Do you curate content? Content curation is the practice of sharing relevant industry information with your readers, prospects, and customers. If you share links to newsworthy bits of information on your Facebook page, Twitter posts or on your blog then you’re curating content.

Content curation can be an exceptional business building tool. Not only does it connect you with reputable industry sources and information, it provides value to your audience. An effective content curation strategy can help establish you as a credible resource and give you authority.

#1 Curate Carefully – Sharing every tidbit that comes your way isn’t good curation. You want to make sure you’re sharing only the best and most relevant information – information that makes you look good and provides value to your readers. You’re the filter for your readers, be a good one.

#2 Know Your Audience – In order to curate content effectively you need to understand what information your audience wants and what they respond to.

#3 Be Strategic – An example of curated content is a resource list that you compile for your readers. For example, if you own a gardening website you might create a list of the ten best blogs on growing zucchini. As you link to these blogs you’re beginning the relationship building process with the blog owners. They’ll notice your links to their content and may link back to you. This strategic curation can help improve your search engine results.

#4 Be Consistent – Content curation should ideally be a planned and strategic process. In order to create a good strategy you’ll want to establish a system. For example, you might review your resources at the end of every day and gather the information that may be useful when you create your content. You might create content on Friday and publish it that same day. Readers will begin to expect those Friday posts. Consistency will help build a following. It will also make sure you stay on top of the best content available. Timeliness matters.

#5 Have Good Resources – Finally, it’s good to have a system and resources you can turn to. There are many content curation resources you can use. You might set up Google Alerts for a series of industry keywords. You can also check out:

* List.ly

* Scoop.it

* Curata

* BagTheWeb

Identify your goals for curating content and create a plan to achieve them. Know your audience, establish your resources and create a system. The more strategic you are about curating content, the better. Content curation is about more than hitting the “share