Content curation involves finding the best publications from one or more sources. To aggregate content, you need to curate it with the right content curation tools. If you’re using multiple sources, content curation can almost be a full-time job. Any aspect of that you that you can automate is more than welcome.
Depending on which tools you use, you’ll be able to automate different aspects of curating and aggregating content. Some tools (like WP RSS Aggregator), enable you to set up manual filters to decide what content makes it onto your site and help you automate publication too.
In this article, we’ll introduce you to five tools every content curator can use to streamline their workflow and how they work. Let’s get to it!
Key Features to Look for in Content Curation Tools
Automation is the holy grail of content curation and aggregation. You’ll want to pay special attention to content curation tools that include automation functionality of some kind for the following features:
- Content discovery. Some tools provide content recommendations based on the feeds you add or if you choose to follow specific topics. This can come in handy if you’re researching additional sources for a news hub, for example.
- Customization and filtering. Filters that look out for specific words and phrases to focus on (or avoid) can help you curate content automatically. The more customizable the filters are, the less manual curation you may have to do.
- Content publication. The next step after curating content is publishing your selection. Content aggregation tools can do this and, if they’re good, they’ll give you control over attribution and how the published content looks (WP RSS Aggregator does this).
- Third-party integrations. Third-party integrations are also useful to have. For a content curation tool, you’ll want to see integrations with social media, email marketing tools, and event content-spinning services.
Aside from those features, look for specific functionality that’ll make your work easier. In the next section, we’ll introduce you to the content curation tools you can use and show you relevant use cases.
5 Essential Tools for Content Curators
Each of these tools is designed to work with specific types of content curation projects. Let’s start with the best option if you want to curate and aggregate content in WordPress.
1. WP RSS Aggregator
WP RSS Aggregator is a powerful WordPress plugin designed to help you curate and aggregate content from multiple RSS feeds. It enables you to consolidate content from as many sources as you need into different (or combined) feeds.
WP RSS Aggregator is particularly useful for managing content-heavy websites, including news aggregators, affiliate sites, and niche blogs. The plugin offers a lot of flexibility and customization options for the content you import and publish. Overall, the plugin is designed to help you automate as much of that process as possible, so your site can get new content without you needing to move a finger (beyond the initial setup).
Key Features:
- Automates content collection from multiple sources
- Highly customizable feed templates
- Import/export functionality for feed management
- Integration with WordPress themes for consistent display
Why It’s Great for Content Curation: WP RSS Aggregator is designed to help you create new feeds from different sources quickly. Its filtering tools are intuitive, which makes it easy to configure what content the plugin should import. However, filters can be as complex as you want by combining multiple rules, which makes WP RSS Aggregator a great option for fully automating the curation process.
2. Pocket
Pocket is a simple tool designed for saving articles, videos, and web pages for later viewing. It’s an essential resource for curators (like us) who frequently stumble upon valuable content while browsing, but don’t want to be distracted while working on more important tasks. Pocket enables you to save that content with a click and then you can access it anytime, even offline.
Pocket also offers content recommendations based on the items you save. This can make it a valuable resource in discovering new sources.
Key Features:
- Save content from anywhere on the web with browser extensions or mobile apps
- Organize saved items with tags
- Offline reading for saved articles and videos
- Get personalized recommendations for new content
Why It’s Great for Content Curation: If you spend a lot of time online browsing content and on social media, you won’t have time to see everything that catches your eye while working. Pocket enables you to save it for later so you can get distracted when you’ve got the time.
3. Feedly
Feedly is a news aggregator that collects content from blogs, news sites, and other online sources. Its geared toward marketers looking to stay on top of trends and businesses in general, looking to keep up with threat updates. Feedly’s recommendations are powered by AI and are only available for premium users, but the newsreader itself is free.
Key Features:
- Customizable feeds for specific topics or niches
- Integration with social media platforms and apps like Pocket
- AI-powered filtering to prioritize relevant content
Why It’s Great for Content Curation: Feedly is a great option for content curation if you pay for one of its premium plans. The AI-powered recommendations tend to be on point and they make it so you only have one stop every day to read everything relevant to your industry or other topics you’re interested in. Alternatively, you can simply use Feedly as a newsreader and curate content yourself.
4. Curata
Curata is an end-to-end content curation and aggregation solution, similar to WP RSS Aggregator. The difference is that Curata offers more publishing options, including social media, and different Content Management Systems (CMS). The downside is that Curata is largely geared toward enterprise customers that require complex implementations.
The software helps customers find sources, narrow down their best content, set up filters, and publish SEO-friendly content on your site. Plus, it integrates with email marketing software like MailChimp.
Key Features:
- Advanced content discovery tools for identifying relevant material
- Automatic organization of curated content
- Editorial calendar for scheduling and planning
- Performance tracking to measure content effectiveness
Why It’s Great for Content Curation: Curata’s geared toward serious businesses that want to integrate a custom curation and aggregation solution for their workflows. The downside is that costs can vary a lot depending on the implementation you need.
5. Buffer
Buffer is an all-in-one social media management tool. You can use it to help you create, save, schedule, and publish content to all of your favorite social media sites, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and even some newer options like BlueSky and Mastodon.
Buffer can help you generate content ideas using AI and find the right designs to accompany them. You can also automate scheduling, having Buffer determine the perfect time to post content on each platform to maximize reach. Plus, the platform includes in-depth analytics so you can see what’s working and what isn’t in your social media strategy.
Key Features:
- Schedule and queue posts for multiple social media platforms
- Integration with RSS feeds for direct curation and sharing
- Performance analytics to track engagement
- Multi-platform compatibility for consistent content distribution
Why It’s Great for Content Curation: Social media plays an essential role in growing most websites and content-based projects. If you’re curating content to grow a following or your business in general, you need to be advertising it on social media. Buffer enables you to share curated content across social media channels from one dashboard.
Conclusion
Content curation can be a fantastic way to grow your website. However, great curation takes time. You need to find the right sources, identify the content your audience will like, figure out how to republish it on your site, and more. The better the content curation tool, the more parts of that process that it will be able to automate.
Which content curation tool you decide to use should depend on your curation workflow. If you’re using WordPress, try out WP RSS Aggregator (there’s also a free version) and see how it can help you create engaging feeds using curated content, almost all of which happens automatically.
Do you have any questions about which content curation tools to use to speed up your workflow? Let’s talk about them in the comments section below!
