You know that feeling when you sit in front of the computer, and the blank white screen is just staring at you? 85% of marketers use content curation for two very good reasons: It allows you to create new content at a fraction of what it usually takes And it allows you to diversify content into different formats. It gives you a few extra controls, like the ability to plan out your entire marketing calendar in advance. And people are 44% more likely to engage if your posts are visual. Take the final step and make it visual! You don’t think that you have the time or ability to create infographics. If you’ve already written the content, this step should set you back by half an hour at most. However, you can also use it to create custom graphics or even presentations. Create interactive content from your static content “Content” doesn’t stop at blog posts. Where’s the content?
How long does it take you to create a single blog post today?
Probably a few hours, if I had to guess.
Now multiply that same time across your other content channels.
That includes everything from social media to audio, visual, and even offline presentations.
Content creation now sounds like more than a full-time job.
The good news is that you don’t need to create content from scratch each and every time.
In fact, you almost never should.
I’m going to show you my seven favorite content curation hacks.
They’ll help you save a ton of time.
But even better will be the new traffic, leads, and customers it will generate.
Let’s dive in.
1. Plan for curation in advance
This might sound a little confusing at first.
But there’s one tip that can make a massive difference down the road.
Unfortunately, many marketers miss it.
And it’s right in front of them!
You need to plan content for curation from the very beginning.
Here’s what I mean.
You know that feeling when you sit in front of the computer, and the blank white screen is just staring at you?
Don’t ever write from a white screen!
See this?
Don’t do that.
Instead, everything should be planned out in advance.
If a topic is inspired by multiple sources, make sure you list that information in the idea stage.
Then you can plan ahead and have one piece of content springboard the next.
It will also help you double your content output.
85% of marketers use content curation for two very good reasons:
- It allows you to create new content at a fraction of what it usually takes
- And it allows you to diversify content into different formats.
For example, you eventually want to guest post to build high-quality backlinks and get more traffic, right?
Content curation can make that happen.
You create an in-depth skyscraper on your own site. Then you can reuse the same material for another one.
Of course, you switch up the format and still create a unique piece of content.
But this way you’re able to skip the time-consuming stuff, like finding stats.
You don’t have to stop there, either.
Content curation also helps you easily increase rankings for tier-two links.
Here’s how tier 2 link-building works.
You guest post on one site to get links. Next, you guest post on other sites to drive links back to that first guest post.
Why would you do this?
Because when your first guest post becomes more authoritative, your own website becomes more authoritative.
Here’s how it would look if you used three tiers that link all the way back to the first tier.
It sounds complex.
However, it’s only complex if you’re not planning ahead.
Fortunately, there are a few tools out there to help you keep everything straight.
For example, I love using Trello to help brainstorm new topics.
Once a topic looks good to go, you can also manage the entire creation process.
CoSchedule is another excellent alternative.
It gives you a few extra controls, like the ability to plan out your entire marketing calendar in advance.
That you can start repurposing and scheduling social updates weeks in advance.
The trick is to have your systems ironed out ahead of time.
Create a process you can repeat every time you create content. The process should include several steps:
- Where content gets published and distributed
- Where it gets promoted
- How it’s promoted
- How mentions and influencer inclusions are handled
- The amount of time dedicated to future promotion for that specific piece
- How the content is repurposed – when and where, like TweetDeck
Turn content creation, distribution, and promotion into a precision process to supercharge your content in minutes — not hours.
2. Start with your customer’s problems
Most companies know what their products or services give to customers.
I mean the benefits your customers ultimately get.
But negative messaging around your customer’s problems is a better place to start.
Here’s why.
Notice how a problem is identified right off the bat in the headline of this Kissmetrics blog post:
Shining the spotlight on the problems customers are facing can help you cut through all of the other noise faster. That can also extend to the pain points or symptoms that pop up in their lives.
There are two ways to do that:
Step 1. Protect them from external threats.
There’s a lot of danger, pain, and sadness out there in the world.
There are also a lot of things that could potentially harm your customers if they don’t have someone or something to protect them.
Go on: Be their savior.
Step 2. Help them fix the internal mistakes they’re already making.
People don’t like to look stupid.
They want to avoid unknowingly sabotaging their goals or objectives. They want ways to identify potential pitfalls.
Pointing these out can help improve engagement from your audience and even encourage your followers to promote your content themselves.
Only when people understand why they should be afraid can you properly position yourself as the solution to their troubles.
Here’s a textbook example:
And if you do it right, you can frame it as a “must have” as opposed to a “nice to have.”
That means that, in every piece of content, you can subtly position yourself as the “expert” or the “answer” without having to overtly push the hard sell in your content.
There should be no shortage of problem-specific topics.
Think about it.
You can open up your email right now and start scanning customer questions.
You probably have hundreds if not thousands of them already!
Do you work with a customer support team? If so, these people listen to problems and issues on the phone all day long.
Take them to lunch, ask them a few questions, and you’ll get topic ideas for the next month.
You can even take this further to get extra mileage.
For example, Andy Crestodina answers questions from his customers and followers via email, then uses those emails as blog posts.
His trick was to create a separate Google Doc called “Content Fragments.” He simply copies and pastes all of his answers here over time.
Then he was able to mine this database of ready-made content that just needed a little tweaking to become ready for public consumption.
3. Transform text content into visuals
Visuals are the secret to triggering audience engagement.
Don’t believe…
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