Content Curation: How to Become a Thought Leader

Here’s an important post from Joe Pulizzi’s Junta42 blog, Content Curation Grows Up, Original Content Still Key . I share these key points with anyone who struggles with writing online for their business and needs ideas for what to write.

I first heard the term content curation is this post by Rohit Bhargava back in 2009.

Rohit positioned that, as more corporations and individuals create content, the role of the content curator is needed.  Rohit describes this position as:

Someone whose job it is not to create more content, but to make sense of all the content that others are creating. To find the best and most relevant content and bring it forward.

I know many of my readers and clients who want to become thought leaders in their field. The thing is, Joe and Rohit are absolutely right: you don’t have to be the one with all the ideas. But you do need to gather all that’s relevant and being said in your field and summarize the key points that are most important to your audience.

And, you do need to add your point of view. That’s what makes you unique and a thought leader.

Here’s what else Joe says in his post:

So, in order to position ourselves as the trusted thought leaders, we need to act like media companies and curate the best content on the planet in our niche.  BUT, the core of that must be original and compelling content.  After all, we can bring all the content forward we want, but at the end of the day, our content must have a point of view (which means it needs to be owned media).

Does this make sense to you? I am giving you an example of this here. I am taking Joe’s post, and Rohit’s original post, giving you important and relevant information and adding my two cents.

This is also a great way to provide key points to your readers when you’re busy working on projects and don’t have time or inspiration to come up with something original.

Content curation is a relatively new term, and is key to always providing fresh information that interests your audience. Use it as much as you want, but be sure to include your view.