Today’s customers want to be believers. They are interested in new and relevant information, but won’t take a bite of the apple unless they really believe it will be delicious. The internet has become like a highway littered with flashing and blinking billboard ads—potential customers are saturated in constant and aggressive forms of online advertising. This overabundance of gleaming banners and links, promising the best and most-desperately-needed product or service, has numbed the viewer, making it hard for companies to convey new messages through their traditional content marketing solutions.
Online users today are interested in a constant flow of new information and ideas, but only the ones that inspire and move them. They are tired of being told what they can’t live without and will ignore messages they feel are obnoxiously sales pitchy and forceful.
Parting the Muddy Waters
Amidst all the chaos of internet content, a new marketing strategy has risen; content marketing solutions are shifting to include content curation solutions: an up-and-coming trend for successful businesses, both popular with customers and time-saving for companies. Rather than taking time to create new content and continuing to flood the market, companies are simply sifting through the vast majority of content already out there and then presenting a collection of the most valuable and interesting pieces. Occasionally, a company will create and include original content in its collection, but content curation is by a business—not about said business or its products.
This form of information collection allows users to discover new information without sorting through a mass of mixed content and value. Collections can be inspiring or informative. They are not designed as a sales pitch or advertising campaign. When intrigued users who aren’t being pressured to purchase, find a company’s perspective especially exciting or poignant, they will continue to return for more. Businesses may curate content on their websites, social media sites or in their company emails to achieve focused attention on the value of their brand.
Popularity of Creative and Innovative Collections
Content curation makes sites like Pinterest or Reddit incredibly popular with users. According to a survey by HubSpot, “Pinterest is the fastest growing social media in history, hitting 10 million monthly unique visitors faster than its predecessors [Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or blogging]” (HubSpot State of Inbound Marketing, 2012). This same survey found that auto-posting content on social media sites decreased positive attention by 70%.
Benefits of Content Curation
Beyond the obvious nature of attracting viewers to your content collections, the sorting and collecting of information can benefit your business in many ways. By choosing engaging pictures, videos and articles, chosen specifically to enrich your chosen audience, you establish thought leadership. If you are posting these curated collections on your website, the abundance of relevant information and solid links will boost your SEO. If this content is going in a newsletter or email, you increase clicks to your website with intrigued viewers. And, finally, there is always the huge benefit of boosting your brand visibility and recognition.
Alethea M is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.