Maximizing Business Value

Robin Good: Here is a handy short guide to nine free infographic creation tools that can be utilized to create enticing visuals, word charts and data-based infographics without having special technical skills.

Useful. 8/10

Check them all out: http://www.infographicsarchive.com/create-infographics-and-data-visualization/ ;

(Unearted by Andres Taborga)

Excerpted from article by Pawan Deshpande, CEO at Curata:
"By definition, content curation is the act of continually identifying, organizing, and sharing the best and most relevant content on a specific topic or issue online.  When evaluating which content curation tool to use, there are three primary areas of consideration:

1.The Inputs – Where does the content curation tool get information from? What type of content will this allow me to curate?  Will it help identify and recommend relevant content?

2.The Organization  – What does this tool offer in terms of organizing content once it has been identified?  What type of data models does this represent content as? In a simple chronological list, or an inter-linked structure? Does it let me annotate and editorialize the curated content?

3.The Venue – How and where can I share the content once I have decided to curate it?

In this blog post, I am primarily going to focus on the decided on a content curation tool based on the venue – the channels to which your content is curated.

- Embedded Widget.
What is it? Embedded widgets allow you to display curated content in a small pane on your existing web properties.
Pro’s: Relatively easy to implement with Javascript code or create an iframe.
Con’s: Content in widgets is almost never indexed by search engines because they are rendered in Javascript which search engines do not consider.
Who should use it? Organizations that are looking primarily to touch up their website with some fresh content may want to use a widget.

- Microsite.
What is it? A dedicated microsite or section of a website populated primarily with curated content.
Pro’s: Microsites really create a full-fledged experience with curated content as the center piece and can easily because the hub for a specific topic or issue.
Con’s: Because the curated content is not tucked away in a widget and is instead front and center, you will need to pay a lot more attention to what you curate.
Who should use it? Organizations that are looking to become an authoritative destination for a topic or issue to position themselves as a key resource or thought leader, or to drive traffic and visibility.

- Personalized Page.
What is it? A personalized page is a lightweight, single page microsite filled with curated content.
Pro’s: Easy to get up and running and are indexed by search engines. Usually free.
Con’s: Only one page is indexed by search engines.
Who should use it? Individuals or cost conscious non-profits who want to create an information resource.

- Email Newsletters.
What is it? An email newsletter or digest containing the latest curated content that is sent out on a regular interval.
Pro’s: Email newsletters are a great way to continually educate an audience on a regular basis without fail.
Con’s: Email newsletters have two drawbacks: 1. They are not indexed by search engines. 2. They are not real time.
Who should use it? Email newsletters are a great medium for curated content for curators with an existing captive audience.

- Twitter & Social Media Channels.
What is it? Posting curated content on Twitter and other social media channels such as Facebook and LinkedIn through status updates. The curated content could be links to blog articles or other web content, or curated tweets.
Pro’s: Posting curated content is different from other mediums, because it’s a very time sensitive medium.
Con’s: The drawback of sharing curated content on social media is that if you don’t have a lot of curated content on your topic, then it’s hard to get noticed. Because social media is content is so fleeting, if you are not constantly and consistently posting your curated content, then your impact will be minimal.
Who should use it? Curators who have topics with a sufficient throughput of content.  Curators with an existing or potential audience on social media channels. Curators with content that has a likelihood of being shared virally.

- Feeds.
What is it? Content that’s shared through RSS feeds or other data feeds.
Pro’s: People with RSS readers can subscribe to them – who are usually visitors who return regularly. In addition, some search engines crawl RSS feeds.
Con’s: Social media these days has in many ways taken the place of RSS feeds and provide more room for annotation. Unlike social media, it’s also difficult to annotate your content as a curator and add your own context.
Who should use it? Curators with an audience that prefers this medium.

So what’s the right answer?  Which venue should you choose as you evaluate content curation tools?
A sound content curation strategy utilizes all of the venues and channels, but drives all visitors back to a single microsite. If you’re using a robust content curation platform then you should be able to easily syndicate your content to all channels with ease..."

Read full original article here:
http://www.curata.com/blog/content-curation-guidelines-where-to-share/

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