The social web has amplified many truths about humanity.
Some of us will do anything to get noticed and build a brand. This even includes some new dubious tactics such as fake news and alternate truth. They have been used to both divert and attract scrutiny.
The reality is that most people love a bit of attention. It is how we are wired.
Attention seeking can come in many forms and constant posting on Facebook and other social networks has now become part of that routine and habit.
Too much sharing can see us being accused of being a narcissist. The question that it raises….. where does narcissism and a healthy self worth start and stop?
It is a question that I wrote about in the New York Times titled “On the Social Web, Everyone has a Voice, Everyone is Judged”
And your answer maybe different to mine.
5 reasons we share
I have always been intrigued by the power of social media and why we share so much. It was one of the first things I noticed about people’s online social media behaviour nearly 10 years ago. But there is more than one reason we share content on the social web and attention seeking is only one.
In a post on Co-Schedule based on the research from the New York Times Customer Insight Group they reveal the top 5 reasons people share on social.
The first two on the list resonate with me.
- To bring valuable and entertaining content to others
- To define ourselves to others
At its simplest level this can be done two ways. By taking the big step of starting a blog and then publishing our opinions and thoughts online or just simply sharing other people’s posts and updates.
Curating content worth sharing is one way to scale your content.
Curating is time-consuming
But manual curating is time-consuming.
Another reality is that there is a lot of crap content on the web. So constant sifting and sorting is a time sink.
The flip side is that there are some sensational authors, bloggers and creators who publish content worth reading, viewing and sharing. The challenge is that we don’t have much time and spending all day just sharing is not efficient or productive time management.
So here is the thing….you can automate curation on Twitter.
How to automate Twitter content curation
For many years I was using Twitterfeed to automate other top bloggers and influencers new blog posts.
This app automatically shared on Twitter when it detected that their posts had been published. But this simple software tool was closed down last year.
And guess what?….people included my blog when they set it up. So after a while I noticed was getting 300 instant Twitter shares on auto pilot from my Twitter tribe after publishing a new post.
So I started looking for another tool to replace Twitterfeed. The tool I am now using is Dlvr.it.
So how do you set it up to share great content, attract attention from top bloggers and influencers, be effective and save valuable time?
Step 1. Identify your topic ecosystem
One of the biggest challenges as a blogger and content creator is coming up with new topics to write about. It’s also what you need to think about when looking for your sources of reading and inspiration.
So before setting up Dlvr.it you need to identify the topic subject categories that fit into your eco-system of interests.
For me these include:
- Digital marketing of any flavour: Social media marketing, content marketing and email marketing
- Blogging tips: This includes search engines and conversion strategies to grow traffic and revenue
- Innovation: Some topics here include growth hacking that combines the art and science of marketing
- Technology: Apps and and artificial intelligence and marketing automation tools
- Entrepreneurship – The skills for building a business in a digital world
And a few others that include writing, personal development and publishing.
This can also be a good exercise while identifying your key phrases for search engines. It is really worth sitting down and getting clarity on this. It will drive your SEO strategy and content creation planning.
Step 2: Find trusted bloggers
There are many bloggers who publish regular quality content.
If they publish once a day that is maybe optimal but once a week is fine too.
My aim is to find a few that I know all add value to my followers on Twitter. Personal brands are my first choice. Corporate blogs can be good but I like that hands on approach and tactical insights that you get from the blogger that shares their insights in a practical manner.
I am sure that most of us have our favourites.
How many should you select? This is completely personal and I have about 15 to 25 bloggers that publish regularly who I share on Twitter.
Step 3: Identify their blog feed (RSS)
This is quite straight forward and just put in the blog URL and Dlvrt.com will pull up the right RSS feed that will trigger the automated sharing of the blog post when a new post is published.
So enter the URL for the blog. In this example I am using Jeff Goin’s Writing blog as an example here.
You may see the description as being a bit strange so you can edit it later. Click on the “Plus (+) button at the bottom right corner. You have now added your first blog.
Step 4. Connect it to Twitter
Now you can use other social networks but I use Twitter most of the time because it is not strangled by algorithms that can hide your sharing.
Click on the Twitter account to connect it and start posting straight away.
Step 5: Add a suffix to the tweet
Now this is simple but important and should not be overlooked. Add the @mention Twitter name of the blog you are sharing.
When they scan their notifications stream they will see that you are sharing their content.
So how does it look after we have arranged the RSS automation and set it up in the platform?
Here is a tweet on my Twitter account that detected that Mark Schaefer had published a new post and includes the all important suffix with via @markwscahefer.
Wrapping it up
Automated curation sharing on Twitter is not complicated and is something I have done for years.
Using tools to increase your productivity and scaling your efforts should be part of your ongoing strategy.
It is a simple tactic but over time it will achieve a few goals.
- Add value to your Twitter tribe
- Attract more Twitter followers
- Save you time. My estimate is about 20-30 hours a month
- Alert you to the latest and best content from bloggers that you trust
- Invite attention from influencers in your industry niche
- Attract more blog and website traffic
So for me it ticks a lot of boxes.
It doesn’t mean that you stop looking for new content to share manually but automated curation of great content from bloggers that you know and trust is effective.