How Content Curation Can Help You with Content Creation?
Seriously, creating content is actually a hectic task.
I am always stuck with what to write about? Everything is already available there on the web.
Sometimes, I feel like web is full of masters in every topic, what’s the need to write on.
But yes, there is a need.
After all, like you, I am also working for an organization and it is my responsibility to generate content.
So, I have to avoid every possible reason of not to write content and find out every possible reason to write content.
And here I am with an article enriched with a few awesome ideas to generate content via content curation technique.
What is Content Curation?
I know you all are familiar with this concept. But still, let me give you a brief:
As per Wiki's Definition, “Content curation is the process of gathering information relevant to a particular topic or area of interest."
Being a marketer, my definition is: content curation is sharing content created by others – you can share whatever you like and you can share it in your own way.
More than sharing, as you all know, content curation is used as a branding tool. Most of us, including me, utilize the power of content curation for branding purpose. But today, we will look at content curation with a different point of view.
Note: If you are not aware of how one can utilize content curation for branding purpose, you can refer this blog by Curata.com.
Today, I will teach you to use content curation for content creation purpose
Why?
Because I was reading one article relevant to content curation and suddenly, an idea of creating content through curation popped up in my mind.
I dug a little deeper and I got a few more ideas to create unique content.
And without any more blah, blah, blah, I am going to share those ideas with you
1. Newsjacking Hack
Adopt the art of Newsjacking – have you heard anything about it?
Here’s the definition of Newsjacking from the site itself,”Newsjacking is the art and science of injecting your ideas into a breaking news story and generating tons of media coverage and social media engagement.”
If you remember, a tweet gone viral on February 2017 – It was about a man sharing his ex-girlfriend’s apology letter on Twitter with lots of mistake marks.
Kudos to Dailymail who created a 1000-word article on this viral tweet.
More amusing were the results Dailymail got for the article i.e. 6.1k shares and 365 comments.
That’s call Newsjacking.
Are you getting my point?
Yes, I am telling you to keep a watch on what’s going viral and write a whole article on it. You can offer your opinion on the viral news, something inspiring or humor based.
Finding out what‘s popular is not a big deal as you can get that information from social media or Google Alerts.
Here are some tips you can follow to inquire what’s trending:
- Notifying the total number of likes, shares and comments of particular Tweet or Facebook Post, will tell you about which thing is more popular among users.
- Subscribe to Google Alerts with your keywords to receive regular updates
- Follow sites like Reddit, Buzzfeed and Upworthy for trending stories.
Warning: Be aware that you are not harming someone else’s privacy. You can simply ask to the person before writing anything about it especially when he/she is not a big personality.
2. Get Your Content from Influencers or Successful People
How many of you follow influencers on Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter? Yes, I am talking about Neil Patel, Brian Dean, Joe Pullizzi – my favorites.
They are everywhere. Right?
You must be sharing their content. But what if you put their content in yours instead of just sharing?
Influencers or Successful people are full of advices - their habits, quotes, tricks, etc., all are floating high on web. Users always remain curious to know about the secret sauce of these successful people.
And if you are a big fan of them, nobody can stop you to follow them, listen & learn what they are saying and put the same in the picture – simple enough.
Here’s Healthy Living’s Article on 11 Rules of Success from Successful People:
All you will see in this article is: rules or quotes followed by Successful people. Still, the results are hilarious with 3.2K shares and 70 comments.
You too can collect tips, quotes, habits, or rules of successful people or influencers and share them with the world.
See how Ann Gynn, editor of CMI Blog, shares the experts’ advice.
3. “This Week” Content
Do you have a list of popular articles, posts, or tweets of whole week?
If not, start collecting because they have potential to become a part of your upcoming blog.
Worried whether you will get results or not?
Let me show you some fascinating examples and their outcomes:
Now, are you ready to collect this week’s popular tweets or other content and transform it into an article?
You must be.
But don’t limit yourself to “This Week”, go beyond with “This Month”, “This Year”, etc.
4. Record the Response
What about writing on response of users for trending topic/news/personality?
Let’s have some glimpses how others’ reponse can be turned into an article.
This is a quick trick to get ideas for your next article. All you have to do is hunt for what’s trending and how users are reacting on social media (look out for their comments).
Here are some tips you can follow while creating “Response” content:
- Users’ response on movie with high expectations
- Users’ response on political issues
- Difference between response of two different parties on similar topic
- Controversial Celebrity topic and their response for the same.
5. Report on Event
Being a content creator, you are in charge to deliver the content that might have been missed by your users.
Every year, tons of events take place in the whole world in both online and offline form. It’s not possible for everyone to be available at the mentioned date, time and place.
This is where you have to jump on.
Start keeping a record of events that take place at every corner of the world, relevant to your niche. Attend each event, write on what you have learned and deliver it, in the form of article/news, to your audience.
Each year Social Media Marketing World Conference takes places in San Diego. I am not able to attend them, but I do keep a track record of articles published by those who have attended the conference.
Here’s how Toprank gave a shape to what they have learned from the conference.
Tip – You can collect information of events from various other sources if you are not able to attend them personally. Just try to stand out with a different point of view, so that users have some reason to read your article.
6. Gather a List of Tools and Reviews
Online world is full of life-saving or time-saving tools. But they are available at different places. Plus, users don’t know whether these tools are worth trying for or not.
Why not make it easier for users?
Collect the list of best tools along with users’ review and put all this information at one place – which would be your article.
Have a look on Tom Pick’s article on Best Competitive Intelligence and Benchmarking tools, where he shares best tools with users’ review:
A few tips to follow when you write about tools:
- Select tools in your niche and put them together with users’ review
- Compare the reviews of two or more tools and describe which one is good
- With a little research, you can also tell users about which tool is good for which purpose
Key Takeaway
It’s all about collecting content performing well on web – having huge number of likes, shares, and comments. And all you have to do is transform it into an article. You have to spend more time on research than writing. Also, you have to put a unique opinion in front to make your content look like out of the box.
If you have any questions or suggestions, must put them in comment box. Me and my readers would like to learn from you.