The power of curated content in B2B marketing

Publishing authoritative content is among the best ways to attract high-value B2B leads. However, creating appealing content for buyers at different stages of the buying journey is often the greatest challenge for B2B marketers. 

How can curation help solve this problem and get you more conversions? Discover the power of curation and how to start curating content for more effective B2B marketing.

Key takeaways:

• Content curation involves carefully selecting and promoting valuable content for your audience.
• You should add your own helpful insights to the pieces you promote.
• Good curation saves time, boosts your authority and helps you reach a wider audience.
• Create a consistent content curation strategy and schedule that provides actionable benefits for your audience.

What content curation looks like in the digital era

Curation is more than simply accumulating and sharing different pieces of content, which is easier than ever in the digital age. If you’re random or careless, you could end up looking like a low-rent “secondhand shop” of ideas — a hodgepodge of hit-or-miss items for your audience.

Real curation is more like a fine museum. You carefully select and appropriately attribute items that fit a theme rather than creating everything from scratch yourself.

Presentation is a key distinction here as well. Seek to publish content that uniquely complements your style, gels with your mission and meets your audience’s needs.

Expert curation can involve:

• Repurposing your own older content with updated references, text and images.
• Sharing or reposting fascinating articles and videos where you credit the author but add your own “two cents” through analysis or comments.
• Inviting guest posts to your blog.

Curation can take many forms, and social media now simplifies the process. The key thing is that you start doing it to reap the benefits.

Dig deeper: Influencer marketing: The bridge between B2B brands and genuine connections

Why you can’t afford to overlook content curation in B2B marketing

Content curation has outstanding advantages that give you an edge, especially if you’re in B2B commerce.

Get your time back

Content creation takes time; there’s no two ways around it. Those who think genAI will be a savior that eliminates all the labor don’t realize that it’s just another tool you must learn to use to increase the quality of human-generated content.

Curation allows you to keep putting out a steady flow of regular content that earns you the right kind of attention. In time, you can reach the pinnacle of content marketing with consistent daily output with minimal effort.

Boost your visibility

With curation, you’re publishing more often, giving people a better shot at finding you and making your brand stick in their minds. Therefore, you establish yourself as an active voice in your field.

Plus, when sharing external content, the existing audience of the original creators is more likely to see you. As a result, you enlarge your reach to attract whoever in their group fits your niche.

Increase your credibility

With active thought leadership comes enhanced credibility. You show your audience that you’re keeping your finger on the pulse of things and look more reputable.

When you share something, you create an implicit connection between yourself and the sources you promote. In other words, when people think of that site or author, they’ll think of you. 

With guest posts or likes from the author, you get a more explicit endorsement. Your audience sees that you have a robust network of industry partners and trusts you.

Diversify your content

Successful entertainers understand the importance of not always creating works in the same voice or style. For example, a musician needs to dabble in different genres and collaborate with new writers and partners — or risk becoming boring.

Curated pieces bring fresh perspectives, styles and formats. The variety keeps your readers and viewers coming back for more.

Stimulate more engagement

With more frequent posts, you increase the odds someone will comment, like or subscribe. Once the conversational snowball is rolling, you’ll be able to continually bring in a greater audience that increases your leads.

Dig deeper: It’s time to prioritize customer experience in B2B

How to curate content like a pro

Like all good marketing, curation won’t happen by accident. Make your curation count with these tips. 

Create a strategy

Don’t be haphazard about your curation process; be strategic. Determine the frequency of your curated posts and how long researching, collating and repurposing will take.

Stay consistent

Stick to your plan by adding your curation efforts to your content marketing schedule. Hit-or-miss curation leads to lackluster results. Remember to be consistent with tone and messaging as well. 

Rely on credible sources

Initially, build a small list of sources you’ll turn to for content you’ll share and gradually expand that list. If you come across new sources, ensure the site and author are reliable and consistent with your brand. 

Create an approval process with your team so nothing slips through the cracks. Show appropriate appreciation by tagging and referencing the author in your post (which also makes you visible to the creator’s audience).

Personalize content

Nowadays, the wide range of content means everyone wants material that feels like a tailored piece for them. Segment your audience and create different funnels of content types for each category if possible.

Deploy employee advocacy programs

Studies show that employees can be your best brand ambassadors. Start an employee advocacy program that shows them how to create and curate content and rewards them for it. 

Focus on adding value

Get to know your audience well to understand what they need and want. Then, provide relevant content that informs, inspires and entertains. 

Don’t simply repost articles for the sake of content. You don’t want to end up like a junkyard rather than a finely curated collection.

Engage with your audience

A sense of community has always been crucial to making a sale. That’s why buying local or from friends and family is still a powerful motivator.

Dig deeper: 3 ways to rethink content’s role in your B2B GTM strategy

Build that sense of community by inviting comments to posts and sharing your own thoughts and responses. Even a quick GIF or image can make a salient statement and catch attention.

Witness the power of content curation in your marketing

If your B2B marketing is flagging, inject life into it with these tips for curation. Not only will you save time, but you’ll also start to see a greater return on your efforts.