#1: The age of curation and community
On curators as the new creators, creating communities through value, and some of my favourite relevant resources.
Hi, I’m Erifili Gounari, and this is issue #1 of The Digital Native. This newsletter is aimed at driven, curious and inspired Gen Zers, interested in mindset, entrepreneurship, business, marketing, and more!
Hello and happy 2021! I’m really excited to start sharing some thoughts, ideas and content with you through this newsletter, so thanks for stopping by! For the very first issue of The Digital Native, I decided to write about one of the topics that have been on my mind and digital radar lately: the role of curated content in community building, and how curators have become the new creators.
A few weeks ago, I read this wonderful article by Gaby Goldberg, that explains the rising phenomenon of curated content and its emergence as a sustainable and exciting business model. In brief, the article talks about how the notion of “creating content” is expanding to include curating content, as the overflow of information that is constantly being shared by tons of creators on the internet is completely overwhelming to navigate. Consequently, those who are the best at curating the most interesting content from around the internet, are providing an invaluable service to others, helping them save time, and directly pointing them to the content that is most worth consuming.
Take a look at one of my personal highlights, that really got me thinking:
It’s great to see this widespread trend put into words, and it led me to do some research to find tools and other resources that could facilitate the exploration of the best content.
One of the main ideas that came from the research I did, was that content curation is very closely linked to community building, and is currently a viable enough business model for a lot of creators. Brands have been mixing curated content into their digital strategies for years, and those that understand how to best navigate that, quickly gather loyal audiences that benefit from this curated value. For marketers currently wondering how to successfully implement curated content into their brand’s strategy, check out this list of content curation tools that can help.
Quality content curation is a must right now, and there’s tons of potential for startups launching in the space! Here are three of the most interesting tools I found, that can help you find the best quality content in any niche:
Listory - A content refinery that narrows down your content to the most meaningful stories, specifically for you. It gives you content curated by the experts in your field, saving you time and focus on what's relevant to you, without the infinite feed.
The Browser - This popular newsletter, loved by the likes of Stephen Fry, delivers 5 of the best articles they can find to you each day. A super valuable idea, as no one has time to read hundreds of articles a day to curate the best ones, but those guys do- and they send you the top picks!
The Future Party - Curated content aimed at University students, by University students. They send you the best content in business, culture, and entertainment, emphasising that it’s “everything you need, and nothing you don’t”.
Businesses like The Browser have understood the need for valuable curation, and embraced it as a sustainable business model. The newsletter has almost 60,000 subscribers, most of them paying a membership fee to invest in saving time, and being sent some of the best content from around the internet.
In that way, these businesses are building loyal communities around their niche, without the need to really create content, simply by curating. When creating marketing strategies for new clients at The Z Link, we always consider how we can best incorporate curated content into the business’s online presence, to offer the maximum possible value to their followers and build a strong community from the start.
Here’s my take on using mindful content curation and creation to build loyal communities in any niche, simplified to the core:
💭 Creating value around curated content can escalate in various ways:
Turning your newsletter audience, Twitter followers, etc., into members of an online community (usually on Slack or Discord), revolving around your common topic of interest. An example is the newly created Gen Z VCs community, which rose to 3,000 members in just over a month.
Selling an Airtable or Notion database of curated information and content as a product, to an audience that would pay for access to your “digital brain”, aka a collection of the most valuable information you have collected from around the internet.
Establishing an audience that follows you because of the value you provide through the content you share, which will then already be there if you launch a new project or startup. As Naval has said on the Tim Ferriss Show, your personal brand will help you grow in invaluable ways if you invest time in it, and the community it will help you create will end up being your first adopters and believers. By sharing valuable content with your target audience as yourself (rather than as your business), you’re developing a community of people who are interested in what you’ll have to say.
Therefore, if you’re a young creator, entrepreneur, or aspiring founder, consistently developing a digital community will be instrumental and invaluable later on in your career. Creating content can get you very far, but let’s not forget the value of curating (and that sharing is caring 😉). So, next time you stumble upon an article, tool, or resource, that someone in your niche would find insightful or helpful, consider sharing it… and see where it can get you!
I loved the following Twitter thread, analysing how this simple TikTok of a bagel worked wonders for the responsible company. Click the thread below to see the rest of the tweets underneath it!
This bagel made its appearance on tiktok 8 days ago. Within 72 hours, it had: ✅ 1M+ Views (vm.tiktok.com/ZMJGpsv15/) ✅ brought in 14K followers ✅ Was responsible for the largest nationwide sales days Here’s what I have learned or confirmed in the last 8 days:Thanks for reading this issue of The Digital Native! ☺️
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Drop me a note on erifiligounari@gmail.com.
this is pretty cool, i think the importance of curations will increase more and more!