I recently saw a statistic that best-in-class marketers use 65% original content, 25% curated content, and 10% syndicated content in their content marketing mix.
If you are just entering the realm of content marketing, here are the differences between each content type:
Original Content is information your company creates such as blog posts and white papers. You should ensure you are posting truly original content by running your pieces through a content validation application such as Grammarly.
Curated Content is the amassing of relevant content from different sources in an organized fashion. Videos, articles, photos, case studies, or any piece of digital content that can be shared can be curated.
Syndicated Content, also known as Really Simple Syndication (RSS), is a popular way of distributing news headlines and other content online. An RSS “feed” allows website visitors to subscribe to several sites’ news feeds using a newsreader. Amanda DiSilvestro of Search Engine Journal wrote a great post for beginners trying to understand content syndication.
It’s easy to get into the habit of using a higher percentage of curated content than original content. I’m personally guilty of this some weeks when things are really crazy around our marketing agency and writing original content seems to always fall to the bottom of my To Do list. However, you have to assign resources and priority to generating original content. It’s the only way to truly convey your brand’s personality and build an appropriate following. Otherwise, your unique voice will never come across.
Curated content and syndicated content are good for SEO and search rankings. Prospects reading curated content will get a sense of your domain expertise. However, original content is the best for generating leads, converting prospects, and search rankings.