It not only is a superb way to create links and link bait, but it also gives me a chance to share my thoughts on a specific topic that I am interested in.

For some people when asked to describe what content curation is they will say it is the "re-purposing (of) existing information and adding value" to the reader. for others "A Content Curator is someone who continually finds, groups, organizes and shares the best and most relevant content on a specific issue online." ( just like I am doing on this post :-))

The point of content curating from my point of view is to find content that will provide the most use to my readers or will have people laugh, or so intrigued so that they will want to come back for more and believe it or not it is not that hard to do!

Like anything you will do in marketing there are always the best practices to follow and here are mine:

1 Find interesting content to share. Using content resources such as:

In A gist. Curates top tanked stories only from top ranked stories by popularity.

Ad Age – the latest in advertising trends, discussions and opinions.

News.me- This resource tool provides you with must-read news coming from Facebook and Twitter.

News Pin. This tool allows you to follow news topics you find interesting. You can start with a topic then start fine-tuning it by adding keywords or RSS feeds.

BuzzFeed A news aggregator that uses technology to detect viral content around the web and then presents the best and most interesting content in list or blog post form.

YouTube While everyone is familiar with YouTube, you can use it as a content curation tool. when you type in a word (keyword), you will get the most popular suggestions people are typing in every day and you can grab the Video and create a thought or commentary

The Huffington Post - Always right on top of quickly pushing out the latest news and trends in any topic imaginable

NewsWhip A pretty cool site if you're really into news stories. NewsWhip brings you everything that's trending, right here and right now from major news mediums across web.

2 Give proper credit! This has been one of the biggest debates when it comes to content curation, not giving the authur of anything you find proper due. Its called attributing and if you dont do it, its like stealing a persons thought and idea. Think about it!

3. Say something! Its not enough to say here is a post I like, say why it is important. Think about it this way, if you went to the trouble to find something, there had to be a good reason...give the reasons and dont be afraid to add your own thoughts and viewpoints

1 Remember what I said about #2 about giving people credit, well this is just another way of saying it - DON"T APPROPRIATE! Curate! Do not take a persons hard work and then try to make it your own. It is ok to grab small portions of the text ( IF it fits in with what you are saying) and put in proper links! Pay attention please..think of and read up on the copyright and Creative Commons tag

2. Controversy can be good, but be aware of your audience and that is all I will say about that

3. For goodness sakes do NOT PITCH OR SELL and pretend your curating content. Here is the reality, if people feel that you are selling, you will lose followers

and Last

4. Don't give up, it takes time to and consistency to get a following

Not everyone likes to curate content from scratch, the fact is it does take time and research to find the news and trends and then create a pillar post, but there are tools that can give you just as much satisfaction and are easy to use.

1. ScoopIt

ScoopIt allows you to curate articles from all online sources and categorize them based on topic or theme. (Think Pinterest for written content.) The service, which has both free and premium versions, styles itself as a series of online magazines centered on niche topics. Pick a topic you feel knowledgeable or passionate about and start adding to your collection: articles, blog posts, Twitter lists, videos and so on.

2 Paper.li.

"Paper.li describes itself as a “content curation service.” That means you decide what content to include in your online paper, based on the content streams you think will be most relevant and beneficial to your audience." ~ via sprout social

** I also use Paper.li as a way to read the news from different sources and then can dig further and curate something that interests me onto a blog or even here :-)

last Thoughts...

The fact is not everyone is skilled or has the time to be a creator, it can indeed be time consuming and it requires a lot of research to make sure that what you are writing will be relevant, timely and of good quality...so... If You Can’t Be a Creator, Then Be a Curator