What Content Curators Should Learn From The Pros
Over the last 3–5 years, curating has become an important topic in digital marketing. We even got to the meta point where we curate curation tools. When content curation is done right, it creates phenomenal value to readers. Unfortunately, much content curation is done too quickly because it can be a quick way to generate a blog post. Hubspot even expresses the view that “Content Curation Shouldn’t Take All Day”. I beg to disagree. If you don’t spend at least a day on curating a topic, you are not curating at all.
The art and science of curating goes way back, and is of course a profession with strong traditions. One of the world’s most renowned curators, Hans Ulricht Obrist, has written a great little book where he shares his vast experience in curating art. It’s called Ways of Curating.
From this book, there are some important points modern content curators should learn and incorporate in their work:
1. Open New Routes
Mr. Obrist defines curation as
“The task of curating is to make junctions, to allow different elements to touch…. It’s a form of map-making that opens new routes through a city, a people or a world.” (p. 1.).
What Mr. Obrist is saying is we should think carefully about how and why we curate a topic. Doing a quick Google search for the topic and then listing whatever you find is hardly going to open any new routes to the reader. You should instead do thorough research where you talk to the creators (more about this later), and present the work that helps the reader understand the domain at large.
Example: Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist manages to connect songs in a clever way. The Verge writes that the “recommendation [is] driven less by the way the music sounds, or genre, than by the cultural and historical web that gives music so much of its power.”
2. Create, Not Just Present
Content curation is often seen as a way to present work already there. But real curation goes much broader than presenting the existing. It fosters new work.
“Ask them which projects they could not realize under existing conditions… Curating could be about making impossible things possible.” (p. 10)
So instead of just listing the resources already there, talk to the industry leaders about what should be there. Helping valuable new resources be created will often create more value than linking to what’s already there.
Example: Twitter did a great job with it’s first ever TV ad. “For four days, people around the world worked with the director to share in the creation of a single story about travel, adventure and finding your place in the world. This is the result of that global experiment, featuring 100 Viners from everywhere from Kansas to Kuwait.” Google did the same with the YouTube produced video “A day in Life”.
3. Have Conversations & Get Inputs
When curating content, you should talk to the original creators (and not just do it to have them share/link your content subsequently). Their thoughts and visions will help you shape your curation. Don’t force the works and resources into your agenda — give room to theirs.
“Artists and their work must not be used to illustrate a curational proposal or premise to which they are subordinated. Instead, exhibitions are best generated through conversations and collaborations with artists, whose input should steer the process from the beginning. (p. 33)”
Example: Moz’ list of recommended agencies is a great example of this approach. The list is curated based on the following principles: “There is no formal process to be included on this list. A small panel of individuals in the online marketing world (with representatives from Moz and from other organizations) created the above list, and will occasionally nominate those who do amazing work in the field for a vote from the group”.
