When it comes to content marketing, most brands have a one-track mind: tell our story, tell it loud, tell it often. Don’t get me wrong — original content is critical. But when you focus only on your own material, you’re missing a huge opportunity. Worse, you are probably burning out your content team, fatiguing your audience, and actually hurting your overall engagement.
I’ve seen it before. I had a client who posted three to five times a day across four social channels during the lead-up to the holidays. It didn’t take long before the team was completely fried — and so was the audience. Engagement plummeted because everyone was feeling overwhelmed.
Another client posted one or two times a day, seven days a week, across multiple channels, even though their content was barely being seen. Their social media manager was so busy creating and posting that they didn’t have a minute to spare for engagement-building work or strategic thinking.
Less Can Be More: Content Curation
In both cases, the simple answer is “less is more“.
And one of the smartest ways to do less without sacrificing value? Content curation.
Good curation isn’t just grabbing a link and throwing it into your feed. It’s about providing value and context for your target audiences.
You highlight stories they’ll love — content that informs, educates, or entertains — and you present it through the lens of your brand story. Whether it’s a thoughtful caption, a branded visual, or a short insight connecting the content to your audience’s world, you’re adding something meaningful.
Lazy curation, on the other hand, is reposting clickbait or trending topics that have no real relevance to your audience. It adds clutter instead of clarity. Smart curation builds trust. It establishes your brand as an oracle of good information. It strengthens your relationships with partners, collaborators, and peers. And it keeps your content pipeline flowing without grinding your creative team into dust.
Leveraging User-Generated Content
It’s not just small teams that fall into the “all original, all the time” trap. Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign is a great example. When they first launched it in 2012 in Australia, the campaign focused heavily on original branded content — but it missed the bigger opportunity: the amazing real-life ways people were interacting with Coke’s products. Once they started curating and sharing user-generated content — photos of personalized Coke bottles, personal stories — the campaign exploded. Engagement skyrocketed because the audience became part of the story.
In fact, LinkedIn recommends a healthy balance between original and curated posts. The business social network’s research shows that companies who mix in thoughtful curated content often outperform those who only post their own material.
The magic ratio? I advise my clients to stick roughly to 80 percent original, 20 percent curated. But like everything in marketing, this is a guideline, not a law. Some weeks might lean 90/10, others 70/30 — the important thing is to curate consistently.
Still worried that sharing someone else’s content might dilute your brand? Don’t be. Curating strengthens your leadership position. It builds your credibility as a thought leader. It shows your audiences — including key stakeholders, influencers, journalists, and policy-makers — that you’re plugged in, well-informed, and generous with your platform.
It also strengthens relationships. I saw this play out beautifully with a healthcare client specializing in palliative care. We started regularly sharing articles, studies, and resources from other organizations in the space. Pretty soon, those same organizations began sharing our content, too. It bolstered our leadership positioning and opened new opportunities like speaking engagements and partnerships. Curating smartly doesn’t just fill the calendar. It builds influence, trust, and momentum.
Content curation isn’t about doing less. It’s about being smarter. It feeds your pipeline, builds credibility, strengthens relationships, and — maybe most importantly — gives your audience a richer, more balanced experience of your brand.
So next time you feel the pressure to pump out “just one more post,” ask yourself:
Is there a great story already out there that my audience would love — and that I can help bring to life? Odds are, the answer will be yes!
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