A Marketing Mix

"Il 73% degli attori di mercato afferma che la curation è una parte considerevole del loro mix di attività e quasi la metà  risponde che le loro aziende non trasmettono contenuti per quanto sarebbe necessario non riuscendo a conseguire gli obiettivi di curation che si sono preposti

 recent survey  by Trapit asked 131 US marketers questions about content curation and how it relates to their content marketing strategies. The findings were super interesting, and here are some of the key takeaways (presented via Marketingprofs):

- 74% of marketers say that content curation is an important part of their content strategy.

-60% of marketers say it's difficult to find original content to curate.

- 58% said that their companies need effective content curation in order to say afloat in their industries.

- 57% of marketers said that finding the right kind of content to curate is difficult.

It seems like those who will be the most successful will find a balance between content curation and content creation. With so much information bombarding us every day, the best of the best curators will be those who share curated content that adds the most value for their readers.  Time is such a precious commodity that people want a return on their time so curate and share valuable content. Understand what is valuable for your readers.

Most of this is common sense, really. But I can't drive home enough two of the points:

Properly credit by prominently linking to the original source

and

Using quotes only; not the entire article.

Also, inserting your own point of view is great -- however, sometimes there are reasons not to; for example, time constraints which have you quickly offering a link and/or when reiterating is like beating a dead horse.

Robin Good  of Content Curation World breaks the findings down thus:

a) what people curate as relevant is not generally among the top ranked results according to popular metrics. Good stuff is not the same as what is considered normally popular or authoritative stuff.

b) content curation allows a community to synchronize around specific issues and subjects (as anticipated by Clay Shirky)

c) better and more appreciated curation is of the "structured" kind, providing additional info, meta-data and categorization.

d) curators that are highly appreciated are characterized by consistent activity and by a variety of interests (or viewpoints under the same theme) that they are capable to cover.

This is rather my experience; however, I usually explain it to my clients this way:

a) You can be doing an excellent job, but never receive the recognition, popularity, or traffic you deserve.That doesn't mean you won't be appreciated greatly by the smaller group of people who do find/read your curated works.

b) No matter the popularity of your curation, you can build and have conversations -- but remember, community cultivation not only requires additional time, but a different skill set.

c) If you're going to do it, do it well. Use tools, such as labels and tags, and *always* provide context as well as proper credits and links.

d) Consistent activity is nearly as important as showing some personality along with your knowledge. Your topic may be narrowly focused, but offer additional topics and information about you personally (not just professionally) so that people get a sense of you.

A research paper by Zhong, Shah, Sundaravadivelan and Sastry, King's college London, 2013

See the excellent notes from Robin Good below. Interesting to see more work emerging in this field.

Traffic Generation through Scoop.it usage....

Tom Webster illustrates clearly why content curation is not a backup solution for those looking for a content marketing strategy that saves them time and resources.

Content curation, according to Tom Webster, "is even harder--and rarer--than quality creative output".

and

"...the ability to create value through curation is uncommon."

And the solution, notwithstanding what conferences and events may appear to suggest, is not simply in having new fancy tools. The real difference is in how me and you curate the content we select.

"And the learned skill (through pattern recognition) that both the content curator and the content docent must share is the ability to discriminate."

Humans can "discriminate" in much more subtle ways than computers can, and this ability, if refined, is going to become a very valuable asset in the near future. 

This is why content curators as well as content "guides" (from museum docents) will play an increasingly important role to their audiences, especially when compared to those who are just passing on "interesting links".

He further writes: "It will be increasingly difficult, in this age of declining content arbitrage, to build an audience through curation—to get new people to gravitate to your content if you are just passing along other people's content.

But if you build an audience first—if you are known for something—then your curation has meaning."

The author also points to two excellent examples of content curation: John Gruber (Daring Fireball) and Chris Penn (christopherspenn.com).

A good reading for anyone interested in better understanding what content curation is all about.

Rightful. 8/10

Full article: http://brandsavant.com/brandsavant/curation 

(Image credit: Guy choosing a place to go by Shutterstock)

Robin Good's insight:

Tom Webster illustrates clearly why content curation is not a backup solution for those looking for a content marketing strategy that saves them time and resources.

Content curation, according to Tom Webster, "is even harder--and rarer--than quality creative output".

and "...the ability to create value through curation is uncommon."

And the solution, notwithstanding what conferences and events may appear to suggest, is not simply in having new fancy tools. The real difference is in how me and you curate the content we select.

"And the learned skill (through pattern recognition) that both the content curator and the content docent must share is the ability to discriminate."

Humans can "discriminate" in much more subtle ways than computers can, and this ability, if refined, is going to become a very valuable asset in the near future.

This is why content curators as well as content "guides" (from museum docents) will play an increasingly important role to their audiences, especially when compared to those who are just passing on "interesting links".

He further writes: "It will be increasingly difficult, in this age of declining content arbitrage, to build an audience through curation—to get new people to gravitate to your content if you are just passing along other people's content.

But if you build an audience first—if you are known for something—then your curation has meaning."

The author also points to two excellent examples of content curation: John Gruber (Daring Fireball) and Chris Penn (christopherspenn.com).

A good reading for anyone interested in better understanding what content curation is all about.

Rightful. 8/10

Full article: http://brandsavant.com/brandsavant/curation

A timely reminder of how your friendly Teacher Librarian can hopefully give you a hand with sorting through resources and content available for you curriculum areas, thank you for sharing this :-)

I'm not sure how many more times we can say this, but it couldn't be more true! 

Was there a time when life seemed to make promises of hope and success? What happend? Did your dreams coming running to you with open arms or have you felt like your dream words no longer have a bond?

Only thinking about yourself is a great way to Fail.

One of the largest battles that we deal with is the need seemingly have the most "love", the fight to be on top. Many of us see others living a life that we want and think that cutting eachother is the way to get an available seat. Once we realize that the same feelings that you have are the same feelings that I have. The same desire to be accepted that you may have, I've also shared. We all share the want for true freedom. They best way to get what you want is to supply that same need to someone else with your best intent. The world really can change. We just must first take the brave step to be the change we wish to see. Once we become change, the box that once contained our hope can be broken and our dreams will then have room to become reality.

great

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