What’s Curated Content? Strategies and Best Practices

Creating new content from scratch can increase your brand’s visibility and engage your audience. However, consistently making new posts requires time and resources you don’t always have. 

One creative solution to this problem is to put together lists of relevant, high-quality news articles, blog posts, and white papers your viewers may enjoy. This is known as curating content, and it can help you reach followers between original uploads.

In this article, you’ll learn what curated content is and how to add it to your process.

What’s Curated Content?

Curating content involves collecting posts from other people or brands and sharing links with your followers. Although this practice saves time and effort, it still requires careful planning and research. For the best results, you have to find posts that best serve your brand and users.

Here’s how this process differs from creating new content. 

Content Curation vs. Content Creation

Content Curation

Content curation involves collecting someone else’s research and expertise and sharing it with your audience. Well-curated pieces should be related to your niche so followers are interested in the topic. 

It’s also good practice to share your own comments on the third-party source, as it shows you’re interacting with the piece instead of just throwing it up on your website. Joining the conversation builds goodwill with other creators, shows your audience you're a fair expert, and can lead to more traffic for your platform.

Content Creation

Content creation involves creating things like blog posts, videos, and images from scratch. This offers multiple benefits: 

• Showcases your industry knowledge, giving you more authority
• Earns your audience’s loyalty as a trusted expert in your field
• Lets you present your ideas in a way that matches your brand’s values

It’s important to note that you don’t have to decide between curating vs. creating. Ideally, you would do both, with a heavier emphasis on original content creation. Then, supplement your platform with additional curated content.

Benefits of Content Curation

There are many reasons to incorporate curated content onto your platform. Here are a few:

• Cost-effective brand building — Content curation is a much less expensive form of marketing than paid advertising. The only necessary expenses are your time and effort.
• Audience engagement — Frequent posts keep your audience active by engaging them on a set schedule. Since curated content is faster to make, you can connect with followers even when you don’t have time to create completely original posts. 
• Partner and influencer networking — Content curation also connects you with other creators. Sharing other people’s posts helps build relationships that can lead to valuable partnerships.

How To Curate Content In 3 Steps

Curating content is easier than creating new content from scratch, but it still requires careful consideration. Here are three simple steps explaining how to curate content on your platform or blog.

1. Find Trusted Sources That Align With Your Brand

If you’re already an expert in your field, you’re probably familiar with the best reference sources for relevant topics. Keep a list of helpful sites and articles as you find them, and refer to it whenever you need curated content.

2. Add Context and Showcase Your Unique Perspective

When you link to the curated content, you’ll also want to introduce it. Explain what the piece is, why you found it interesting, and how it might benefit your audience. Your comments will add a personal, memorable touch before sending your audience to someone else’s page. If they find the curated content useful, they’ll remember you as their trusted guide and return in the future.

3. Share Only High-Quality, Valuable Content

Original posts and content you share should be helpful, thoughtful, and high-quality. Additionally, the topics should be relevant to your usual content niche — or you should at least explain the connection to your audience. Otherwise, they won’t understand the point of the post and may interpret it as spam or not worth their time.

Best Practices For Content Curation

Keep these ideas in mind when developing your marketing and content curation strategy.

Experiment With a Variety of Content Formats

You can (and should) find information from a wide variety of sources and formats. This broad reach appeals to multiple viewers — while some might prefer formal white papers, others might like quick quotes they can share with friends.

Content curation also isn’t limited to a single platform. Consider sharing posts by:

• Reposting an Instagram Story
• Embedding a YouTube video on your website
• Sharing statistics on LinkedIn
• Making a listicle on your blog
• Duetting a TikTok

Sharing others’ content on multiple platforms helps you reach audiences where they already spend time.

Understand Your Audience’s Interests and Needs

Curated content should support the same interests and niche as your own posts. You’ve built a community around a specific topic, so tailor curated pieces to those interests to encourage more engagement.

Say you’re a ceramics artist who shares posts about the pottery-making process. When curating uploads, share Reels of a new glazing technique, studies on the perfect firing temperatures, and research into new types of clay. Audiences can use this information in their own ceramics practices.

Curate From Credible, Trustworthy Sources

Take as much care curating content as you would writing an original post. Verify facts and vet sources to ensure you aren’t misleading the audience you’ve worked so hard to build.

Respect Copyright and Usage Rights

Other creators have put a lot of effort into their content, and you need to respect that work as a curator. That’s why linking to curated content rather than copying it is important. It drives traffic to their sites as well, making this a mutually beneficial relationship. 

In addition to sharing direct links, credit all sources and add your original commentary. If you publish someone else’s work on your site, do so only with approval and for agreed-upon compensation.

Track Performance and Adjust Your Strategy

Use analytics to track the performance of curated content on your platform. Understand which articles are drawing traffic and which are causing a net loss. 

If your overall traffic increases even as visitors leave to explore curated content, you’re likely building your reputation and proving your expertise. Otherwise, adjust your content curation strategy to focus on new formats, topics, or sources to find what viewers are most interested in.

Edit and Enhance Your Content With Captions

Curating content is a fast way to connect with your audience when you don’t have time to make posts from scratch. However, these uploads don’t always have to come from third-party sources — repurpose existing long-form videos by extracting highlights with AI. Share these clips on any short-form site to boost engagement without pulling out your camera. 

Grow your following faster with Captions.

FAQ

Are There Any Useful Content Curation Tools?

Yes — there are various content curation tools available. Here are just a few:

• Captions — Repurpose your long-form posts, resize footage for multiple platforms, and make new edits of existing footage, all with intuitive AI tools. 
• Pinterest — Pin images and videos to boards and share them with your followers.
• Pocket — Save videos, articles, and posts you find on any device in one place. Share this list with your audience when you’re ready. 

Of course, the best tool for curation is probably your original knowledge and awareness of your field. Just share your most interesting discoveries and filter out the rest.

What’s the Most Common Form of Content Curation?

Typically, people share curated content on their blogs. This method gives you plenty of room to communicate your thoughts on each post. 

Commonly curated pieces include white papers, studies and statistics, and articles. However, say your audience is used to more casual content. In that case, you can also curate lists of funny TikToks or interesting Facebook Marketplace listings — not all curated content has to be serious.