website.

Building authority is one of the most significant benefits of content curation. If you show that you’re an active learner in addition to being an active teacher, your network will take notice and appreciate it.

2. It Increases the Knowledge You’re Able to Spread

If you think a piece of content is valuable, then chances are the people who follow you and are interested in the same topics are going to find it useful as well. If you’re an expert in your field, then you’re already doing your homework to sharpen your skills. You’re subscribed to the right blogs and publications within your industry, and you’re reading content daily and deciphering what it means, and how it will affect what you do. Share that knowledge! All it takes is a few clicks, and that article that showed you something compelling is immediately accessible to others. It’s a win-win and a great way to show how invested you are in helping your network get all of the information that they need.

3. It Creates Brand Advocacy

What do guest posts, webinars, and co-branded marketing materials all have in common? They’re a way to partner with other brands and boost each other’s visibility. But, they aren’t the only way to achieve that. 

When you curate content from other sites (and especially when you tag and/or otherwise link to them when you share it), it’s a great way to get on their radar and potentially open the door to a mutually beneficial relationship. Maybe as a thank you, they share a piece of your content as well. Either way, you’re forming a key connection — one that could provide you with a lot of advantages later on.

4. It Can Inspire Your Content Strategy

Some of the best content ideas are those that are inspired by other pieces of content. While it’s certainly important to create content around original ideas, there’s nothing wrong with writing a piece that shares your perspective on a relevant topic, whether or not another brand out there has done something similar. 

There is content being created constantly, and honestly, we’ve all probably created at least a few pieces of content that have already been covered (whether we know it or not). So while you’re looking for other content to share, keep track of the fascinating topic ideas that you can use later on to inspire your own.

How to Achieve That Happy Balance

So how do you put both content creation and content curation to work for your business? Instead of just relying on one or the other, strike a balance between the two. Here are some ways to do it.

  • Aggregate content on your site. Designate a location on your website that’s dedicated to content curation on relevant topics and industry news. Include a blurb about the piece and then a link to the original content page.
  • Share it on social. Social media is an excellent place to share curated content with your network. Preface links with a quick sentence about the piece or a quote from it, and be sure to tag the source to increase your chances of building brand advocacy.
  • Create an original take. Remember, curated content is a great way to inspire your own ideas. If you have something to add to the conversation, do so by building off of existing content with an original take. Not only will your content be timely, but it will also be able to piggyback off of dialogue that’s already taking place.

As a general word of wisdom, be selective about whose content you share. Any site that you curate content from should have authority and reputability, and the content itself should be relevant in some way to your industry and/or the product or service that you provide. Make a point of following sites that fit the bill so that when they post something new, you’ll know about it right away. That way, your contribution to the discourse will be warranted.