Apps That'll Make You A Content Curator Extraordinaire - Social Media Explorer
Apps That’ll Make You A Content Curator Extraordinaire
Apps That’ll Make You A Content Curator Extraordinaire
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For a busy guy like me, it’s difficult sometimes to keep up with all of the latest best practices and technology tools that seem to crop up continuously in the field of digital marketing.  One of those areas that I’ve apparently fallen behind on is content curation and marketing.  Not good!  Because  this is an area that has become, as Stephanie Graves notes, “the go-to audience building strategy for top brands and organizations seeking to connect with their target audiences in a meaningful, non-sales-y way.”

I am one of those people who was merrily going along using the combination of Google Alerts, RSS Feeds, Google Reader and BufferApp as my preferred set of tools for finding interesting third-party content on particular subjects of interest and sharing them on my own Facebook Pages or others that I help to manage.

When Google announced that they were discontinuing Google Reader and made Google Alerts disappear I was perturbed to say the least.

My initial knee-jerk reaction was to try to find a set of tools that were as similar to the ones I was using as possible.  It wasn’t really all that hard.  With a little research I was able to come up with Talkwalker Alerts as an alternative to Google Alerts and Feedly as my Google Reader replacement.  I was a happy camper and back in my comfort zone.

But, you know what?  When it comes to digital marketing best practices and the technologies to support them, a comfort zone is not always the best place to be.  You miss a lot, you fall behind, you slowly lose your edge.

Don’t get me wrong… I still love the value I get from finding new great content sources with “alerts” and then using RSS Feeds to deliver all the new content from my favorite sources to one easy to use platform.

But, I have to admit that in my journey to find replacements for my Google technology tools, I quickly began to see just how far behind the content curation technology curve I had become.

I’ve been experimenting with Trap.it who proudly claims that they are the “world’s most advanced personalized content discovery application.”   After all, It’s built with Artificial Intelligence technology that was originally developed for DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

I also came across XYDO.  A content curation platform that “helps you find trending videos, articles, blog posts and photos relevant to your business and facilitates sharing it with your audience.”  Geez, Jason Falls was even on the company’s home page.  How could I have not known about it.

There are other interesting looking content curation solutions like Pearltrees, Curata and Content Gems which I haven’t had a chance to play with yet.

There’s  Scoop.it and Paper.li for finding and publishing content on cool looking online magazines and then sharing these on your other social media properties.

But the application that intrigued me right away was Storify and specifically the new “Storify for Business” which was in the news last week.  Storify is a tool to either alone, or collaboratively, construct details about a conference, event or topic from sources and content (articles, video, pictures, text snip-its social media posts) from all over the web and then then organize and comment on them so that they tell a story.  The business version allows people and companies to create private stories and to customize them to match your blog style.  Storify is also being used to create reports that show actual examples of the current online sentiment towards a company or brand.

Here’s an example of a Story I constructed in Storify about a unique content application I’ve run across mulu.me and its Founder and CEO Amaryllis Fox.

So, what are your favorite content curation tools and why do you like them?  Please comment below.

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About the Author

Jim Berkowitz
Jim is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) industry analyst and technology consultant who assists organizations in planing for, selecting and succeeding with technology designed to get, keep and grow customers. As an Industry Analyst and CRM Technology Coach with CRM Mastery, Inc., (a company he founded in 2004) Jim provides technology selection services to enterprises across the country seeking to invest in CRM technology solutions. In addition, as a Digital Marketer, Jim provides web site design and development as well as internet and social media marketing services to small businesses and celebrities in Telluride, Colorado and beyond.

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