10 Content Curation Tools You Really Should Use

We enter our online workplaces for different reasons and with varying skill sets, but every blogger, marketer and website builder has to figure out what techniques will bring in business. When crafting and implementing content marketing campaigns, it becomes quickly apparent that it can be easy to get lost in the sandbox that is the internet.

Thankfully, there are content curation tools that can help you to find relevant, trending, engaging content that you can then curate for your own readers. If you’ve done it correctly, they’ll continue to look to you as a source for relevant, valuable news.

What is Content Curation?

Content curation is the process of gathering existing content (whether news, informative, how-to, guides, etc.) that is relevant to a particular topic, industry or area of interest, and then adding value, context and organization specific to the readers you are sharing it with. This form of content creation involves finding content that reflects your brand voice and speaks the right message to your customers.

It’s typically easier than crafting brand new content yourself because the meat of the message is already there and you’re adding enough new content to provide context and messaging to your reader base. Also, because you share it and give credit to the original creator, you can grow your own network of influencers at the same time. It’s a win/win!

The hard part comes down to finding good content to curate. Where do you look? How do you narrow down your search? In this article, we’ll highlight some of the best content curation tools used by content marketers and writers all over the world.

10 Super Useful Content Curation Tools

Content curation tools help you to engage, understand and cater to the people you want knocking on your virtual door. When used properly, content curation tools save you billions of hours otherwise spent sifting, sorting and potentially going insane.

Here are 10 of the best content curation tools on the web today.

1. Listly

You know what people love? Lists. You know why people love them? There are five main reasons…. jk. But seriously, people are obsessed with lists.

It doesn’t matter why the general public is infatuated with easy-to-read, numeric rankings. You just need to accept that as truth and let Listly lead the way. The function here allows you to sort relevant information into lists on your site, then gives users the opportunity to vote content up or down. Since your goal with your content writing is to engage an audience, a curation tool that allows for active engagement makes a lot of sense.

The response from visitors provides invaluable feedback, helping you pinpoint what content actually speaks to the customers you hope to target. List.ly can be a great tool to provide numerous list ideas to fill your site up with interesting, engaging content very quickly.

2. Scoop.it

Amateurs and professionals alike use Scoop.it because it curates lighting fast and filters like a champion. While a lot of content curation tools do a fine job of pulling information, you need information and articles based on relevant keywords. So how do you use Scoop.it? Scoop.it finds popular and trending material based on choice words and phrases, giving you necessary control as you curate.

Automation options also make Scoop.it effective and easy to use. If the app is already finding posts for you, why stop it from automatically sending those articles where they need to go?

3. Feedly

Feedly? More like Feed-ME some more of that useful information! Sorry. Sorry.

This option works great for content managers or content marketers looking to stay current and connected with leading voices. Feedly finds blogs from popular writers and sites, ensuring you have the latest and greatest articles ready to inform your own posts or dispense through an email blast. With this service, you take a lot of guessing out of the content curation business.

4. Quora

Quora is like a social media feed with content you actually want created by people who actually know what they’re talking about. Crazy, right?

People love Quora because so much information gets delivered so succinctly. Plug in keywords and watch your page fill with excellent insight and relevant posts. Read what you like, save articles for later and come back anytime to see what’s changed. If you want very specific information, Quora provides one of the quickest, easiest ways to get what you need.

Quora is also question-based, meaning you can target specific queries that your read base might be asking. Curating content based on questions being asked is a great way to help provide value to your readers.

5. BuzzSumo

With BuzzSumo, you have lots of ways to track down content and lots of ways to specify exactly what you want. You can filter articles by the ranking of the influencer who created the piece, by sharing frequency within the last day or year, by the specific type of content you need, etc. When you’re looking for very specific content to curate, BuzzSumo is the way to go.

The option to receive alerts when new content hits the web protects you from getting caught asleep at the wheel while your competitors out-curate you.

6. Pocket

For some, the more involved content curation tools can feel overwhelming at times. If you just need to flag useful content pieces and don’t want all the bells and whistles, Pocket offers an excellent solution.

This content curation app throws a little button on your browser so you can quickly mark and store articles, videos, pictures and graphs you find interesting or useful. You can later access those items offline, and you also receive alerts notifying you of items that have been frequently “pocketed” by users with similar interests. Not a lot of frills come with Pocket, but it’s very helpful when it comes to content writing and enticingly simple.

7. Triberr

Searching through the vast internet ocean for relevant content can make a person feel lonely. Fortunately, Triberr infuses the process with a sense of togetherness.

This curation tool makes connecting with other people in your professional world much easier. You join groups and share other people’s content, with the prospect of them returning the favor. Triberr points you toward the top influencers in your field so you can learn more about professional writing and blogging from those who actively make a living at it. As you look to increase clicks and traffic, Triberr directs you to the people and information best equipped to help you.

Curating expert content has a lot of benefits, as you’ll soon find out.

8. Twitter Lists

The great part about Twitter is that it typically houses the most up-to-date news on the internet. Sports stories, news stories, rumor mills and anything else you can imagine basically first starts on Twitter before someone finds the information to curate it on a news or blogging site. If you want what’s fresh, you’ll utilize Twitter.

That being said, when used improperly, Twitter is a time-suck that can cost you a day and teach you very little. When you sprinkle a little strategy on this tiny bird, it can be incredibly useful when it comes to social media content curation.

Twitter Lists blocks out the noise and allows you to focus on the information you want to see. Thousands of brilliant minds are actively sharing great content on Twitter, and a simple list puts everything you need in a tidy little package. Most people already know how to use Twitter, but this list feature shows how to use it well.

9. Pinterest

Some people see Pinterest as online scrapbooking. Others see it as an accessible, useful, undeniably fun social media content curation tool.

The size of the platform also ups the appeal of Pinterest, with so many users and so much available media. The creative curation ideas found on Pinterest are seemingly endless, and if you’re not careful you could get lost for hours within its pins.

Pinterest also places an emphasis on visual content curation. With nearly every pin selling itself through great pictures and visuals, the allure is there. For those looking to bring more visuals to their mailings and posts, it’s hard to find a better way to collect what you need.

10. FlipBoard

News travels way too fast these days. With no time to bounce between different information sites and get relevant media to your followers, FlipBoard is the lifeline you’ve been waiting for.

With FlipBoard, you can put all your favorite news sites into convenient folders and get headlines from around the world wide web delivered right to one place. Cut down on the time you spend searching for the latest trending topics to curate, and you’ll have a much better shot at keeping your content relevant.

Find Success With Content Curation Tools

If you want people to find your site, you have to rise above the noise created by the rest of the pervasive digital world. No one pretends that’s an easy thing to do, but we can all agree that you have a better shot when using the right content curation tools.

While we feel these are 10 of the best curation tools on the web, there are many more that can help give you the groundwork for your next content writing project. Whatever tool you use, you’re probably grateful you’re not browsing through newspapers to find great content to curate, amiright?

Get started with a few content curation tools from this list, and please share any success stories in the comments below!