Are you confused and overwhelmed trying to figure out what to post on social media?

You’re probably on at least 3-5 social media sites per day. And you’re probably thinking, what the heck should I post about?

One of the easiest ways to have a ton of content to share  without having to write a load of new content is content curation. (tweet this!)

Ok, I’m sure some of you are saying…what is that Brigid?

“Content curation is the process of sorting through the vast amounts of content on the web and presenting it in a meaningful and organized way around a specific theme. The work involves sifting, sorting, arranging, and publishing information.”

The internet has heaps and heaps of information, but the reality is it’s not all going to be related to your business and your ideal customers.

This is where a little detective work and content curation comes in. You might be thinking, Brigid I don’t have time to sift through all the content on the web to find key information for my peeps.

Well that is where I come in.

Instead of having to spend all your free time scouring and searching by keywords or phrases yourself, there are actually websites and apps out there can will do the content curation for you. How awesome is that! This will save you a ton of time.

And the best part – all of these are free!

“Time is money” Benjamin Franklin

6 FREE content curation sites for you to start using now:

Pocket

Pocket is such a great site to help you start getting consistent with your content curation. Instead of receiving a countless number of emails that gets too overwhelming, Pocket keeps all your favorite content topics in one place for your reference.

You even have the ability to group the article types by simply tagging and use the built-in search functionality to make finding those articles easily.

You can also install Pocket’s button on your browser and download the app on your smartphone for easy access.

And if you aren’t following them on Twitter, you should be. They tweet out their @PocketHits for the most-saved articles on their platform.

Twitter Lists

If you aren’t on Twitter then you should be. It is a great way to curate content is you are using Twitter Lists.

A Twitter list is group of Twitter users that you can create and follow. I have a Twitter list for my favorite social media experts, and marketing experts etc. I create Twitter lists for the content that I and my ideal client find interesting and pertinent.

And here’s the best part, if you create a Pocket account, you can easily save articles from Twitter directly into your Pocket account.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a great way to curate content! Now it isn’t going to find the content for you, but it is a great tool to use to gather content.

Pinterest, presents content on boards and it has a great search engine that you can use. Plus, Pinterest is absolutely free and fun to use!

Pinterest introduced a much better search option called “guided search” to better direct users to the exact kind of pins they were looking for. This makes using Pinterest as a content curation tool an even more viable option.

Entrepreneurs are able to fine-tune their search results quickly
And when you can do this, it means you don’t have to spend as much time on Pinterest. Fine-tuned results mean you’ll spend less time on Pinterest.

Here is a simple process to follow:

  • Search for a general term or topic.
  • Use guided search to narrow down your options.
  • Select an interesting pin.
  • View and attribute the source as part of your curation.

Feedly

Feedly is a single source for all the knowledge you rely on to think, learn, and keep ahead in your business.

All you have to do is create an account and add some of your favorite content sources, and bloggers you love to your Feedly account and you can start aggregating and browsing these feeds from either your desktop or mobile devices.

With the ability to sort sources by category there’s a limitless ability to scale and organize Feedly. Feedly does offer a Pro Service ($5/month; $45/year) with additional features like Evernote and Pocket integration, more search options, and premium customer support. But I find the free version perfect for my needs.

Quora
Quroa is a content curation tool that I found recently and really love. It is considered the question-and-answer website where questions are asked, answered, edited and organized by its community of users.

You can create and set up an account very easily. You will be prompted to add in your interests and put in any key search keywords to find excellent content that you can store away for future use.

You can also set up your account to be notified about articles that pertain to your field so that you can get more articles and interesting ideas in your inbox everyday.

FlipBoard

You can discover great new content in only a few minutes by using Flipboard. Flipboard can be used on your laptop or your mobile device and its free. It has an algorithm that compiles content based on your individual interests. It aggregates the content based on your chosen topics against the popularity of posts and articles. It feels very much like a magazine. It is very easy to read and it’s a super easy way to gather and distribute content.

I hope you have found this useful. Tell me, what is your go-to content curation website or app? Share in the comments below!

 

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