There have been countless articles written about content curation lately, and many companies are curating content to help bring timely and topical information to employees through their Intranet.
Simply put, content curation is sorting through vast amounts of internal and external information to find the pieces that are most relevant to your audience and then showcasing this content in a meaningful way. Adding curated information to your Intranet is a terrific way to help connect employees, build company culture, and quickly build up a library of quality content.
But like any new endeavor, there are pitfalls. Here are some things to avoid when building your curation strategy.
1) Don’t mistake content aggregation for content curation. This isn’t about selecting a few keywords and turning an RSS feed on autopilot. The goal of content curation isn’t just to fill your Intranet with a ton of articles; it is meant to provide information that is carefully selected and useful to your audience. In short, content aggregation is about quantity, while content curation is about quality.
2) Don’t forget the personal touch. The real value of content curation is that there is a human element involved in not only selecting the right pieces for your audience but also adding commentary and context that will make it valuable.
3) Remember that content curation IS thought leadership. Because the information will be hand selected, it is important that it reflects the messaging, mission, and culture of your company. These will be the pieces that your employees are hopefully reading, digesting, and talking about. These could also be pieces that would benefit the company if employees are empowered to share the articles with prospects and clients.
4) Don’t take credit for work that isn’t yours. When you are sharing third party content (which most content creators would love for you to do), be sure to give them the credit for the work and post within their guidelines if available. Don’t “borrow” images from someone else’s post – this is not only unethical, but could result in copyright infringement fines. Also consider “making it your own” with commentary or an intro (see item #2 above!).
5) Don’t assume you know what your audience likes. Use the reporting and analytics features within your Intranet solution to gauge which content and content types are most popular. Armed with this information, you can adjust your strategy appropriately.
With smart planning and a thoughtful approach, curating content can add value to your company’s Intranet and help connect and educate employees.
To learn more about how to foster an internal culture of content, download our eBook: “An Internal Culture of Content: The Secret to the Most Effective Content Marketing.”
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