4 Reasons to Share “Curated Content” on Social
By Ian Messinger |
Small businesses can save big on time and effort with ready-made content
Facebook and other social networks are great for sharing news and pictures, posting your thoughts and more. In fact, for most people and businesses, social media is all about YOU:
- YOUR profile or Page
- YOUR posts and updates
- Connecting with YOUR customers
So why in the world would you share SOMEONE ELSE’S content on YOUR social channels?
“Curated content” – content that’s relevant to your business or customers from OTHER PEOPLE that you share in YOUR social media – can keep your customers engaged and coming back for more while saving you the time and effort required to create original posts.
1. Curated content keeps your social pages active… and keeps them from being empty
There’s nothing more disappointing than visiting a small business’s Facebook Page or Twitter feed and seeing… nothing. Or nothing recent – that’s just as bad. An empty or inactive social page can send all the wrong messages:
- Customers may think you’re not going to be responsive via email, @ mentions, direct messages and other digital options
- Customers may think you’re too busy to keep up with social media…and wonder if you’re too busy to keep up with them
- Worst of all — customers may actually think you’re out of business!
Sharing curated content is ideal for keeping your Pages active – and not having to constantly ask yourself “When was the last time I posted something?” in a panic.
2. Curated content is faster and easier to share than your own posts
We’ve all been there: struggling to figure out WHAT to talk about on Facebook…then searching endlessly to find the right picture…or waiting for a video to upload on a slow connection.
Finding and sharing ready-made content can be the shortcut you need whenever work gets busy, or inspiration doesn’t strike. It can literally be as easy as clicking the “Share” button!
3. Curated content can look more professional and polished than your own posts
Sometimes the pictures you took of a recent job just don’t look very good. Sometimes you can’t find the right words (or you write too much… or not nearly enough!) about a topic that you absolutely want to share with your local customers.
You can avoid worrying about whether your post is “perfect” by sharing someone else’s. Just set it up with a short message about why it matters to your customers – and you’re all set to share a quality post.
4. Curated content shows that you have your “ear to the ground” of your industry
Your customers absolutely want to know about YOUR business – but talking about yourself all the time on Facebook can get old fast. You can tell them about what you do without always telling them about YOUR BUSINESS.
Curated content lets your audience know that you’re paying attention to trends and keeping up with what’s new in your field. Try sharing content from different sources:
- Leading figures in your industry
- Publications in your industry
- Local organizations you’re involved with
- Local news publications
- Infographics and other informative, information-rich content
- Even clips from TV shows and movies that reference your industry!
Pro tip: Hire a curator!
Curated content can absolutely be a quick win to keep your social profiles active and up to date, but it still takes time to:
- Find the content you want to share
- Make sure it’s relevant to your audience
- Write the short set-up paragraph to introduce the post and say where it came from
- See if it’s working – if no one is Liking, Sharing or Commenting on your curated content, it’s obviously not what your audience is looking for
Let someone help with the heavy lifting! Your focus should be on running your business and working with the leads and customers your social marketing drives to you. A social marketing partner, like Hibu, can take on the task of finding and sharing curated content for you, and you can get back the one thing that no small business has enough of… time!
BONUS: Who needs posts – aren’t ads enough?
Ads can help you reach your target audience, but remember that it’s an audience that’s on Facebook. There’s a good chance they’ll check out your Page too – and an empty Page (or a Page without relevant, recent content) won’t inspire much confidence in your business.
Find out why your business needs social ads and posts to reach, engage and re-engage your social customers.
