As someone in sales and marketing, you’ve probably been told a million times that providing your audience with valuable, high-quality content can make all the difference for your business. You might assume this means generating your own content, whether it be through social media posts, blogs, videos, webinars, and the like. While these are all great ways to gain leads through building your audience, there are also other ways you can meet the same end without having to do most of the legwork.
Content curation—or putting your own spin on and sharing content created by someone else—isn’t a new concept, but it is one that can save you a lot of time and money in your marketing strategy. Knowing what content is worth sharing and how to make it your own is the only tricky part, but not if you keep these tips in mind.
It needs to be relevant.
Just because you come across a blog post or a video that is related to your industry does not mean that it will necessarily resonate with your audience. For example, if you’re a financial advisor trying to attract more prospects from a younger demographic, you probably don’t want to share content related to entering retirement. However, you might consider sharing a piece of content about growing your 401(k), as that applies to people who are trying to save toward retirement but are not quite there yet.
Include your expertise.
The whole point of sharing content from other platforms is to show your opinion on the matter and present yourself as an industry expert. Simply sharing the content to your social media pages or website is not enough—you need to add your two cents. As a real estate agent, sharing an infographic on decreasing home prices in your area is an amazing way to entice buyers, but if you provide context for the graphic and explain how you can help them take advantage of the current state of the market, they’ll be more likely to turn to you.
Timing is everything.
You wouldn’t put up decorations for the holidays in July, and you shouldn’t share content with a timely message when it’s no longer appropriate. A piece of content that is no longer relevant is pretty useless in terms of gaining traction with your audience. Think about content in the context of what’s happening in your industry right now. If there was a sudden shift or piece of news that could impact your audience, make sure you share that with them while it’s still in the front of their minds.
Keep an eye on your audience.
What’s popular on social media isn’t popular for long—it’s the nature of the beast. As mentioned in the last point, if you aren’t sharing content that’s timely and relevant you might as well not share it at all. However, in order to know what matters to your audience and what they’ll respond to, you need to keep tabs on them. Look at other websites and social media pages geared toward your target audience and take notes. What kind of content is working for them and keeping people coming back? You can share content from these pages directly, or simply use it for inspiration.
There are thousands of salespeople and marketers in the content curation sphere. It’s an extremely beneficial world to be a part of, as the amount of content primed for sharing is virtually endless. When you’re ready to take advantage of it, be sure to keep the aforementioned tips in mind so ensure you’re getting the most exposure for your efforts.
