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, could become an increasingly important web profession in the near future.
But what does content curation actually mean? On its real meaning, there is still much confusion. In this article, we shed some light on its meaning, and give you some useful tips on how best to carry it out.
What is content curation?
Origin of the term
It seems that the term was coined in 2009 by Rohit Bhargava, a professor and marketing expert and author of numerous bestsellers.
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.
To satisfy people's hunger for quality content, a new kind of web work would therefore be required.
The objective 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 is, in a nutshell, the task of content curators.
Definition
Content curation is the activity of collecting, selecting and optimising articles and publications related to one's field of activity.
Part of a broader content marketing strategy - a process that does not end with the production of content for the web - content curation is becoming increasingly important for companies.
Usefulness
In the initial idea, the web 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 with a variety of perspectives and points of view, and fewer and fewer sponsored and marketing-oriented articles.
A new profession
The future of the web could have an important number of content curators among its protagonists. The latter would have the honour and burden of collecting and sharing the best content on the web, becoming 'citizen editors' of some sort.
Acting as a filter between the myriad of content on websites and the end user, their work would be decisive in avoiding information overload.
If you notice, the millions of users who collaborate daily with Wikipedia, the world-famous online encyclopaedia, constantly adding new entries and improving existing ones, perform content curation. In fact, their work consists of researching relevant material on a given topic, integrating and juxtaposing it to arrive at new content.
How to realise an effective content strategy in a company
Content curation is necessary for companies operating in a large number of different sectors. We will now show you the main indispensable steps 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, specialised websites, trade magazines, etc.).
For the widest possible collection and selection, various tools can be a valuable ally.
Rely on the right tool
To be effective, content curation needs to be done continuously. Given the speed of the web world, it is obvious that this is a critical point.
To overcome this difficulty, at least in part, the choice of the right tool proves to be crucial in order to automate as many tasks as possible.
Spidwit, for instance, is a software with a sophisticated artificial intelligence system, perfect for organising the most interesting content in a dashboard.
Edit and enrich identified content
Changes to existing articles can be of various kinds. Here are some possible actions
- adding relevant information to enrich and improve the original content,
- contextualising and updating old content to make it more current,
- inserting a personal comment,
- translation and localisation of articles in foreign languages,
- SEO optimisation for search engines, e.g. 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 include the modified content in your editorial plan. You can then share it with your network through social media (LinkedIn above all) or other channels (the newsletter for example).
Content curation: an unstoppable rise?
While this process is still not very widespread 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 reached this point, you are finally clearer on what content curation actually means. Do you know any companies that practice it regularly? Do you have any best practices to share?
If you want, you can exchange with us by commenting below.
Article translated from Italian