Content Curation vs. Content Creation

Course content (32 lessons)

By sharing other people’s high quality images, you can elevate your unknown brand. A high quality look and feel can communicate a sense of professionalism and success. High quality product photography can be expensive, so curating content from across the web can be a better option.

How to Save Images on Your Phone:

Save the image from Google Images or Pinterest (simply ensure you know who created the content to credit them).
Avoid ‘screenshotting’ images as much as possible as it degrades the quality of the image (if you must, use the biggest screen possible to get the image).
You can use an app like Repost (there’s a free and paid version available) to save an image from Instagram or DownloadGram.com to save from your desktop.

Curation Etiquette for Tagging:

Directly tag the photo with the original content creators’ post
Add a “📸 by @theirhandle” in your caption or share that the photos is by @theirhandle in the caption

Example of a Curated Image from @smtofficial (one of Gretta’s ecommerce companies):

As you can see, the photo is tagged and @adikosh123 is also tagged in the comments to give her credit for her work.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Curation is one of the most valuable tools you can use for your Instagram marketing. When done well, you have the opportunity to tap into beautiful user-generated content that connects with your audience and elevates your brands without costing you a fortune for product photography. First of all, it's OK to collect images from around the web or Instagram and share them to your feed. The key is to do it legally.
Before we start, though, let's talk about why content curation can be better than content creation, at least when starting out. By sharing other people's high quality images, you can elevate your unknown brand. A high quality look and feel can communicate a sense of professionalism and success. This is something that's pretty hard to do when you're on a tight budget. High quality product photography can be expensive so curating content from across the web can be a lot better of an option.
As Instagram exploded in popularity years ago, the community management team couldn't keep up with monitoring the app for nudity or graphic images. They started building software into the app that could scan millions of photos every few minutes and flagged graphic images that would then be taken down. As they built the software, they realized that they were learning a lot about viral content. The algorithm was starting to pick up reposted images and videos.
Essentially, they can see how many images are original and how many are reposted. It's turned out to be a valuable insight that Instagram has now built into their algorithm. That's why it can be advantageous to repost viral content. When it comes to resharing images, you have a few options. On most devices, you have the option to save an image from the web. When you do that, write down where you got the image from. Also, avoid screenshotting images as much as possible.
It greatly reduces the quality of the image. And if you do it wrong, it can really lower the quality of your Instagram feed. If you must do it, make sure you're doing it on a large screen and capturing the best possible version of the image. Alternatively, use an app like Repost to find Instagram images that you want to post on your own account. This app also works with video too. When you use other people's media, make sure to credit them.
Generally, a statement like via at account name, will suffice. You can also put a camera and the account name too. This notifies the account that you are using the image and they can reach out if they need to. Ultimately, the content creator has the final call on where their image gets shared. Different countries have different laws, but in the world of Instagram, credit the original creator. And if they ask you to take the image down, please do so.
You'd be surprised as to how many people are happy to have their post reshared. It's the equivalent of retweeting on Twitter. Like I mentioned earlier, Instagram can actually track which photos are original and which are reshared. Curated content tends to perform quite well. And when it's viral, you may experience some of the additional traffic as well. If you don't have the means to take your own photos, content curation is a great alternative to content creation.
You can mix them up too, so don't hesitate to share your own content alongside the works you found. Simply ensure that the photos and the feel are consistent. Beyond simply creating and curating posts, we're going to dive deep into some more complex strategies. These are the ways that you can start building a following by sharing interesting, unique content that catches people's eye.

Content Curation vs. Content Creation

Course content (32 lessons)

Overview

01 |How to Build An Engaged Following on Instagram

02 |How to Create Content that Converts Followers to Customers

03 |⌛ Halfway There... ⌛

04 |How to Create an Instagram Sales Funnel

05 |How to Make more Sales with Influencer Marketing

How to Save Images on Your Phone:

Curation Etiquette for Tagging:

Example of a Curated Image from @smtofficial (one of Gretta’s ecommerce companies):