Are you down with OPC (Other People’s Content)?

More than 27 million pieces of content are shared each day (AOL & Nielsen), and taking advantage of this influx of information can benefit your business by increasing visibility, website visits and leads. Gathering together content from other sources and delivering it in a structured way to help build your audience’s interest in your industry, product or service is known as content curation.

Though referred to by some as just another fancy term for using other people’s articles and posts, content curation is fast becoming a way that businesses can reach their audiences, establish an online presence, and build relationships with potential and current clients.

Here are four ways you can use other people’s content (OPC) to engage your audience:

1. Connect with your audience and keep them interested. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 29% of B2B companies struggle with producing enough content to engage their audiences. Those lacking the resources to create an abundance of original content should take advantage of high-quality curated content that is relevant to your industry. Sharing curated content that interests your audience mixes things up a bit by providing opinions or insights from other points of view, or fresh ways of presenting topics relevant to your industry.

2. Keep your audience up to date. With an unlimited number of news and information sites generating new stories throughout each day, sharing an ample supply of news articles can keep your audience informed about trending topics. Whether it be the announcement of a new product, review of a new service, or new developments on the net neutrality front, take the initiative to let your audience know about stories that are relevant to them.

3. Support your business’ advocacy or mission. Being an endless treasure chest of information, the web allows you to dig up info on just about any topic or any article relating to any issue or concern – especially when it comes to advocacies and social issues. Be it telecom’s role in environmental sustainability, promoting safer use of mobile devices while driving, or a mobile giving initiative, if your business supports a specific social campaign, there are likely numerous articles online to support your cause. Sharing such content not only gives you something new to present to your audience, it also emphasizes your brand’s involvement in social awareness and responsibility.

4. Be of service to your audience. Aside from the self-promotional posts about your product’s features or your company’s latest news, aim to share curated content that adds value or is useful to your audience. Found an interesting article on how to increase wireless subscriptions, or a fascinating post about the future of M2M technology? Share it with any clients or prospects that could potentially benefit from the information, branding your organization as a key resource as opposed to just another company vying for sales.

Choosing to curate content to engage your audience may be one of the best steps you can take to inject new life into your content marketing strategy. Properly curated, high-quality content will not only save you from being overwhelmed by continuously churning out original content, it also gives your audience the impression that you are well-versed, well-informed and a thought leader in your industry.

[image courtesy of copyblogger]