Four powerful ways to share other people’s content with your network

People in your network suffer from information overload because there is so much material available that it is too much to receive, read and digest. If you can be the person filtering this content and only sending the most relevant material to your network, it makes you a very valuable and trusted resource because you are reducing your information overload.

This process of reading, choosing, and sharing other people’s network is known as “content curation.” Like a museum curator who carefully chooses which items to include in a particular exhibit, you choose which items to share. Of course, you don’t share everything, you only share what is relevant and meaningful to your network.

Don’t underestimate the value you provide by selecting material in this way. You don’t always have to be the author or creator of the content. Even though you are sharing other people’s material, your network will continue to value and appreciate youbecause you’ve gone to the trouble of deciding exactly what’s relevant to them.

When you share other people’s content with your network, you can do so on different levels. The exact level you choose for any piece of content depends on the content, what people want from you, and the amount of time and effort it takes. Here are four levels you can consider.

1 like

The easiest way to share is simply to “like” it, for example, clicking the “Like” button on Facebook, “Liking” a YouTube video, or rating a blog post out of 1 5. effort at all, but it still sends a positive signal to other people who see the same content. That makes it useful because people decide whether to read something based on its popularity.

With some services (like Facebook), when you “like” something, this also tells your network that you like it, so you’re also helping to expand your reach.

2. Forward

The next level is to actively send the content to your network, for example by posting it on social media, retweeting it, posting a link in an online forum, etc. This helps to actively spread the message to other people, who might not have come across the content otherwise.

You can choose to add your own comment when you forward content to your network, and that can help add context (in other words, explain why you are forwarding it). But even if you don’t add anything, the mere fact that make consider sharing worthwhile, because your network only expects you to send them relevant material.

3. Recommend

When you resubmit something, it doesn’t necessarily mean you recommend or endorse it (although that’s often the case). You’re just saying, “I thought you might find this interesting.” The next level is similar, except that it explicitly recommends the content.

The mechanics may be the same (for example, you could still be retweeting something), but now tell What are you recommending? This is putting your reputation on the line, but it’s also more valuable to those in your network, because they know you’re putting your reputation on the line. Therefore, they are more likely to prioritize this material over things that you simply like or forward.

4. Organize

The first three levels of sharing are simply filtering the material that comes your way and passing it on to your network. But you are doing it as it happens, without thinking about organizing the material in a logical way.

The fourth step is to add that level of organization. After you share content, you also carefully place it in some organizational structure, and that’s available for your network to explore and search later. This is exactly what the museum curator does: she doesn’t just select items for an exhibit and throw them on the floor at random. Rather, it carefully organizes the material in a logical way, so that museum visitors can see how the material fits into a larger picture.

This requires a lot more work than the first three levels, but it’s also the most valuable. There are online tools available to help you organize your material, such as Seth Godin’s Squidoo service or content curation services like Scoop.it. But most of the work is not in the technology, but in planning the organizational structure that makes the most sense for your network.

What content curation can YOU do?

Content curation is not difficult; it just takes the right mindset. You should already be consuming a lot of content for your own education and learning in your business. Now it’s a matter of looking at that content with a different perspective: could it be useful to others as well? If so, share it.

You can select content at any of these four levels, so it’s easy to get started.