All B2B entrepreneurs know the significance of high-quality on-line content material, whether or not it’s on a model’s personal web site or on social media. However producing it from scratch prices money and time—plus it may be onerous to give you contemporary new concepts.
That’s the place content material curation is available in. Sure, it will also be time-consuming, however the many benefits make it nicely well worth the effort. And you need to use automation to streamline the method.
Let’s check out precisely what content material curation means, why it advantages your model, and how one can make a content material curation technique give you the results you want.
What does content material curation imply for B2B advertising and marketing?
Content material curation isn’t nearly gathering a stack of different individuals’s content material from across the net—that’s known as content material aggregation, and is a really totally different factor. With content material curation, you continue to collate materials on a sure subject, however you current it to the viewers in a brand new means.
This contains including references and connections to different assets (and crediting them), offering your personal feedback and evaluation, or repurposing your personal current content material. It’s cheaper than creating brand-new content material, and it provides you extra alternative to interact your viewers. And a fascinating content material curation technique is super-useful in B2B advertising and marketing.
In the identical means that gross sales automation helps you have interaction with extra clients, automating content material curation reduces the time spent on sourcing materials and frees you as much as construct relationships with different manufacturers and influencers. Nonetheless, you continue to have to test that every one curated content material is credible!
Benefits of content material curation for B2B advertising and marketing
Some great benefits of a well-designed content material curation technique as a part of your B2B advertising and marketing are multi-faceted:
It helps enhance your visibility with out churning out an excessive amount of content material
Producing concepts and writing new content material is time-consuming, particularly in case your technique commits you to posting every day or weekly to make sure most visibility. Should you’re working low on time or inspiration, there’s no have to disappoint your readers—content material curation is a good way to make sure a steady stream of high-quality content material.
You simply have to seek out appropriate content material, embody your personal messaging, and add it to your schedule. Automated content material discovery instruments can assist you discover related content material shortly.
It helps you acquire credibility as a consequence of affiliation
By referencing different corporations and sharing their opinions, you’re positioning your self as a thought chief. With info from a number of sources, you’re trusting the viewers to make up their very own minds (and proving your self reliable in return).
So long as you select content material from respected corporations, you’ll tackle a few of their credibility and authority by affiliation. It additionally demonstrates that you’ve got a powerful community of business companions, which is able to strengthen your popularity.
It helps you widen your attain
A wise content material curation technique permits you to piggyback on the web presence of different manufacturers, and faucet into their ready-made audiences. In the event that they’re leaders within the business with legions of followers, a lot the higher.
Whenever you share their content material, credit score the supply with a tag or @point out to make your submit seen to followers of these profiles. Your model will profit from elevated publicity to customers who’re curious about related topics.
Even higher, the unique supply may “like” your message and offer you a shout-out, which boosts your personal social profile (and your credibility).
It provides you various content material and lends you totally different voices
If each piece of content material is written in the identical fashion and “voice”, your viewers will finally develop bored and cease studying your posts—even when the content material itself is related. Typically it’s good to have a brand new perspective.
A powerful content material curation technique provides you the chance to introduce extra variety, when it comes to written fashion and the individuals and corporations who produce it. Combine issues up through the use of totally different article kinds akin to information roundups and listicles alongside long-form items.
It helps elevate consciousness and engagement
The extra content material you submit, the larger your viewers shall be. Content material curation lets you submit extra typically, as you don’t have to attend for brand-new content material to be produced. Nonetheless, it must be extremely participating and provides your viewers a cause to learn it.
On social media specifically, engagement is a two-way road—once you have interaction with others, they’ll have interaction with you. You’re constructing connections each time you share or reply to another person’s content material, which is a good way to start a relationship with different manufacturers.
5 Steps to create a fascinating content material curation technique on your B2B advertising and marketing
- Create a structured content material technique and keep as constant as doable
Similar to you’ll with new content material creation, it’s necessary to implement a structured course of for curating content material. Determine how typically you’re going to share it, and outline how lengthy you have to spend on analysis, collation, repurposing, and approval.
You additionally want to consider the place you’re going to get your content material. To slim the main focus, it’s useful to make an inventory of related sources akin to companions, information shops, and companies in your business, so you may flip to them first.
Curated content material also needs to match together with your current content material technique and together with your model values. Guarantee that the subject is related to your organization, and is one thing your viewers is curious about. That means, it received’t appear misplaced.
- Guarantee your content material curation contains solely credible sources and collaborate with equally credible thought leaders
As we talked about, credibility is significant if you would like individuals to see you as a trusted chief in your subject. You is perhaps eager to make use of a very attention-grabbing article, however don’t be tempted to submit it with out validation. Even in the event you unwittingly share misinformation, your model shall be tainted by affiliation. Try the supply’s web site and social profiles to seek out out as a lot as you may.
At all times learn the article fastidiously to determine any purple flags, akin to claims with out stats to again them up. You additionally don’t need content material that focuses closely on one firm, or pushes too onerous to promote a product. Strive collating quotes, suggestions, and statistics from a spread of sources in a single new article.
It’s a good suggestion to have two queues for managing curated content material. The primary can be a compilation of doubtless appropriate content material. When it has been reviewed and permitted by a supervisor, it will probably enter the outgoing queue prepared for posting.
- Use integrations and different related instruments for personalization
With a lot content material accessible and so many retailers to select from, your viewers wants an excellent cause to hunt yours out—and though you may’t present bespoke content material to every particular person, you can also make it appear that means!
One survey discovered 80% of shoppers had been extra probably to make use of an organization providing customized experiences. You need readers to really feel just like the content material has been handpicked only for them, so get to know your viewers and determine what they should make life simpler or extra attention-grabbing.
For instance, automated instruments enable you to phase the viewers and ship tailor-made content material or hyperlinks on to their inbox. In case your workplace is utilizing a wise VoIP (Voice over IP) cellphone system, it’ll probably embody integrations with helpful apps like CRMs, which let you know all about buyer preferences.
With cautious curation, you could find articles that tackle particular ache factors—and personalize them by including an opinion or a special angle to make it extra related.
- Take part and interact together with your viewers
Posting content material as typically as doable will enhance your visibility and generate extra engagement by serving to you keep high of thoughts together with your viewers. One other tip is to ask them to take part by leaving feedback, maybe in a discussion board for discussing the article.
Actually, in the event you encourage suggestions, the viewers will really offer you concepts for future content material. Take into account the connection between social media and retail corporations, the place customers depart feedback and opinions that the retailer can act upon.
You may also use social listening to see which matters acquire essentially the most engagement, and decide content material that pertains to these matters. Look out for helpful pictures, movies, GIFs, and memes, as these will make your posts extra eye-catching.
- Add worth and present constant branding
Whether or not your content material is created or curated, the principle level is that it supplies worth to your viewers. If it doesn’t entertain, educate, or encourage, then why ought to they spend their time studying it?
When your viewers nicely, you may ship articles that may assist them clear up an issue or improve their life ultimately. For instance, for an article about Microsoft Groups Telephone, you possibly can assist the readers out by linking to on-line opinions or compiling a comparability listing.
The content material additionally must be related to your personal model. Use your personal fonts and layouts to breed content material in your own home fashion, to make sure consistency with the remainder of your on-line presence.
Prepared for content material curation in your B2B technique?
Whereas creating your personal content material will at all times be necessary, a sturdy content material curation technique lets you present a extra various vary of articles to interact your viewers.
Should you implement a structured technique, it will probably additionally prevent a chunk of time (however bear in mind you’ve obtained to test the content material fastidiously!). With automated instruments that can assist you, curation can develop into a highly-effective factor of your B2B content material advertising and marketing.
