Curated Content vs. Original Content | The Social Media Game Changer

​Social media has become one of the main avenues of inbound marketing to date with thousands of companies fighting for the social limelight. In the struggle for interactions, many social media professionals grapple with the decision of curated content vs. original content which could be the social media game changer for your business.

To understand which content is important you must first understand what curated and original content is. Curated content is content that’s been created by another person or organization but is shared by you. Original content is something that you’ve created to share with the world on your own, most of the time through social media.

One of my personal favorite phrases about social media is that it’s just that, social, and that’s something that businesses often forget when they begin posting. It’s important to remember that the reason people use social media is to interact socially, not to go shopping.

“Social media is just that, social.”

With this in mind it’s time to tackle the conflict of curated content vs. original content. The honest answer to this question is that you should be using a mix in your business. Curated content that’s of relevant interest to your audience should be used to build affiliation and occasionally you can toss in some original content from your business to say, “Hey, check us out!”

When creating the split of curated content and original content here’s a few things to keep in mind;

Make sure the content is relevant to your audience regardless of where it’s coming from
Look to interact with the creators of curated content by tagging them in your post
Follow the 80 – 20 rule of social media which says 80% of your content should curated, 20% should be original
Try to have your original content and curated content complement each other
Always pay attention to what your audience is saying in regards to what you’re posting and make adjustments accordingly

The key takeaways here are that, firstly, you content should be relevant to your audience no matter where it’s coming from. Secondly, you should be posting more curated content to interest your audience than original content. Finally, make sure you watch whatever content you share for opportunities to interact with followers and take into account what they’re saying.

In the struggle of curated content vs. original content the social media game changer could be simply implementing more curated content or taking more time to interact with followers. Either way, if you follow these tips you’ll be sure to promote an overall more effective social media presence.

Tell us how you separate your curated content and original content in the comments section below!