There is a lot of controversy surrounding curated content. Some people believe that it is a valuable strategy that can help you save time and provide your audience with useful content. However, others believe that it is a lazy way to create content and that it does not offer the same value as original content.
Myths About Curated Content You Should Avoid
So, what is the truth? Is curated content a helpful way to supplement your content marketing strategy or should you avoid it altogether? To help you make up your mind, here are some myths about curated content that you should know about.
It Is Lazy Publishing
This is one of the most common misconceptions about content curation. People assume that since you are not creating the content yourself, it must be lazy publishing.
However, this could not be farther from the truth. In order to curate content effectively, you need to put in a lot of time and effort. You have to constantly be on the lookout for new and relevant content, which can be a full-time job in itself.
It Is Stealing Other People’s Content
When you curate content, you simply share other people’s content with your audience. You are not claiming it as your own or trying to pass it off as such. The idea is to practice ethical content curation. For those interested in exploring further, there are various types of content curation to understand.
In fact, most content curators credit the original author both within the post and with a link back to the original source. So, if anything, content curation is actually helping to generate traffic to other people’s content.
It Is Easy
While it may seem easy to curate content, it actually takes a lot of time and effort to do it effectively. You need to be constantly on the lookout for new and relevant content.
You also need to spend time sifting through all of the content to find the best pieces to share with your audience. And then, of course, you need to actually curate the content itself, which can be quite time-consuming.
It Is Not Original
People believe that since you are not creating the content yourself, it must not be original. However, this is not the case. Curated content can be just as original as any other type of content.
It all depends on how you curate it and what you do with it. If you simply regurgitate someone else’s content, then it will not be original. But if you put your own spin on it and add your own thoughts and opinions, it can be quite original.
It Is Not Valuable
One of the most common misconceptions about curated content is that it lacks value. This couldn’t be further from the truth! In fact, curated content can be extremely valuable to your audience.
When done correctly, curation can help you save time while still providing your audience with high-quality content. It can also help you build relationships with other influencers in your industry.
It Is Penalized by Google
Google or any other search engine, in that case, has never publicly said that they penalize curated content. This is merely a myth by people who don’t quite understand how content curation and Google’s algorithm work.
The truth is, curated content can rank just as well as any other type of content, as long as it’s done correctly. Google looks at a variety of factors when determining how to rank content, and the kind of content is just one of those factors.
It Is Always Automated
While there are some content curation tools that automate the process, curated content is not always automated. In fact, manual content curation can often be more effective than automated curation.
This is because manual curation allows you to hand-pick the best content for your audience. With automated curation, you’re leaving it up to the algorithm to decide what content is best, which isn’t always accurate.
It Is Only For Big Brands
While content curation can be extremely beneficial for big brands, it’s also beneficial for small businesses and solopreneurs. In fact, content curation can be a great way for small businesses to get started with content marketing.
Curation can help small businesses save time and money while still providing valuable content to their audience. This is especially important if you are still on a budget and can’t afford to produce original content on a daily basis.
Content curation can also help small brands build meaningful relationships with big players in the industry.
It Only Works for Websites
Content curation can actually be highly beneficial for social media platforms like:
For example, let’s say you’re a fashion blogger, and you want to share your favorite looks of the week on your blog’s Instagram page. You can do this by manually curating content from other fashion bloggers and influencers. Alternatively, if you want to showcase these looks on your website, you can easily embed Instagram feeds on WordPress to display curated posts directly.
This is a great way to provide value to your audience while also building relationships with other content creators. Content curation is also commonly used for podcasts and news articles.
It Is Unethical
Contrary to this belief, curated content is actually a great way to give credit where credit is due.
When you curate content, you’re essentially saying, “This is great content, and I want to share it with my audience.” As long as you’re giving credit to the original source, there’s nothing unethical about it.
It Cannot Make You Money
The truth is, most content curation tools like the WP RSS Aggregator have monetization features that allow you to make money from your curated content. For example, you can use the WP RSS Aggregator plugin to automatically post affiliate links with your content.
You can also use the tool to insert advertising banners into your content. This is a great way to make money from your website or blog without having to produce original content.
Frequently Asked Questions
The main difference between curated content and plagiarized content is that curated content always gives credit to the original source. Plagiarized content, on the other hand, does not give credit to the original source.
This means that if you curate content from another source, you must always link back to the original piece of content. Failure to do so would be considered plagiarism and you may be penalized by search engines.
There is no right or wrong answer to this question. It really depends on your overall marketing strategy and what you’re trying to achieve with your content. If you’re just starting out, we recommend curating at least 50% of your content. This will help you save time and money while still providing high-quality content to your audience.
As you become more established, you can slowly start to increase the amount of original content you produce.
There are a number of great content curation tools available, but our favorite is the WP RSS Aggregator. This tool allows you to easily curate content from a variety of sources and post it to your website or blog.
It also has a number of monetization features that allow you to make money from your curated content.
Conclusion
Content curation can be an extremely effective and powerful marketing tool. However, it’s important to understand how it works before you get started. By avoiding these myths, you can set yourself up for success.
