So what’s the difference between becoming a content creator and/or a content curator?
A content creator is someone who identifies the “needs” within their audience and seeks to help by creating original and highly relevant content. And when you create useful and valuable content, that content is not only absorbed and appreciated, but shared and re-shared….driving consumers of your content right back to you.
A content curator is someone who sifts through the Web to find and deliver the most relevant content for their intended audience. Sort of a Hunter-Gatherer 2.0! A thoughtful content curator is more than just a broadcaster of information. It’s someone who understands their brand and their audience well enough to identify the relevancy of the content, as well as the best context for sharing.
When it’s time to choose your mode of operation, don’t worry, you need not be hasty! In fact, you can balance the content you create with the content you curate. By going this route you’re more apt to be consistent with your online sharing. And the more you share extremely valuable content pertaining to a particular expertise…the more you’ll be received as the Trusted Advisor in that topic area.
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July 12, 2011 at 12:46 pm
What are your thoughts on a possible hybrid between the two?
What do you think an effective use of that type of technique would look like?
July 13, 2011 at 8:24 am
Hi Chase- A hybrid can definitely be a worthwhile strategy. It again…really depends on your goal. That being said, finding and sharing HIGHLY relevant and useful content from your blog site looks a lot different from just sharing it out via Twitter or Facebook. Nothing irritates content creators more when their content is copy & pasted into another resource with no sourcing. So if you find great content and want to share it from your site, instead highlight the most important concepts and then add your own commentary. You can also select a variety of great content sources and highlight multiple articles in one post…like what BHGRE does with their Friday wrap-up.
Another great way to curate is with another medium. If you find an article with a really important concept you want to share that with your audience…consider using video or podcasting to talk about the concept and point out the original source of your inspiration.
Curating is more than resharing…it’s understanding the strategy behind what you share, how to add to the resource you find, and how to deliver it best to your target audience. Just don’t forget that YOUR own content is the best source you can tap.
July 17, 2011 at 5:34 am
Hi Nicole, we help agents with these issues by getting them in the mind-set of being an advocate.. delivering tips trends and issues that hit the pocketbook. In our focus group work with consumers we see not much attention being paid to “initials– CRS GRI ABR.. or Million Dollar producer! but.. WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME.. tell me something I do not know…. What’s coming down the pike!
As proof- our metrics across all our newsletters tell us homeowners want to see local market stats, they want to know what’s going on …ON THEIR STREET… They do not care that home sales are up .05% NATIONWIDE…. Long and Foster agents deliver their Market Minute reports through us. Other members in MRIS/MLS use the free reports from rbintel.com. Local Info Works!
Al Clark, HomeActions.net