The Cure for Common Content
Are you in a content rut? This is probably what we used to call “writer’s block,” but maybe the digital age expression should be “creator’s migraine.” And if “creating” content isn’t really your thing, how do you still excel at content marketing? The answer is content curation!
In a webinar on content marketing, Rohit Bhargava, founder and CEO of Influential Marketing Group and author of Likeonomics, defines content curation as the act of finding, grouping, organizing or sharing the best and most relevant content on a specific issue. Here are five techniques, along with my thoughts, that he shares for curating—rather than creating—content as part of your overall marketing strategy:
1. Aggregation: This technique is a basic combination of the most relevant information on a single topic. It doesn’t take much extra thought and is very useful for lists – best books, best apps, best deals.
2. Distillation: Sharing only the most important or relevant details gives your audience a great digest of news in a specific category, and works well for broad categories.
3. Chronology: By bringing together historical information you can show the evolution of a topic, company, industry or function. This historical data can serve to increase understanding of a topic and nicely sets the stage to highlight innovative developments or accelerated change.
4. Elevation: With this technique, you focus on identifying a larger trend or insight by sharing a variety of examples. The combination of content will include your opinions and expertise, promoting the author as a thought leader on the subject.
5. Mashups: This curation strategy uses juxtapositions of existing content to create something new. It’s a great way to call attention to a topic that has a variety of viewpoints rather than natural consensus – think politics. Similar to the elevation technique, this option creates a natural opportunity to present your best ideas along with what’s already out there.
As a PR professional, this list looks to me like a great primer on how to create superlative media pitches. Instead of just sharing your client’s latest news, give it some context with one of these techniques. Not only will these types of pitches showcase your subject matter expertise and make you an appealing partner to your target editors, but it also will make for a much more appealing story.
What other techniques have you used for curating content?