Content curation can make or break your digital strategy.

It is that important.

If you don’t know the term, content curation refers to the process of identifying, gathering, and sharing information relevant to a particular topic. The phrase comes from the art world, where curators pull together not only the exhibit items but also historical data, descriptions, and other information to help you better understand the art in context.

I talked recently about the 5 core elements of a content strategy. Think of content curation as the “+1,” because it’s not all about you. Let me explain.

Here are three reasons you want to incorporate content curation into your digital strategy:

• to keep people interested
• to create top-of-mind awareness
• to add value

Let’s dig in.

Content curation keeps people interested in what you have to say.

If your newsletter is all about your awesomeness, I’m going to opt out. If your social media feeds are filled with links to your blog posts, your podcast, and your latest great offerings, I’m going to disengage. It’s human nature. It’s filled with “me, me, me” — but isn’t thinking about me (the recipient). Think of it like a holiday letter where someone’s telling you about their kid’s first tooth falling out in March or their grandchild’s first day at the zoo in June.

Content curation gives your audience a reason to stay engaged. Instead of fleeing from your content, people will keep an eye out knowing that you’re giving them a healthy dose of useful information — not just your own but other things they can learn from, repurpose, re-share, and more.

Content curation creates top-of-mind awareness.

One of the most delicate challenges in business is to always be looking for customers (or clients, patients, guests, members, and so forth) without constantly leading with a “hire me” speech. I mean, how annoying would it be if I ended every blog post with a “hey, need help? I’m available and I do…”? That’s the equivalent of leading with your business card or standing on a street corner with a poster-board sign.

That’s why content curation is so important. By providing a steady stream of useful information, it keeps your audience paying attention. As a result, it helps to keep you and your brand top-of-mind.

Content curation adds value for your audience.

People love finding tools, tips, data, and new ideas they can incorporate into their own jobs. Plus, if you’re like me, you just like to learn new things. And you get bonus points if it points me to a new resource I can use to add value to my network.

My content curation strategy gives me an opportunity to showcase my smarts while expanding my knowledge base beyond the core focus of my business. So while I write about business, and marketing, PR, and digital strategy, my social media feeds cast a far wider net. If you follow me around for any length of time you’ll see me pointing to articles about robotics, lean manufacturing, cybersecurity, and other topics that tangentially connect to my core business. Together, all this content paints a far more nuanced and interesting look at the business and marketing worlds. As any curation effort rightly should.

Do you have a content curation strategy?

Feature photo by Thad Zajdowicz (Flickr).