Content Curation: Best practices

Content is why people come to the Member Hub. Make sure you give members what they want, but also try piquing their interest - surprise them!

• Boost your credibility: Use content from reputable sources and influencers.
• Write original posts, or add context to a shareback from a study, to show members how they are driving positive change in your organization.
• Use a variety of content formats: Readers crave variety, so diversify your content formats such as videos, infographics, slide decks in addition to text and images.

  Make sure you link back to the original source when you share content and give credit to the author.

• Find content that your audience will relate to.
• Carefully vet your content for quality.

Content curation is about getting members to care. Content that's accessible, intriguing, and relatable draws attention.

• Organize your content with collections and tags to make it easy to navigate and searchable.

  For more information, see Create a new collection.

• Make it visual with high resolution images.
• Add context to each post to let members know why you chose this content.

Creating context relieves some of the burden of creating original content. When you add context to third-party content, you add an original perspective while using others' articles or videos. Context allows you to bridge gaps in ideas, make connections among relevant content, and showcase what is important in the context of your community.

The context that appears before the actual post is your reader's first encounter with the content. It is a great opportunity for you to express your voice and perspective, to draw members in and engage them.

Try answering some of the following questions when writing context:

• Why have you chosen to curate this piece of content?
• Why should your audience be interested in what you have curated?
• What is your perspective or unique spin on the post or general subject area?
• What additional insights or background information can you add to the post?
• How does it relate to the topic area of your hub?
• What are some key takeaways that were especially interesting or surprising?
• What questions are left unanswered?

Here are a few other best practices to keep in mind:

• Try writing at least two to three sentences, so it appears as valuable original content.
• When writing, stay consistent with the overall tone and persona of your Hub.
• Ask questions as a means to start discussion.
• Try paraphrasing, rather than copying and pasting direct quotes from the article.

We love interacting with others. Having a healthy and consistent connection is what builds communities and buzz.

• Try setting up a content calendar so you have something to post every day.

  To save time, schedule your posts in advance, so you can save time while always posting new content. For more information, see Schedule a post.

• Retweet, like, and engage with other content.
• Identify key words that matter to you. Connect with others who have similar interests.
• Use newsletters to highlight content and drive traffic and engagement back to your Member Hub. Bringing relevant information to their inbox on a regular basis will put you in a positive light.
  • Schedule your newsletters for a frequency that feels natural, to avoid spamming your members' inboxes. If you start to see unsubscribe numbers climbing, consider changing the frequency.
  • Use newsletters as teasers to draw members back to the site. Include just a few of your amazing posts, and they'll want to click through to see what else is on the Member Hub. Doing this will also help get your newsletters past email providers' spam filters.
    For more information, see:

    • Newsletters
    • Newsletter analytics

Don't be afraid to bring back top-performing content or to bundle your “best of” content. It's a great way to let your audience catch-up on something they may have missed, or refresh an old favorite.

• Use your post analytics to find your top-performing content, then think about what you can repurpose or package new content around. If a blog post did particularly well, you could create a series around it, or give an update if a lot has changed since you posted it. You could also use the content in a new format: a video can become a blog post, or a blog post could turn into an infographic.

  For more information, see View the post performance metrics

• Avoid recycling internal news, press releases, or product marketing content, which tend to age quickly and lose their relevance for your community.

Content curation is vital for maintaining an engaged community. Fresh content and discussions bring members back to the hub over time and cement their bond with your community and brand. Members can see how their feedback is being used by your brand, which makes them want to continue providing more, and better insight over time. And content curation can be made easier using Member Hubs' intuitive tools and some of the best practices outlined above.