One of the most time consuming aspects of Social Media Marketing is finding the right content to send. Or in other words, where to find shareable content. As you know, your success and ability to get through to your customers, fans and audience relies of the messages you send. Send the wrong message and you’ll reach no one. That’s not what we’re after.
While it is best to share content that drives your fans and followers back to your own website for lead generation, you also need engaging, fun, informative, and interesting content from other sources for a variety of reasons. For one sharing content from other sources encourages reciprocity. If you share from others, others will share from you. It also touches on the relationship building aspect of social media. Building relationships with your customers, clients, and fans is what it’s all about. When it comes to the ratio of your content vs content from others, you can follow the 80/20 rule.
So now that we know you need content to share, where do you find it? I like to curate content from a few different sources. While your audience will be different than mine, you can still take these ideas and mold them to work with your business.
12 Places To Source Content For Social Media Sharing
As you can see from my list, it is very social media heavy. Social media is a content discovery tool for me and for others. You have to know who to follow and build your lists accordingly, however, once you have the right system in place, you’ll be curating content like the best of them.
1. Twitter
Twitter is great for finding real-time and trending content. You should set up your keywords to fit the type of content you are looking for.
2. LinkedIn
I love LinkedIn as a source of content. It also allows me to source ideas for blog posts. You can find content on your newsfeed and through their curated section. Now that LinkedIn has opened up its publisher platform, you can expect to find even more fun content.
3. Klout
Klout recently updated it’s site to include content that is shareable directly from the platform. The content you see on your homepage is based on what topics you choose to follow. The only thing I don’t like about this feature is that the content is very mainstream and from all the same sources. I would love a little more variety here.
4. Buffer
BufferApp gives you 5 daily posts based on who you follow and the type of content you share. I use them whenever I run low on my scheduled tweets.
5. BundlePost
BundlePost is the easiest way to gather a ton of content and share it through your social media scheduling platform. It is based on keyword searches and RSS feeds so you will have to set it up to your liking, but once you do, you’ll be good to go.
6. Google Alerts
It’s pretty old-school, but still good. Again, use the right keywords and filter accordingly and you’ll have some good content to work with.
7. Facebook Lists
This is one of my hidden secrets. 🙂 Not really, I wrote about it here. But I love Facebook Lists. I usually create my own and share content directly to the Facebook pages I manage that way. For example I have a Reality TV list that features all my favorite reality stars like Rachel Zoe and every other Bravo show. I also have a healthy eating list. The options are endless.
8. Quora
Quora is the place to go for content from really smart people.
9. Instagram
It’s all about the hashtags on Instagram. Looking for your product? Check hashtags. Looking for content related to your service or city or products? Check hashtags. 🙂
10. Pinterest
Pinterest is a dream for DIY and recipes. But beyond that, you’ll find a ton of great content to share. Again take the time to follow the right people and use the search function.
11. Scoop.it
Scoop.it is the place where the best content curators come together. I’m serious, these people are skilled at content curation. They are already sourcing the best content from the web and sharing it to specific pages. Find the right category and Bingo! You’re set.
12. Reddit
While I am not the biggest fan of the way Reddit looks, it is known for snarky and breaking news. You can look under specific subtopics or you can just take a look at what’s trending. Either one works.
Where do you find content to share?
