The growth of digital media has left even the world's largest brands struggling to live up to the ever-growing demand for content. Today’s ability—and need—for personalisation leaves brands with the pressure to produce endless amounts of content. There is a need to keep up with multiple campaigns and audiences, and quickly; or frequency becomes an issue.
Thus arises the question of how to find this content; to curate or to create? Sure, curation can often be the faster option; but is it truly the most effective in the content crunch of the digital age?
So... what is content curation v. creation?
Curation means you’re taking what’s already out there—usually from socials like Instagram and Facebook—and filtering through it to find content that’s on-brand and best fits your purpose.
In contrast, creation means crafting original content for a purpose. This means you can work with Creators to determine the look and feel of your content, tailoring it to your brand. You can provide guidance on the output you expect. There’s more certainty, but traditionally, creation has meant hefty price tags and a much slower process in comparison to curation. Not anymore.
So would you always choose curation over creation? Perhaps not.
A closer inspection...
Curated content has no costs to the brand associated with producing or creating the content because it already exists. It is also likely that as a brand, you’ll be able to repurpose the content on your own profile by just asking an Influencer’s permission. It’s a win-win: the Influencer gets exposure and the brand gets the rights to use the content across socials.
The content usually comes from your customers; but is generally product-driven and more readily available for brands in the food or beauty industries, meaning it's more challenging to source if you’re in the travel or automotive industries. Often, the content isn’t on brand and lacks in quality. After all, you’re not briefing in specific content needs or selecting the Creators, so you have no say in what is created.
TRIBE Fee, which only applies to the posts you love, and content licensing from $450 per asset.
But is creation a viable option?
Creating content means you’re involved from beginning to end. Creating original content means ensuring it is on brand and in line with your company or campaign. It also comes with the flexibility of using it on other channels; from online and digital ads to offline mediums like print and billboards. Often, you are unable to do so with curated content as you’re using a file that was optimised for mobile consumption.
While time is often a major factor in choosing to curate vs create; technology has made it possible to combine both and to get purpose-built content created in less than 48 hours. Social platforms and third-party tools offer the ability to contact multiple Creators to request content that’s suited to their specific purpose. Just like Mike Bloomberg did in the latest US presidential race.
So, what if you could get the best of both worlds?
Can you have your cake and eat it too? Like most things in life, content is about a healthy balance.
The emergence of technology means the gap is closing: you can now create content and scale it too. It’s about leveraging technologies, like TRIBE, that facilitate on-demand content at scale and for a fraction of the price.
Ultimately; sourcing content today easily means content created for your needs at the volume you can control, in order to meet the demand and speed at which you’re working.
