Creating Content vs. Curating Content

When it comes to your company’s online presence, content really is king.

But there’s a caveat—not all content is created equal. You can bombard your fans, followers, and customers with useless content that they will, at best, ignore—or you can share meaningful, insightful, and entertaining content that will keep them coming back for more.

To ensure that you fall into the latter category, you need focus on providing quality content. You can do that in two ways: by creating content and by curating content.

 

Creating Content

Creating content means building original content from the ground up. This is your company’s chance to share its knowledge, use its own voice, and develop useful and captivating content that will wow your customer base.

When you create original content, you own it because you made it. As the primary source of the content, you become the expert. People viewing your content are sticking to your website (or blog, or Facebook page, or… you get the drift)—they aren’t clicking away to read more. In fact, other people might share your insightful content, bringing even more viewers straight to the source: you!

The beauty of creating content is that you control what is being said. That means that you can share what you think is important and you can talk about pretty much anything you want. Just remember: all content, including created content, should focus on quality first. Put thought into what it is you’re producing—and check your spelling and grammar!

Of course, creating content requires a little effort on your part. After all, researching, writing, and revising won’t happen by itself.

As the primary source, readers are counting on you to be the expert. If you’re caught writing inaccurate, misleading, or just plain wrong information, then you’ll need to bear the brunt of the blame.

PROS: Customize content. Draw people to you. Be the expert.

CONS: Time consuming. Tough work. Big responsibility.

 

Curating Content

Curating content means sharing content that was created by other people and companies, like reviews, news articles, or pretty much anything that you find interesting and relevant.

Curating content is not about plagiarizing: it’s about connecting people with content from other sources and giving those sources credit for their hard work.

Sharing, re-tweeting, and otherwise passing along external sources of content is a great way to show your fan base that you’re in tune with what’s going on in your industry. It’s a good way of diversifying the content you provide and of steering clear of self-promoting post after self-promoting post.

When you share content, it’s like high fiving the person who created it, whether it’s a publication, a partner, a passionate customer, or anyone else in your industry. Building a relationship with industry influencers is always a good thing.

Curating content is also a time saver—it’s usually much faster (and cheaper) to find something share-worthy than it is to create it from scratch.

On the downside, when someone clicks on an external link, they’re floating away from your site. Make sure that you give them incentive to come back!

PROS: Quick and easy. Mix it up. Making friends.

CONS: Can’t edit. Leads people away. Lacks originality.

 

The Bottom Line: The best content strategies include a mix of both created and curated content. That perfect balancing point depends on your product, your company, and your industry—talk to us and we’ll help you determine the optimal ratio. Ultimately, no matter the type, always make sure that you’re providing quality content.