EFL 9. “Sharing” your way to better networking: Curating and sharing articles

You know building your network will give you more business, career and learning opportunities … but how?!

You are now on Linkedin. Your profile is set up. You are reading posts about your industry and also know how to comment [1] on them. But you’re here on Linkedin to add new professional connections and strengthen your links with existing connections.

Can you do something more than just read and comment? – YES! Share and Care.

You can curate (a fancy word for “share”) other people’s interesting content and show that you care for those in your network. This can help you build and strengthen your network.

In this article, we will discuss what content curation is, why it is a good idea, how to do it, and introduce some different writing strategies for different types of sharing.

What is content curation?

Let’s first define this idea: Content curation is the sharing of other people’s high-quality articles or posts that are relevant to your interests and hopefully also those of your network.

Why do it?

There are a number of reasons to share other people’s content.

For those who specifically want to develop their influence on Linkedin and who want to become thought leaders, they can spend a little less time creating original content and post more content on a regular basis. This will help them reach more readers, followers and connections.

For more “normal” people who want to develop their network, sharing others’ content has three main benefits:

It creates a good impression.

Relevant content curation can help you build your personal or brand authority. Your network will also appreciate that you spent time reading, preparing and posting useful content.

It shows you are up-to-date.

Sharing new industry news or skill development tips shows that you are keeping up with trends; it also pushes you to keep yourself updated, too.

It can help you connect with thought-leaders and influencers.

When you share a post and mention the author in your post, they will be notified and will probably reach out and thank you in a comment. This not only feels good, but your connections will be impressed too.

This type of posting can push you to read more, share more good content, increase your credibility and become more comfortable posting. This is an important step towards creating your own original posts and perhaps even becoming a thought leader in your industry or part of the world.

For businesses, content curation has some other benefits as well. For those working for companies or themselves to build a brand image, the infographic below from Curata [2] clearly describes the benefits of content curation.

How to choose content and prepare to share it … the right way?

Now, you understand why content curation is a good idea, how do you do it? If you really want to get people to notice your shared content, you need to do some research, or at least some thinking about who your network is and what they are interested in. Neil Patel [3], who is a major thought leader in digital marketing, uses a 5-point checklist for his own content curation:

Does my audience need to solve this problem? Can they benefit from this information?
Is there enough data here to support further analysis and discussion?
Do I trust this information and where it came from?
If I expand on this content, will it strengthen my brand or credibility?
Do I have a unique perspective that hasn’t been fully explored yet?

Even if you don’t plan to be an influencer like Neil Patel, if you can answer yes to at least two or three of these questions, you can expect that your network will appreciate it.

What will I write?

You have found an informative article or video, and now it’s time to share the content. Of course, you could just share the article in a link – as many people do. But this is not a good idea. Because nobody will really notice you. Your network might see the article headline and perhaps even click on it, but this will do nothing to help you strengthen your connections or attract new ones.

You need to frame your shared content, add your voice to it, and hopefully add something of value in addition to the article content. Then, people will start to notice you, not just the article.

The language of the post should be readable, conversational and simple (read this [4] to learn more), like you are talking to the reader. Like I am doing with you here.

Your tone should not be too positive, like

“XX is an awesome marketer and has written an amazing article on YY!!! Check it out!”

Your tone should also not be too negative or critical

“XX has published another empty and meaningless article on YY. I completely disagree with his superficial comments on ZZ!”

Linkedin readers are well-educated and will not be impressed by empty praise, and they will find direct criticism and negativity rude. So, the best tone to go for is neutral.

Examples that catching the scrolling attention

You should also try to catch the readers’ attention as soon as possible. Try to stop them scrolling past your post. You have about two and a half lines of text before your message gets cut off with a “… see more” message. In other words, you have less than 3 seconds to make an impression and stop the reader to look at your post.

Let’s look at any example from experts who understand the importance of catchy and attention-grabbing headlines – journalists.

In the Economist article post, there are 2.5 lines of what journalists call a lede paragraph, which needs to answer the main questions of the news story. In this case, the reader can only see 1.5 sentences before the “… see more” message cuts off the rest of the post. But 1.5 sentences is enough to catch the reader’s interest by answering the wh- questions of the “election” story:

Where – Iraq,
When – October,
Who and What – the President said it will be a challenge to keep the election free,

These answers in addition to the visible headline (“Few things are harder than building a state in Iraq”) create enough interest to push readers to click on the “see more” and then perhaps the full article itself.

A non-news agency example was given in Tisdale’s (2) Sharing isn’t caring: Why you shouldn’t share posts on LinkedIn | LinkedIn (Feb 15, 2021 [5]). In Chris Walton’s post, he clearly mentions this article is useful for his target audience, brand owners, and says he will offer a summary and his own “take” on the article. He catches the attention of the reader interested in predictions for “media in 2021” just before the “see more” message.

We can also see in Walton’s post that he not only summarized the 3 main points of the article in a bullet list, but he also added his opinion about what he thought was missing: “Reach”. And even further, he asked a “What else would you add??” question at the bottom to engage readers in a conversation about these predictions.

5 Types of posts that curate content

In the above two examples, we have the two extremes to content curating.

The first is the Economist simply promoting its own article by extracting something attention grabbing from the article for potential readers interested in Middle East politics. The purpose is simply to get people to click on the article and read it.

The second example from Walton is more complicated. He is not promoting the article, but offering a brief summary of it (giving value to the reader) and suggesting that it is incomplete (suggesting his thought leadership). Most importantly, his purpose is not only to share interesting information from the article, but even more importantly, to use it as a conversation starter.

When posting shared content from others, there are 5 types of post you can write to introduce the link:

Catchy 1-sentence promotion

This is the style of the Economist post above: a brief summary or attention-grabber to get viewers to click on the article link to read more.

Brief, academic-style informative post [6]

A good example of this is medical scientist Eric Topol’s tweets that are very concise summary with images or graphs.

Catchy 1-sentence opener + Short summary

This type of post simply helps the reader save time but doesn’t offer any content or opinion from the poster.

3-in-1 synthesis

This post combines different sources on the same topic or story; because the author summarizes the main points from different sources and compares them, the reader does not have to spend the time to do it. The poster may also add their own in the comparison or contrast.

AIDA-style Marketer-summary to promote engagement

This is similar to Walton’s example above: there is a catchy opening to ATTRACT attention, summary of useful details to raise the reader’s INTEREST and DESIRE, and then a statement or question to get the reader to ACT and engage with the post.

In the following articles, these different types of posts will be described in more detail.

Now what? – Just do it … for 30 days.

To build your confidence, it would be a good idea to start with frequent shared posts of type 1, or 2 or 3. For these types of posts, you only need to introduce the content and don’t have to contribute your opinion if you’re not ready. This is a good start for students or people new to the medium, or for those who are shy. Like Nike says, “Just do it!”

You can even try posting 1 article every day for 30-days. This will force you to become comfortable reading and looking for interesting content. This is also the amount of time it usually takes to build a habit, which includes overcoming feelings of self-doubt. Finally, if you post an article everyday for 30 days, your network will really start to take notice of you.