Event planners are going through some real tough times right now. Your greatest source of content for your blog, the inside stories that your readers love, is now drying up. This means that you are not posting as often as you used to do. You need a new source of content that’s relevant and interesting for your loyal readers. With the current crisis, that’s not easy to do. This is where content curation comes in.
The art of content curation
Content curation is more than collecting industry news together and posting. Just like a museum curator, it’s all about putting relevant information in to context. Explaining view points and expanding on what’s being discussed.
There are many sources of content and don’t be shy in visiting other event planner websites. Take a look at their posts and find one that catches your eye. Form an opinion, positive or negative, and write about it. You could even post about what other event planners are discussing on social media, curating the conversations with your own slant on things.
I’ve noticed that many event planners are sharing posts about how the industry is weathering the storm. They are sharing posts from industry news sites with little or no comment . If other blogs in the event organiser space are doing the same, there’s nothing to make them stand out. Remember, despite the current crisis, you still want to maintain a high level of return visitors. You don’t want them forgetting about you, do you?
Content curation, more than just filling your blog
This post from WP RSS Aggregator sums up nicely the various benefits…
- An Instant Source of Quality Content – instead of needing to build up your own original content, curating content instantly provides you with a wealth of quality content to attract an audience.
- Become an Authority in Your Niche – by curating content that’s relevant to your audience, you position yourself as an authority and thought leader in your niche.
- Share Content That’s Unrelated to Your Brand – instead of only sharing sales-focused content, curating content helps you provide value beyond your own products/services/offerings.
- Generate More Backlinks to Your Site – by becoming an authority, you’ll start generating more backlinks from both readers sharing your content with others and your curation sources publicizing the fact that you thought them valuable enough to curate.
- Build a Relationship With Other Sites in Your Niche (Your Content Sources) – by creating a mutually beneficial relationship with other sites in your niche, you can expand into other collaborations, like guest posts or business opportunities.
- Grow Your Social Media Following – by becoming an authority, you’ll boost your social media following which helps you promote your own original content or other offers. In turn, this drives more eyeballs and backlinks to that content.
- Generate Ideas for Your Own Original Content – by analysing how different pieces of curated content perform, you can better understand what types of original content you should focus on.
How often should you share curated posts?
This post by HootSuite on social media sharing mainly discusses social media, but in my view also applies to sharing curated conetnt. The article says you should aim for a ‘rule of thirds’…
- A third on personal brand promotion
- A third of curated content
- A third about the conversations happening on social media
Of course, you need to adjust to find out what works for you. However, in the current situation where you are finding it difficult to write about your own activities, mixing in more curated content is going to be just fine. Experiment and see what works for you.
To briefly summarise the importance of content curation…
- Keeps your blog alive while the current crisis continues
- Allows you to demonstrate your understanding and leadership
- Great for SEO, especially if other event planner blogs are going quiet
- Create and cement new relationships with others in the industry
- Show your current and future clients that you are still out there working hard
In the part 2, Event Planners & Content Curation – Getting Started, I discuss how to actually go about collecting content and getting it out there. I also take a look at the FREE tools you can use.