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#ContentWritingChat Recap: The Benefits of Curation in a Content Marketing Strategy with Sasha Laferte from Curata

by | Dec 16, 2016 | ContentWritingChat

#ContentWritingChat Recap: The Benefits of Curation in a Content Marketing Strategy with Sasha Laferte from Curata

Did you miss #ContentWritingChat this week or could you use a refresher on all the great tips that were shared? You’re in luck because our recap of Tuesday’s chat on content curation is here! If you’re ready to dive in, grab some paper to take notes and keep on reading!

#ContentWritingChat Recap: The Benefits of Curation in a Content Marketing Strategy with Sasha Laferte from Curata


Our guest host this week was Sasha Laferte. Sasha is the Content Marketing Manager for Curata. She’s also a digital marketer and storyteller. For this week’s chat, she joined us via the Curata account to share her top tips on the benefits of curation in a content marketing strategy.

Q1: What are the benefits of content curation?

To kick off the chat, we asked everyone to share their thoughts on why they felt content curation was beneficial. If you haven’t felt the need to incorporate content curation into your content marketing strategy, these tweets just might convince you! Here’s what some chat participants had to say:

As Sasha said, content curation can help improve SEO, increase lead generation, promote thought leadership, increase your content output, and more. She also shared a link to a helpful article on Curata’s website that’s worth checking out.

Jenn seemed to be on the same page with his answer. She said content curation provides a way to generate more content. It also helps to position you as a thought leader and adds value to your audience.

By curating great content, you’re able to share relevant articles and valuable knowledge with your audience without having to write it yourself. It’s also a great way to learn what others in your industry are saying.

As Angelica said, with content curation there’s less pressure to create all the things. You can have a balance of your unique content, plus content curated from other sources.

Q2: Is content curation plagiarism?

Many question whether or not content curation is considered plagiarism since you’re sharing content from another source. Here are some of the responses we received during the chat:

Sasha doesn’t think content curation is plagiarism. She said to make sure you add a new title, body paragraph, and credit the original article. This will ensure you’re in the clear!

Sarah has the right idea! If you’re sharing someone else’s content, you should always credit the original source. It’s always a good idea to add your own spin on the content to give it a fresh perspective for your audience.

Odds are, people will love when you share their content. It’s a great way to start building a relationship with someone as long as you curate the right way. They’ll appreciate that you thought highly enough of their work to share it.

If you publish a piece of content as your own when it’s not, that’s definitely plagiarism. Avoid any trouble by respecting the original creators, as Mike said, by giving them credit.

A simple copy and paste is a no-no! Tony said to give credit to the source and change it up a bit when you republish to give it a unique take.

In case we haven’t made our point clear, make sure you give credit! Also, how appropriate is this GIF Jamie shared?

Q3: How much content should I curate?

Now that you’re sold on why it’s important to add content curation to your content marketing strategy, you need to know how much content you should be curating. Here’s some advice straight from Tuesday’s chat:

Sasha shared some pretty interesting statistics with us. According to Curata’s data, 65% of your content should be created internally. 25% of your content should be curated and 10% should be syndicated. Do you agree with these results?

Mike is spot-on with his answer! He recommends only curating as much content as you think is valuable. Don’t curate just for the sake of publishing content. Everything you share with your audience should be relevant and add value.

Great answer from Jenn! She said to share content that will define you as a thought leader, as well as provide value to your customers.

Julia feels the amount of content curation you do will depend on how much unique content you’re producing. If you produce plenty of content, curate less. If you don’t, curate more.

Brittany said it’s difficult to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry if you’re only sharing thoughts from others. Balance your curation with original content. When you do curate, add your own take on it to provide your own unique thoughts and ideas.

As Jacob said, make sure you’re curating quality content. Share information that is relevant and valuable to your audience.

In the end, it’s going to depend on your strategy. What works for one brand might not be what works well for you. One key thing to remember is to make sure you’re producing original content as well.

You should also make sure you read through content before sharing it. Make sure it actually fits with the goals and vision for your brand.

Q4: Does curation have a negative impact on SEO?

So, does content curation have a negative impact on SEO? Check out some of these responses from the chat to find out the true answer:

Sasha said curated content can actually improve SEO. She advises to avoid reposting full text or repeatedly doing so from a single source. Read the article from Curata she shared for more tips!

Both Sarah and Sara said you can still rank in the search engines if you add your own viewpoint to the content you curate.

As Jacob said, make sure you aren’t duplicating what’s already out there. That’s a big no-no when it comes to SEO.

Q5: Where should I curate content from?

There are a ton of sources out there on the web that you can curate content from, so where should you turn? Check out these ideas fresh from the chat:

Sasha suggests turning to a variety of sources to find great content. Check out trade publications, blogs, news outlets, and more to discover valuable content.

Right on, Lauren! A key thing to remember when curating content is to stick to sources that are both trusted and respected. You can count on them to provide accurate information that adds value to readers.

Lexie said to use reliable sources that share valuable content. She also recommends being 100% sure about the content before you share it with your audience. If you aren’t, pass on sharing it.

Jamie said to turn to reliable sources such as websites, blogs, and thought leaders that your audience trusts.

Turn to the thought leaders in your industry to see what they’re sharing. Curate content from them when you can. It’s a great way to start building a relationship with them.

Erika suggests turning to some uncommon sources that are still of interest to your audience. You never know what gems you might uncover! She uses Feedly as a way to discover new content.

It’s a great idea to have a selection of sites that are trusted sources you can turn to any time. Read them on a regular basis to stay updated with what they’re sharing.

Just make sure you don’t share content from the same source over and over. It’s good to have a little diversity!

Q6: Should I have a dedicated site for content curation?

Do you really need a separate site to collect curated content? Check out these responses from the chat and decide for yourself:

Sasha weighed the pros and cons of having a dedicated site for content curation. One one hand, she said it’s great for SEO, experience, and establishing you as a go-to resource. However, there’s also a big time commitment that comes along with that.

Sarah doesn’t see the point in having a separate website. She feels it’s better to keep everything on the same site, especially for SEO purposes.

Ask yourself the questions Lex suggested. Would your audience use it? Do they need it? Considering you need your audience to be interested in it, you want to consider their needs before moving forward.

Q7: What are your thoughts on curated newsletters?

What do you think about curated newsletters? Do you enjoy them or do they automatically get deleted when they land in your inbox? Check out some of the responses we received during the chat below. Here’s a spoiler: If you enjoy creating a curated newsletter, give it a try and see how your audience responds. If they love it, keep going! If not, try something else.

Sasha said curated newsletters are great for educating your audience, but they’re not indexed or in real-time.

Becky says no thanks! She prefers to turn to Twitter to discover a curated list of topics, as opposed to her inbox.

Mike balances his newsletter by making them half original content and half curated content.

Over at Digital Natives, they feel a newsletter is better suited to provide an inside look at your own company. And it sounds like Robyn feels the same way! She thinks newsletters should tell a brand’s story to subscribers, instead of sharing content from others.

Jenn’s advice is to avoid fully curating your newsletter. She said to add your own content as well.

As Debi said, just make sure the curated content you add provides value to your reader.

Q8: How can I measure content curation success?

Now that you’re ready to dive into the world of content curation, you need to make sure your efforts are working for you. Here’s how to measure your success:

Sasha said to track page views, visitor growth, subscriber growth, and click-through rate.

Jenn recommends tracking engagement. Make sure your audience is interacting with your content in some way to find out if it’s resonating with them.

Don’t forget to measure those conversions!

You also want to see how much your reach has grown and whether or not your audience is engaged.

Make sure you set goals for your content first so you know exactly what you hope to achieve with everything you share.

We look forward to seeing you at the next #ContentWritingChat! Mark your calendars weekly for Tuesday at 10 AM Central Time for great chats centered around content writing and marketing. Follow @ExpWriters to stay updated on our new topics and guests!

Tags: content curation | content marketing