13 Tips for Balancing Original and Curated Content On Social Media
Marketer Focus
13 Tips for Balancing Original and Curated Content On Social Media
Navigating the delicate equilibrium of original and curated content on social media can be daunting. This article demystifies the process with straightforward strategies informed by industry experts. Gain invaluable insights on creating a compelling online presence that resonates with your audience.
- Create When Unique, Curate When Relevant
- Balance Original and Curated Content Strategically
- Plan Original Content, Jump on Trends
- Follow the 70/30 Rule for Balance
- Focus on Value in Every Post
- Mix Personal Stories with Industry Insights
- Use the 80/20 Rule for Content
- Follow the PRISM Ascend Framework
- Showcase Expertise, Curate for Credibility
- Use a 70/30 Strategy for Balance
- Prioritize Original Content, Curate Industry Insights
- Understand Your Audience for Effective Balance
- Showcase Expertise, Curate to Engage
Create When Unique, Curate When Relevant
Original content is your voice. Curated content keeps things fresh. The best posts? A mix of both. Some of my top posts started as reactions to industry news or adding my take to a great idea. It's not about picking one. It's about keeping the conversation going.
My rule is simple. Create when you have something unique to say. Curate when someone else said it best. But never just repost. Add context, challenge ideas, make it matter. That's what keeps people engaged.
Balance Original and Curated Content Strategically
Balancing original content with curated content on social media requires a clear strategy that aligns with brand goals while keeping the audience engaged.
My approach emphasizes creating a balance where original content showcases the brand's voice, expertise, and personality, while curated content adds value by sharing industry insights and trends. This blend ensures that our social presence remains authentic and authoritative while fostering community engagement.
For instance, in managing social media for an e-commerce client, we dedicated 60% of posts to original content, such as product highlights, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and customer stories. The remaining 40% consisted of curated content like relevant industry news and thought leadership articles. This strategy allowed us to position the brand as both an expert and a connector in its niche. By using tools like ContentStudio, we streamlined the curation process, ensuring the shared content was timely, relevant, and aligned with the audience's interests.
This balance has proven effective in maintaining a dynamic and engaging feed while building trust with followers. My advice is to ensure curated content complements your original posts, reinforcing your brand narrative and offering a holistic experience that keeps audiences informed and invested.
Plan Original Content, Jump on Trends
The best way to balance creating original content and curating content from other creators or trends is to plan the original content well in advance. For our brand, I find it effective to compile a list of informal topics and product highlights that I want to address each month. Typically, we aim to produce two videos per day throughout the month. By planning content that we can control, we make it easier to jump on trends the day or week they become popular because you can't control or predict trends. This approach allows us to have two different videos on the same day and easily rearrange content since it is already recorded or scheduled for one to two weeks out.
Follow the 70/30 Rule for Balance
Balance is key. We follow a 70/30 rule-70% original content, 30% curated. Original content builds brand identity, while curated content keeps us relevant in conversations.
For curation, we source high-performing, niche-relevant posts, add our own insights, and ensure it aligns with our audience. This way, we stay visible without always creating from scratch. The trick is not just reposting but adding value-commentary, remixing, or framing it for our audience's needs.
Focus on Value in Every Post
My strategy for balancing original content with curated content is to focus on providing value to the audience at every touchpoint. I aim for a mix of both, where original content showcases our expertise, personality, and unique insights, while curated content allows us to stay relevant and tap into industry trends, news, and perspectives.
The key is ensuring that curated content aligns with our brand values and voice, rather than just reposting for the sake of content. I make sure to add my own commentary or insights to the curated pieces to make them feel personal and valuable.
For example, for every three original posts, I share one curated piece. This ratio keeps our content fresh, varied, and engaging without overwhelming followers with too much self-promotion.
Mix Personal Stories with Industry Insights
I've found the sweet spot in social media is about 70% original content and 30% sharing others' insights. When I first started managing our team's social accounts, I made the mistake of only posting our own content - it felt like talking at people rather than with them. What works better is mixing personal stories (like sharing how I solved a client's problem) with helpful articles from industry experts. For example, last month I posted about struggling with writer's block and shared another creator's great tips for overcoming it. That post got triple the engagement of my usual content because it was relatable and offered real value. The key is choosing content that genuinely helps your audience. Before sharing anything, I ask: 'Would this actually make someone's day better?' If you stick to that rule and share both successes and struggles, you'll build real connections rather than just collecting followers.
Use the 80/20 Rule for Content
The right balance is critical when it comes to creating original content and curating posts from others on social media. For our real estate company, our social media marketing strategy is to adopt the 80/20 rule. It means that 80% of our content is original. These include making engaging posts on property descriptions, home-buying tips, client testimonials, etc. The remaining 20% of the posts comprise curated content. These include collaborations with renowned influencers to promote our projects, citing industry trends and market data from reliable sources, updates on local real estate events, etc. However, we add a personalized touch to the curated content by sharing our own expert inputs on it. We ensure that whatever content we curate is authentic and aligns with our brand values. Thus, this 80/20 strategy helps boost our company's reputation and gives us quality leads.
Follow the PRISM Ascend Framework
Our strategy is rooted in our proprietary PRISM Ascend framework, which emphasizes strategic planning, authentic storytelling, and community engagement. We prioritize creating original content that showcases our expertise in public relations, branding, and strategic marketing. This includes blog posts, branded visuals, educational videos, and personal success stories that highlight the journeys of women-led businesses.
Simultaneously, we recognize the value of curating content from industry leaders, partner organizations, and influential voices that align with our values and resonate with our audience. Our curated content strategy involves sharing relevant articles, inspirational quotes, expert tips, and user-generated content that complements our original posts. This not only enriches our social media presence but also builds a sense of community and collaboration among our followers.
To manage this balance, we use advanced content management and scheduling tools that allow us to plan and organize our posts strategically. We allocate specific days for original content and dedicated slots for curated shares, ensuring a mix that keeps our social media channels dynamic and engaging. Additionally, we actively monitor engagement metrics and gather feedback from our community to refine our content strategy continuously. This adaptive approach ensures that we remain responsive to our audience's needs while maintaining a consistent and authentic brand voice.
Showcase Expertise, Curate for Credibility
Balancing original content with curated content on social media is about providing value while staying authentic to your brand. At Ponce Tree Services, we focus on creating original content that showcases our expertise in tree care, such as videos of proper pruning techniques, before-and-after photos of major projects, and tips for maintaining healthy trees. This content reflects my years of hands-on experience, from working alongside my father as a kid to earning my arborist certification at SMU. It positions us as trusted experts while educating and engaging our audience. At the same time, we curate content from reliable sources like the International Society of Arboriculture or other industry leaders to keep our followers informed about trends, safety tips, and best practices in tree care. Sharing this kind of content helps build credibility and shows that we're always learning and connected to the broader industry.
One specific example of this strategy working well was when we posted a video explaining how to identify signs of tree stress after a storm, based on knowledge I've gained over two decades in the field. Alongside this, we shared an article from a trusted forestry organization on how to assess storm damage safely. This combination drove significant engagement, with followers not only asking questions but also reaching out for storm-related consultations. The success of this post came down to blending my expertise with curated, trustworthy resources. It showed that we're not just here to sell services but to provide solutions and genuinely care for the community's trees and safety.
Use a 70/30 Strategy for Balance
Balancing original content with curated content on social media requires a strategic approach that aligns with your brand's voice, audience preferences, and overall goals. At LogicLeap, we use a 70/30 strategy, where 70% of the content is original, showcasing our expertise and brand identity, and 30% is curated to provide value and engage with trending or relevant topics from others in our industry.
Original Content Strategy
Original content serves as the cornerstone of your social media presence because it establishes authority, showcases thought leadership, and allows you to control the narrative. For example, we create posts that highlight our team's insights, share tips on web design or marketing trends, and provide behind-the-scenes looks at our projects. These posts are tailored to our audience's needs, ensuring they are not just promotional but genuinely valuable. Content like how-to guides, infographics, or interactive polls often generates high engagement.
Curated Content Strategy
Curating content involves sharing valuable material from trusted sources that resonates with your audience. The goal is to complement your original content by providing additional perspectives and staying engaged with your industry's wider community. For instance, we share articles, studies, or tips from reputable blogs like HubSpot or MarketingProfs, adding our commentary to contextualize why it matters. This practice not only positions us as well-informed but also fosters relationships with other thought leaders and brands.
The Balance
The key to striking a balance lies in ensuring that both types of content align with your brand's mission and the interests of your audience. For example, we might post an original article on "SEO trends to watch," then share a complementary article from a trusted source on "New Google algorithm updates," framing it as part of an ongoing conversation. Scheduling tools like Buffer or Hootsuite help ensure a consistent posting cadence while maintaining the mix.
The Results
By combining originality with curation, you ensure your audience sees your brand as both a creator of high-value content and a trusted resource that keeps them informed. This balance not only strengthens your authority but also builds trust and fosters engagement, driving long-term relationships with your audience.
Prioritize Original Content, Curate Industry Insights
As a video production company, we focus heavily on creating original content, but we also recognize the value of curating and sharing industry insights. Our approach is roughly 80% original, 20% curated, ensuring we remain a thought leader while actively engaging with the broader creative community.
In terms of original content, we produce showreels, behind-the-scenes clips, case studies, and insights into video production. This content positions us as experts and demonstrates our capabilities firsthand.
Curated content, on the other hand, helps us provide wider industry context, from discussing emerging trends in AI video production to highlighting innovative work from other creatives.
The key is to add value rather than just repost. When sharing someone else's content, we frame it with our own insights, what we think about the trend, how it relates to our work, or what businesses should take away from it. This way, curation isn't just filler, it reinforces our authority, keeps us engaged in industry conversations, and provides useful content to our audience.
If we're curating, we make sure it's something we'd genuinely discuss with a client or colleague. That keeps the mix of content authentic, relevant, and engaging.
Understand Your Audience for Effective Balance
I've always balanced original content with curated content by understanding my audience. It's not just what I want to share but what they're looking for-what excites them, what challenges they're facing, and what adds value to their day. For me, it all starts with that. I've noticed original content helps me establish my voice and authority especially when I'm going into topics where I have unique insight or experience to share. For example, when I shared a behind-the-scenes look at how I developed a social media strategy the engagement went through the roof-not just because it was personal but because I was answering questions my audience had been asking. That's the key I think: making sure original content feels like a conversation, not a monologue. But then there's the power of curated content. It's not just about sharing something interesting-it's about curating. When I come across an article, stats, or even a graphic that resonates with me I ask myself, 'Does this align with my audience's interests? Will it spark something for them?' If the answer is yes I'll add my perspective-maybe a quick note about why I found it interesting or how it ties into a bigger trend. One thing I've learned? The balance isn't 50-50. It's fluid. There are weeks when my original content leads the way, especially during a product launch or campaign and other times when curated content fills the gaps with consistency. In the end, it's simple: be intentional. Original content connects to you and curated content shows you're paying attention to the world they care about. And when you put them first the balance comes easy.
Showcase Expertise, Curate to Engage
Original content is your opportunity to showcase your expertise, personality, and unique perspective, while curated content allows you to amplify relevant industry insights and engage with broader conversations.
My strategy is to treat original content as the core driver of brand identity-whether that's sharing behind-the-scenes looks, success stories, or thought leadership-and use curated content to support and enrich those efforts. When curating, I focus on adding value by including commentary, context, or a unique angle, rather than just sharing links. This not only positions the brand as a helpful resource but also keeps the content authentic and aligned with your goals.
The ideal balance depends on your audience, but a good starting point is the 80/20 rule: 80% curated and value-adding content, 20% promotional and original. Regularly reviewing engagement metrics helps fine-tune this ratio to ensure your strategy resonates.
