Content Creation is a valuable tool for public relations professionals. Check out this article to find out how to perfect your strategy and engage with your audience.
The term “content curation” may sound like one of those industry buzzwords, but it actually holds more weight than you may believe. In a world where social media is now a pillar of the journalism and public relations industries, our feeds are constantly flooded with content and information. As I’ve discussed before, this can be overwhelming and challenging with the prevalence of fake news, or even just sensory overload. As a company or brand, it is important to showcase and reflect the image that you are trying to present. This means gathering and curating the content that appeals specifically to your audience.
Breaking it Down: What is Content Curation
As the notion of content curation is a somewhat newer concept, its important to have a full understanding of what the job actually entails. Whether you are a journalist or PR professional, you are probably used to taking charge and finding stories or creating your own content. However, content curation is more about sharing pre-existing content that is relevant to you audience. In the article 13 Content Curation Tools Every Market Needs for HubSpot, Patrick Armitage provides the perfect clear definition for the term. He states, “Content curation consists of finding materials relevant to your audience from a variety of sources, and sharing it strategically through your communication channels”. Although it seems simple enough to simply repost or share somebody else’s work, there is a lot more to content curation than meets the eye.
Find Your Strategy
If you want your content curation to be successful and effective for your business, you are going to have to come up with a strategy. Like anything else, the content that your share needs to be well thought out, interesting, informative, and relevant. If content creation was so easy, anyone could do it, but today companies are hiring specific employees just to fill this role to make sure it is being handled with precision and attention to detail. Specific strategies will differ based on the needs and goals of the company. However, there are a few different tried and trued methods that will help you get off on the right start with creating your content creation strategy. The article The Complete Guide to Content Curation: Tools, Tips, Ideas by Todde Clarke for Hootsuite shares the key tactics to achieving an effective content curation strategy. Some of the main points shared here that I found most valuable are knowing your audience, sharing only what is timely and relevant, adding a personal angle to the content, and to always make sure you are still promoting your brand through the content you are sharing. If you start off doing all of this, your strategy will take you far.
An Addition to Your PR Tool Belt
If you’re in the PR field like me, you may wonder why you need to utilize content curation when you’ve been used to making all your own content. However, the PR industry is all about building a trusting and receptive audience, and content curation helps to foster this. If you want your publics to resonate with your message and listen to you, you need to prove that you are reliable, informed, current and up to date with everything going on. By having a carefully selected content curation strategy, you can show your audience that you are doing just that and develop your brand identity even further. As Kevin Lee words it in the article How to do Content Curation for Public Relations for Audienti, “To establish expertise in your field, the public relations person needs to read, understand, filter, and share good materials from other smart likeminded people or companies. Content creation is a vital part of public relations. But when adding curated content to your existing content strategy, you are showing your audience that your brand is on top of what is happening right now in your industry”. With anything in life, the best strategy is to take tactics and methods from all different sources and add them to your arsenal. This will make you diverse and ahead of the curve in your work, which holds true for the public relations industry. Having a mix of original and curated content will take you to the next level and set you apart from the crowd.
Maria's Musings 