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Are you trying to work out whether to use created or curated content for your small business? Or maybe you are using both at the moment and not 100% sure what the created vs curated content balance should be. Keep on reading as I’ll be explaining the difference between created content and curated content, as well as helping you to understand the role both types of content play so you can make the right decision about what is best for your small business.
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Created vs Curated Content: What is the difference?
Before going into detail about the advantages and disadvantages of created and curated content it is essential to ensure you understand the difference.
Created content is unique content that is made by the business or brand.
Curated content is where a business or brand will gather content from other sources and reshare.
Advantages of creating your own content
On brand
When you are creating the content from scratch you can ensure the content is on-brand. This can be anything from ensuring the tone of voice is right to ensuring content is created in your brand colours and looks right aesthetically.
Thought leadership
Creating your own original content allows you to build a body of works that demonstrate your thoughts on a specific area. Building a body of content can help to distinguish yourself from others in the industry and allow others to really understand where you sit on issues related to your industry.
Drives traffic
If your original content sits on your website, then it can be very effective in driving traffic. Firstly, when people know that you are regularly creating new original content on your website it gives them a reason to return. Also, when you create high-quality original content there is the opportunity for that to be shared and for new people to be directed to your website.
Lead generation
If you create high-quality original content, then as a business you have the opportunity to use it as a lead generation tool. For example, if you have created a whitepaper or e-book, you can then ask website visitor to enter their email address in order to access the whitepaper or e-book.
Disadvantages of creating your own content
Time-consuming
Creating your own content can take be a time-consuming task. With the rise of social media, the volume of content businesses are having to create is constantly increasing. When all of this content is original it can take considerable amounts of time
Limited my expertise or budget
Another disadvantage of creating your own content is that you’ll often be limited to resources. If you are creating all of your own content then you’ll be limited by your skill (for example, maybe you can’t edit video or know how to record a podcast). If you decide to outsource the content creation to someone else, then you’ll likely be limited by budget and this could impact the volume of content you produce.
Are you currently creating content without a strategy? If so, then it is time to take your marketing to the next level by having a personalised content marketing strategy made for your business. I specialise in creating marketing strategies that can be delivered by one person (it can be you or your VA) and with the combined experience of running my own blogs, podcast and YouTube channel, as well as being a Chartered Marketer with over a decade of marketing experience you can rest assured you’ll have a marketing strategy that will get results, but is also manageable. Find out more and book a strategy day here.
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Advantages of curating content
Saves time
A major advantage of using curated content is that it saves time. As mentioned earlier creating content is a time-intensive activity and if you are able to use content that already exists that you’ll save time rather than creating your own.
Build relationships
Using curated content allows you to build a relationship with the original creator.
- Audience/Buyers – A very common way of curating content is by gather content from your audience or buyers. This is called user-generated content. User-generated content helps build relationships with your buyers and audience.
- Industry – Another way of using curated content is to share content from other businesses and brands in your industry. By sharing their content, you can reach out and let them know you love their content and are sharing it with your audience. This gives you an opportunity to start building a relationship.
Disadvantages of curating content
Risk your brand reputation through association
When you are sharing curated content, your audience will trust you are sharing information for a good reason. You are seen as endorsing the businesses and brands you share. This can leave you open to tricky situations if in the future a brand or business you have shared has their reputation tarnished and you are associated with them.
Created vs curate content: Which one is better for small businesses?
The truth is only you can decide what is best for your business. As you can see there are pros and cons for both created and curated content. Therefore, only you can decide on balance what is right for your business.
Personally, I would say it is essential to be creating original content for your business. However, you’ll need to decide whether you just create original content or what the split between original and curated content is.
There you have it! You now know how the differences between created and curated content, and should be able to make an informed decision about what you should do for your small business.
Creating content to market your business has become, virtually, an essential part of marketing. Whether you are creating social media post or making blog posts, podcast episodes or videos you are using content marketing and you need to be strategic about the content you are creating.
I hope by reading this blog post you now have a better understanding of created and curated content, and feel able to make a decision about what your content strategy should be going forward.
In the comments, I would love to know what your created versus curated content split will be going forwards.
WANT HELP WITH YOUR CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY?
I create personalised content marketing strategies to ensure that business owners have a strategy that is manageable by one person and supports the ultimate business goals.
If you are reading this blog post, then I’m sure you want to be more strategic with your content and I can help you with that. I’m a Chartered Marketer and have over a decade of experience in marketing. In addition, I’m an award-winning blogger and have hands-on experience across most forms of content creation (podcast, video and social media).
To get a personalised content marketing strategy created in one day book a strategy day here.
To find out more or to book a strategy day click here.
Don’t think a Strategy Day is right for you, but know you need some personalised marketing support. Don’t worry I offer a range of services. You can find out all the other ways I work 1-to-1 with solopreneurs and small business owners here.
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