Nation of Islam Essay Example for Free

Nation of Islam Essay Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska in 1925. He was born to a minister father that was a supporter of Black Nationalist Movement leader Marcus Garvey, which resulted in Malcolm experiencing discrimination and racial hatred from an early age. His father was killed and his home burned when Malcolm was young, and Malcolm was jailed in his early twenties after several run-ins with the law following his father’s death. He joined the Nation of Islam in while in prison, and when he was paroled in 1952 he was named the national spokesman for the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X was an outspoken, articulate, charismatic man that used television, radio, and every other form of media available to convey the Nation’s message. He preached for militant stance in the black community and for equal rights for African Americans, â€Å"by any means necessary†. This unwavering stance and militant attitude made some see Malcolm as a threat and he was followed under FBI surveillance until he was assassinated in 1965. He used his charisma and his steadfast beliefs to make the message of the Nation of Islam well known in America and to bring the issue of African American rights to the forefront of American consciousness. His mission later transformed from fighting for African American rights to fighting for equal human rights for every race, and he enforced the same militant stance with his new message. Mahatma Gandhi was a human rights leader like Malcolm X but he delivered his message in a very different way. Born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, he was given the name Mahatma because it means, â€Å"great soul†. He was born in British-ruled India and practiced law in South Africa which was also ruled by Britain. While in South Africa he began a twenty-year campaign for Indian freedom. Instead of X’s militant, unmoving approach, Gandhi practiced and taught the principles of non-violent resistance. He believed it was more honourable to be jailed for one’s cause than to create violence. He also practiced fasting as a way of conveying his message of peace and non-violence. He returned to India after twenty years and became the leader of the Indian Nationalist Movement. After India was declared independent in 1947, it was divided into India and Pakistan and the two countries rioted against one another. Gandhi began a fast to encourage the leaders to stop fighting. After he fasted for five days, the fighting stopped and the countries were at peace until Gandhi was assassinated shortly after. Until his death, Gandhi epitomized his message to, â€Å"Be the change you want to see in the world†. He saw no value in violence, and thought that the message of non-violence as a way of protest could bring tolerance, peace and unity more effectively than any violent act could. Despite the change in his place of residence and the political climate of his country he stayed true to his message of peace and unity.

bruce lee Essay examples -- essays research papers

BRUCE LEE Bruce Lee was perhaps the greatest Martial-Artist ever. He was born in San Francisco, California on November 27th, 1940. A few months after his birth, Bruce and his family move back to Hong Kong. Bruce starred in a number of films as a child. His first starring role was actually when he was six years old! It was a role in a film titled "Little Orphan Sam". At the age of 12, Bruce begins taking Martial-Arts instruction from the legendary Sifu Yap-Man, a master of the art of "Wing-Chun" gung-fu. During the next few years, when he was not practicing his art, he could be found in the movie studios with his father. At the age of 18, due to the numerous streetfights he was involved in, Bruce alone was forced to move back to his place of birth, San Francisco. Bruce arrives with around $100 dollars, given to him by his parents. While attending the University of Washington, he majors in Philosophy. It is here he meets his future wife, Linda. He lives with an old friend of his father's, while working at the Ruby Chow Restaurant, in exchange for room and board. Unable to finance his education, he begins giving Martial-Arts lessons to various students at the University. Bruce attends a Martial-Arts tournament in Oklahoma, where he is "discovered". He is invited for a screen test for an untitled pilot, which is scrapped shortly before production. Fourtunately, he is chosen for for the role of "kato" in the television series, "T...

Foreign Direct Investment Essay

There has been a rise tide of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the world’s economy. In the past decade businesses have become global due to the increased liberalization, changing capital markets and changing technology. With easy and effective communication systems investment of companies in foreign countries has been made easy. Foreign direct investment benefits the two countries, the host and the company investing. A high percentage of investment made through FDI involves building and fixtures or machinery and equipment. (www. oecd. org) Growing trade has caused an increase in FDI. Globalization has resulted to broadened markets that call for increased production of goods and services to match the demand. Production levels across the globe have also risen precipitating large corporations to invest in foreign countries. Corporations have the capital and resources to move their production bases to foreign countries. The service sector has also expanded. With technology advancement, skills and expertise have been developed. Corporations have adopted strategies that will increase active global investment and this is evident in the recent cross-border mergers. Strong corporate profitability has enabled corporates invests in the developing countries promoting FDI. Low interest rates and high real estate prices have also led to the underpinning of FDI. With the low US dollar value investors with other currencies gained the comparative advantage in investing in foreign countries. General macroeconomic growth in major economies has been reason behind increased FDI. (www. oecd. org) Countries prefer FDI as a strategy for entering foreign markets to exports and granting foreign entities the right to produce their products under license. Patent disclosure can occur when a local firm is given the product under license. It could give important information about invention and imitation could occur. The MNC’s could lose their workers to imitation product companies. Through FDI, the MNC’s can access larger market and can produce at reduced costs. These will ensure that their profitability levels are higher. FDI provide grounds under which future trade barriers can be countered. Exportation is constrained by transportation costs and trade barriers like tariffs and quotas. Licensing hinders the company from direct control and this creates loopholes that lead to reduced profitability. (Kreinin M. and Plummer M, 2002) Firms based in the same industry can undertake foreign direct investment at the same time when the local demand in the new area can support local supply. They can also locate such firms when there is price competition and cost pressure. Some areas have a comparative advantage over others and this makes them more favorable. They could be endowed with resources that the investors exploit using their technological and managerial capabilities. They reduce their costs as regional manufacturing plants serve regional markets. Political ideology influences government policy towards FDI. Some countries view MNC’s as tools of imperialist domination out to exploit their resources. MNC’s exploits the developing countries and creates dependency in terms of jobs and technology. They contribute to their continued backwardness, as they do not give back valuable output in return to the resources they exploit. Developing countries provide cheap labor and raw materials. Another view is the comparative advantage where countries benefit from FDI. This view is beneficial as host countries allow FDI and gain from it. They acquire products they do not produce and at lower costs. In this view countries produce what they can at least cost. Governments can restrict or promote FDI. If a government protects its domestic industries producing the same output as a foreign corporation, FDI will be discouraged. (Anderson K. and Blackhurst R, 1993) Governments can make policies on the location of multinational corporations (MNCs) that are favorable and that would increase FDI’S. They can also promote or put in place proper infrastructure like good transportation systems, education and transparency all of which works to encourage FDI. Peace and stability are very important factors in influencing FDI. Government must therefore ensure that they maintain law, and order political unrest deters FDI. Grants subsidies and tax concessions encourage inward FDI. There are economic and political agreements that favor regional economic integration like EU, NAFTA and MERCOSUR all of which have implications for business. Economic integration between nations could be though preferential trade area (PTA) where countries are offered tariff reduction and discrimination is reduced to member countries. Free trade area (FTA) could also be offered where countries eliminate tariffs between themselves but maintain their own external tariff on imports. Custom unions eliminate tariffs between themselves but set a common external tariff for instance the EU. Countries could also adopt a common market, economic union or monetary union level. (Kreinin M. and Plummer M, 2002) Economic arguments for economic integration. There is increased trade as countries produce what they have comparative advantage in. Foreign supply is reduced and trade diversity is promoted leading to economic growth. Member countries enjoy the economies of scale Political argument for economic integration is that it promotes peace and stability among member countries. Arguments against economic integration. Dumping of products can occur due to the eradication of barriers. Some countries tend to benefit more than others. Countries may feel as they are losing their sovereignty, which is their sense of pride. (Hoekman B. and Schiff M, 2002. ) The European Union is an economic union where member countries permit free movement of good, services and people and it uses a common currency it was initially known as the European Economic Community or common market. The North America Free Trade Agreement is a free trade agreement of Canada, US and Mexico. It eliminates barriers to trade and promotes fair competition and increased investment opportunities. MERCOSUR- comprises of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. It transformed from a custom union to a common market in 2006. The Asia pacific economic cooperation comprises 21 members. It was formed in 1989 through informal dialogue it promotes trade and investment and economic co-operation. The future of this great economic integration is promising. Businesses that are inherent in regional economic integration agreements will thrive if conditions in their regions are favorable. They will respond to the forces of demand and supply. Competition will be high and this will ensure that quality products are produced. References: Peter M. Suranovic. Trends and recent developments in FDI. Retrieved on 22nd January 2008 from http://www. oecd. org/dataoecd/62/43/38818788. pdf. Anderson K. and Blackhurst R. 1993. Regional Integration and the Global Trading System, London and New York, Harvester Wheat sheafs. Hoekman B. and Schiff M. 2002. Benefiting from regional integration. In Hoekman B. , Mattoo A. & English P. Development, Trade, and the WTO: A Handbook, Washington, DC. World Bank. Kreinin M. and Plummer M. 2002. Economic Integration and Development: Has Regionalism Delivered for Developing Countries? Cheltenham, Edward Elgar.

Scarlet Letter

Amy Sheehan Mr. Frye English 11 Honors 3 February 2012 Clever Title The physical and emotional strain resulting from sex out of wedlock seems to be an almost unbearable burden. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, and her daughter Pearl deal with the emotional abuse from her townspeople because of an affair with Dimmesdale. All of the harassment takes place in a small town in Boston, Massachusetts. In Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the reoccurring image of a circle/sphere probes the thought that humanity is following a cycle of cruelty that has never been broken.The use of actual objects to distinguish the pattern of isolation reoccurs often. Isolation plays a key factor in The Scarlet Letter, usually being hinted at with assistance from the image of a circle or sphere. In some instances, the cycle of isolation appears in nature: â€Å"Did the sun, which shone so brightly everywhere else, really fall upon him? Or, was there, as it rather seemed, a circle of ominous shadow moving along with his deformity, whichever way he turned himself. † (172). The sunlight refuses to fall directly on Chillingworth because of his impure body structure.The shadow casting off of him foreshadows the death he will later face. Nature isolates Chillingworth because he seems to be dark creature. Hawthorne does not just use circles and spheres in nature, he also uses them through Hester’s other possessions. Pear also plays a part in the reoccurring isolation symbol. â€Å"But she names the infant ‘Pearl† (85). In the beginning, Hester was isolated because of her sin. As the book goes on, she realizes that society continues to exclude not only her, but her daughter as well. A pearl represents a small spherical object grown in the comfort of an oyster’s mouth.In essence that is exactly what Pearl is. The only life she has known is one of complete distance from the rest of society. If someone shows her kindness, or a cceptance, she would not know how to react. She’s been raised to think isolation is normal. Her mother on the other hand will never quite get used to the harsh reality of what she’s done; â€Å"While Hester stood in that magic circle of ignominy where the cunning cruelty of her sentence seem to have fixed her forever† (242). The amazing ability of the townspeople to shun a completely innocent woman is the pattern of humanity.Mankind has always been unbelievably cruel to the people who least deserve it. Hester’s humility and strength is show constantly throughout the book. The invariable essence of cruelty is, and always has been, a big part of society. Not only are objects used to portray isolation, people are also used. With every mention of a circle/sphere, the patterns of isolation continue to show up. â€Å"They now felt themselves, at least, inhabitants of the same sphere† (186). Hawthorne uses the relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale to prove the point of the cruel unfair ways of humanity.The well liked man gets away with absolutely no judgment, while the lower class woman gets all the hatred and punishment. While these two people are so diversely seen in society, they formed a completely flawless creation that gets torn apart by the isolation of the town; â€Å"Pearl looked as beautiful as the day, but was in one of those moods of perverse merriment which, whenever they occurred, seemed to remove her entirely out of the sphere of sympathy or human contact† (130). Pearl has entered her own circle of dependency. She depends on her mom and herself.Society has shut her out completely, just because she’s associated with Hester. Which makes one think; how would this child be looked at if she were to be associated with her father, Dimmesdale. With Pearl having a father as a saint, and a mother as a sinner, gave Pearl a very narrow chance of ridding this pattern of isolation. Although society didn’t bear down on Dimmesdale, his guilty conscience is what got to him. â€Å"The very contiguity of his enemy, beneath whatever mask the latter might conceal himself, was enough to disturb the magnetic sphere of a being so sensitive as Arthur Dimmesdale† (189).The cruel patterns of humanity don’t always come from other people. Ones worst enemy is one’s self. His cruel ways of emotionally and physically tormenting himself were just another isolation tactic. He isolated himself from everyone emotionally because he felt as if the secret was bearing down on his soul. No matter whom you are, or how ‘godly’ you are, you will always fall a victim to the cruel ways of humanity. The main person being singled out by the people is Hester Prynne. Her ability to bounce back and still have a love for the people who have been ridiculing her for 7 years is unbelievable.Although her humility is great, the cycle of isolation will not be broken; â€Å"As was usually the case wherever Hester stood, a small vacant area- a sort of magic circle- had formed itself about her† (230) Her reputation alone gives her this kind of innate ability to after awhile isolate herself. In some parts of the book Hester even tries to isolate herself, from herself; â€Å"She had flirted fancifully with her own image in a pool of water, beckoning the phantom forth, and –as it declined to venture- seeking a passage for herself into its sphere of impalpable earth and unattainable sky† (173).The only thing keeping her back from complete and total freedom is her mindset. Her mind is so isolated from most other people that it would just be hard for her to even think about being part of a crowd again. The only thing keeping her somewhat part of a society greater than herself is her daughter. â€Å"The light lingered about the lonely child, as if glad of such a playmate, until her mother had drawn almost high enough to step into the magic circle too† ( 180). These two are isolated together. They depend on each other yet lead completely different lives.Society bonded them together in isolation, yet in their own little circles, they isolate themselves from each other. The cycle of isolation with humanity has never before been broken. Although it may appear to be an easy pattern to break, there is always someone or some kind of possession that will be thrown to the side and isolated from the rest of society. The patterns occur in this book through objects, people, and Hester. Don’t underestimate the power of isolation, it can make you do things you would never dream of doing. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York, NY: Tom Doherty Associates, 1989. Print Scarlet Letter In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter the story takes place in Puritanical America where the young Hester Prynne, after committing adultery is punished on the basis of what the town thinks is right. She is simultaneously a part of the town and is also pushed away from it. Hawthorne explores the theme of liminality between society and nature through the motif of setting to convey the isolation that comes with sin. The scaffold (where Hester stands to face her consequences), Hester and Pearl’s cottage, and the brook are all examples of setting that all contain elements of liminality in â€Å"The Scarlet Letter†.Hester stands on the scaffold during the day to fulfill the consequences of her sin. She brings Pearl with her as she is the product of the sin. While the town has knowledge of what she has done they are still unaware of who took part in this crime with her. â€Å"They stood in the noon of that strange and solemn splendor, as if it were the light that is to reveal all secrets and the daybreak that shall unite all who belong to one another. † (135). â€Å"They† is referring to Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale; the town’s minister who, the reader now knows, fathered young Pearl.The light and dark imagery indicates the liminal state between the three of them and the rest of the town, â€Å"The light that is to reveal all secrets. † The scaffold also shows a liminal state between Hester and Dimmesdale, â€Å"†¦ and little Pearl, herself a symbol, and the connecting link between those two. † (135) When the three of them are on the scaffold together it shows the unity between them, but also a side that shows they are not fully united with one another. â€Å"All the dread of public exposure, that had so long been the anguish of his life, had returned upon him. (134). The passage â€Å"dread of public exposure† represents the guilt and fear Dimmesdale has about revealing the secret in his sin. This is what shows the liminal state between Hester and Dimmesdale; they sinned together, however only one of them will publically take responsibility for this action. This indicates that while there is a clear connection between the two of them (Pearl) the â€Å"dread of public exposure† creates a distance between them. Hester and Pearl are also, as another consequence, forced to live in a ottage on the edge of the town, isolated from the rest of society. This plays as a symbolic representation of liminality because the two of them are stuck in the area between lawful society and lawless nature. â€Å"It straggled onward into the mystery of the primeval forest. This hemmed it in so narrowly, and stood so black and dense on either side, and disclosed such imperfect glimpses of the sky above, that, to Hester's mind, it imaged not amiss the moral wilderness in which she had so long been wandering. It is said that Hester is recognizing her â€Å"moral wilderness† which further explains how she is not a real part of the Puritanical town but she is â€Å"wandering† within the in-between area of lawful society and lawless nature. Near the end of the story; Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl all stand together at the brook. Dimmesdale and Hester have just decided to move to Europe and finally be together where no will know of their previous sinful actions. Pearl stands on one side on the brook by herself, solemnly watching Hester and Dimmesdale who are on the opposite side. This brook is the boundary between two worlds, and that thou canst never meet thy Pearl again† (182). As Hester and Dimmesdale are together there is a clear liminal state between the two of them and Pearl, the words â€Å"boundary between two worlds† indicates the increasing distance created. Hester and Dimmesdale talk about being absolved and rid of the sin â€Å"Be the foregone evil what it might, how could they doubt that their earthly lives and future destinies were conjoined† (180). If Hester and Dimmesdale are rid of their sin, then they will be pushing Pearl away with it, because she is the physical symbol of the sin.In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter the story takes place in Puritanical America where the young Hester Prynne, after committing adultery is punished on the basis of what the town thinks is right. Hawthorne explores the theme of liminality between society and nature through the motif of setting to convey the isolation that comes with sin. Liminality is shown through settings such as the scaffold, the cottage, and the brook. All places that created a drawing distance between Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale. In the end, all of the three are lost in the â€Å"middle area† between lawful society and the lawless world of nature. Scarlet Letter In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter the story takes place in Puritanical America where the young Hester Prynne, after committing adultery is punished on the basis of what the town thinks is right. She is simultaneously a part of the town and is also pushed away from it. Hawthorne explores the theme of liminality between society and nature through the motif of setting to convey the isolation that comes with sin. The scaffold (where Hester stands to face her consequences), Hester and Pearl’s cottage, and the brook are all examples of setting that all contain elements of liminality in â€Å"The Scarlet Letter†.Hester stands on the scaffold during the day to fulfill the consequences of her sin. She brings Pearl with her as she is the product of the sin. While the town has knowledge of what she has done they are still unaware of who took part in this crime with her. â€Å"They stood in the noon of that strange and solemn splendor, as if it were the light that is to reveal all secrets and the daybreak that shall unite all who belong to one another. † (135). â€Å"They† is referring to Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale; the town’s minister who, the reader now knows, fathered young Pearl.The light and dark imagery indicates the liminal state between the three of them and the rest of the town, â€Å"The light that is to reveal all secrets. † The scaffold also shows a liminal state between Hester and Dimmesdale, â€Å"†¦ and little Pearl, herself a symbol, and the connecting link between those two. † (135) When the three of them are on the scaffold together it shows the unity between them, but also a side that shows they are not fully united with one another. â€Å"All the dread of public exposure, that had so long been the anguish of his life, had returned upon him. (134). The passage â€Å"dread of public exposure† represents the guilt and fear Dimmesdale has about revealing the secret in his sin. This is what shows the liminal state between Hester and Dimmesdale; they sinned together, however only one of them will publically take responsibility for this action. This indicates that while there is a clear connection between the two of them (Pearl) the â€Å"dread of public exposure† creates a distance between them. Hester and Pearl are also, as another consequence, forced to live in a ottage on the edge of the town, isolated from the rest of society. This plays as a symbolic representation of liminality because the two of them are stuck in the area between lawful society and lawless nature. â€Å"It straggled onward into the mystery of the primeval forest. This hemmed it in so narrowly, and stood so black and dense on either side, and disclosed such imperfect glimpses of the sky above, that, to Hester's mind, it imaged not amiss the moral wilderness in which she had so long been wandering. It is said that Hester is recognizing her â€Å"moral wilderness† which further explains how she is not a real part of the Puritanical town but she is â€Å"wandering† within the in-between area of lawful society and lawless nature. Near the end of the story; Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl all stand together at the brook. Dimmesdale and Hester have just decided to move to Europe and finally be together where no will know of their previous sinful actions. Pearl stands on one side on the brook by herself, solemnly watching Hester and Dimmesdale who are on the opposite side. This brook is the boundary between two worlds, and that thou canst never meet thy Pearl again† (182). As Hester and Dimmesdale are together there is a clear liminal state between the two of them and Pearl, the words â€Å"boundary between two worlds† indicates the increasing distance created. Hester and Dimmesdale talk about being absolved and rid of the sin â€Å"Be the foregone evil what it might, how could they doubt that their earthly lives and future destinies were conjoined† (180). If Hester and Dimmesdale are rid of their sin, then they will be pushing Pearl away with it, because she is the physical symbol of the sin.In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter the story takes place in Puritanical America where the young Hester Prynne, after committing adultery is punished on the basis of what the town thinks is right. Hawthorne explores the theme of liminality between society and nature through the motif of setting to convey the isolation that comes with sin. Liminality is shown through settings such as the scaffold, the cottage, and the brook. All places that created a drawing distance between Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale. In the end, all of the three are lost in the â€Å"middle area† between lawful society and the lawless world of nature.

Free Essays on Merode Altarpiece

One of the most famous and most widely studied of Netherland paintings is Robert Campin, the Master Flemalles, Merode Altarpiece completed in 1426. This three piece panel triptych stirred fifteenth century Flemings with its exquisiteness and mystifying symbolism. The subject of the altarpiece is the Annunciation. The Annunciation is imagined as taking place not in the traditional church but in a modern Nether land house. The proportions of the â€Å"room† which occupies the large central panel are drastically foreshortened, but the painter’s choice of lines of sight demonstrates development in unified perspective that is so different from the illuminated French manuscripts done by the Limburg Brothers. 1 Campin uses individual panels to shape the visual field of the altarpiece. The small size of the altarpiece a little over two feet square reminds us of its function in a individual observance. 2 Flemish painting has undergone a transition and objects of daily life and sacred rituals are rendered with symbolic content of the painting, as objects that serve other then allegorical purposes.1 The Virgin Mary is shown in the central panel reading and not acknowledging the presence of the angel Gabriel watching over her. George Ferguson author of Signs and Symbolism in Christian Art interprets Mary’s reading as taking place in the context of a sanctuary.3 Reading in the Flemish culture is an act of private devotion rather then public empowerment. Lilies on the table and a towel in its niche represent the piscine that the priest use for hand washing and symbolic purification.3 The left panel shows the donors looking through a door, open-eyed, and observing, a key theme of Netherlanders paintings, Mary and the Angel Gabriel. The Metropolitan Museum of Art suggest the donors in the painting is that of Jan Englebrecht a merchant and his wife that lived in Cologne. A guarded wall separates the donors firmly from the town behind ... Free Essays on Merode Altarpiece Free Essays on Merode Altarpiece One of the most famous and most widely studied of Netherland paintings is Robert Campin, the Master Flemalles, Merode Altarpiece completed in 1426. This three piece panel triptych stirred fifteenth century Flemings with its exquisiteness and mystifying symbolism. The subject of the altarpiece is the Annunciation. The Annunciation is imagined as taking place not in the traditional church but in a modern Nether land house. The proportions of the â€Å"room† which occupies the large central panel are drastically foreshortened, but the painter’s choice of lines of sight demonstrates development in unified perspective that is so different from the illuminated French manuscripts done by the Limburg Brothers. 1 Campin uses individual panels to shape the visual field of the altarpiece. The small size of the altarpiece a little over two feet square reminds us of its function in a individual observance. 2 Flemish painting has undergone a transition and objects of daily life and sacred rituals are rendered with symbolic content of the painting, as objects that serve other then allegorical purposes.1 The Virgin Mary is shown in the central panel reading and not acknowledging the presence of the angel Gabriel watching over her. George Ferguson author of Signs and Symbolism in Christian Art interprets Mary’s reading as taking place in the context of a sanctuary.3 Reading in the Flemish culture is an act of private devotion rather then public empowerment. Lilies on the table and a towel in its niche represent the piscine that the priest use for hand washing and symbolic purification.3 The left panel shows the donors looking through a door, open-eyed, and observing, a key theme of Netherlanders paintings, Mary and the Angel Gabriel. The Metropolitan Museum of Art suggest the donors in the painting is that of Jan Englebrecht a merchant and his wife that lived in Cologne. A guarded wall separates the donors firmly from the town behind ...

How to Curate Content the Best Way to Grow Your Brand

How to Curate Content the Best Way to Grow Your Brand Think about the content you share for a second. Is it all your own content? If so, that needs to change. As much as your audience may love you, they want to see a variety of content. This is what we call content curation. Its simply sharing the content from others similar to you on social media.  Sharing others’  content is one of the best ways to show that you’re not all about you, and that you value a variety of perspectives beyond your own. If you are already curating content, are you doing it correctly? Is it the right content for your audience? Lets take a look! By the end of this post, youll be a pro at content curation. Table of Contents Whats the Definition of Content Curation? What Are the Benefits? See Some Examples of Well-Curated Content What Content Should Your Company Curate? Choosing Tools and Developing a Workflow The Best Curation Frequency and MixHow To Curate Content the Best Way to Grow Your BrandWhat Is  Social Media Content Curation? Marketers borrowed the word curate from museums. Curators are the ones who strategically choose  collections of art that appeal to a specific audience to feature in their museums. When you apply that concept  to social media curation, the definition looks like this: Content curation involves: Planning topics your audience loves. Searching for content from others that ties into those topics and your audiences interests. Sharing only the best information you find on your social networks for your audience to. To help you get started, here are a a few freebies to download: Content Curation Template: Keep track of your favorite content curation sources with this Excel template. Content Curation Frequency Infographic: Know the best frequency and mix for sharing content. Social Media Marketing Calendar: Plan every post, all in one place. Five Key Benefits to Curating Content There are many reasons a team will turn to using curated content for social media. Your Marketing Team Can't Produce Enough Social Media Content  On Their Own Social media requires a steady stream of professional, reputable content. Twitter alone should have about 15 unique posts a day (typically). By utilizing great curated content, you're able to fill those gaps more easily. How to Curate Content For Social Media To Help Boost Your ReachIt's Efficient and Cost-Effective Since you're not being slowed down by creating every piece of content yourself, curation is a great way to still have a content marketing strategy in place without investing a huge amount of money and time. Position Your Brand as a Thought Leader Once you get to know your audience and curate only the best, most share-worthy content tailored to them, you'll be recognized as a trustworthy and dependable specialist in your area. In other words, they'll trust that you know what you're talking about. Maintain Conversations With Your Audience Especially in the early stages of your content initiative, it's important that you figure out exactly who your audience is and what kind of content they like to devour and share. The only way to do this is by experimenting with several different content types, and the last thing you should be doing is creating all  of that content. By curating and tracking performance, you quickly pick up on what your audience  finds valuable, in what format they like to consume, from which sources, at what time of day, etc. For audiences that are more mobile and social, content curation is a great way to start and maintain a conversation every day. It also allows you to be present with your audience without making it all about you. Experiment with content types and topics to find  out what your readers  want. #contentcurationIt's a Great Way to Connect With Influencers Behind the scenes, the relationships you build with other influencers in the space by showcasing their work is a happy byproduct of content curation. Remember that analogy I made about the kid who stole homework and claimed it as his own? That's all wrong. It's more like the kid collected and compiled the best work from multiple kids' homework, printed out copies for everyone, and shared it as a study aid. #ContentCuration is like finding  the best work from everywhere and  sharing it with everyone.As a curator, when you share someone else's content, you are giving it more exposure and doing so in a favorable light. You are saying, "Hey, check this out. The message in this is totally on point." And the original content creators will remember this! When done right with proper attribution, curation creates symbiotic relationships. 7  Examples of Quality Curated Content So, what does quality social media content curation look like? Get an idea with these seven  examples. Every one of these posts does the following things: Shares something from a reputable source. Adds its own perspective with custom post copy. Adds value for each brand's audience. #1.   Convince and Convert #2. RealTruck.com #3.   Passion Planner #4. Cambria Quartz #5. Buzzfeed #6. Lemonly #7. Sanford Health Assembling Your Content Curation Toolbox Now that we've covered how awesome and beneficial content curation is, it's time to implement it into your own strategy. First off, you'll need to locate and find curation worth sharing. It's one thing to share content, but it's another thing to share good content. So where do you find this magical content? RSS readers. Gather the RSS feeds of content you know your audience will consistently enjoy. Categorize them tightly into narrowly focused topical groupings so you can better plan on the topics you’ll share when the planning stage comes. A tool like Feedly works well for this. BuzzSumo: This powerful platform is excellent for surfacing highly shared and trending content. Google Alerts. Sign up for Google Alerts on topics your readers care about.  Be cautious about two things: 1) make your search as narrow as possible, or you’ll regret the flood of information, and 2) read the content you find since it’s a bit of a wild card what Google will dig up for you. You can send these alerts directly to your email. Focused social network lists. Create Twitter lists  of people who  belong in particular niches. Having all of the users in your general news feed isn’t helpful if you're trying to curate according to topic when it comes time to plan. Just as you want to categorize your RSS feeds, you ought to do the same with your social feeds. Forums and groups. Places like Inbound.org and other similar industry or niche related forums are perfect places to find currently hot content. Look to curate  content that is getting a lot of discussion on it. Pieces that die in silence without much reaction can be seen as being down-voted by the crowd. That kind of content is  probably not something your audience is going to want to read and talk about, either. Sign up for emails. Find great email newsletters that consistently share content you might not otherwise find. They’re doing curation of their own, and there’s nothing stopping you from making use of their finds. Just be sure to check them out to be sure it’s something your audience would want. Don’t assume  just because someone else gave it a seal of approval. If you're looking for more options, check out this list of tools  from Curata. With tools like Feedly and Storify, you can create different categories of content and save time!  In the social media world we have  no time to spare, so curation tools are here to help. Know What And How To Curate You can’t share junk. No one wants their social feed filled with garbage, so simply publishing posts for the sake of needing to do it is a bad idea. Find the best content, the content you enjoyed, the content your audience members are sharing and talking about, the content that is actually helpful. Curate and share only the best content your audience is  talking about that is actually helpful.That means you have to actually read the stuff. You have to be willing to go past the headline and make sure the content you’re going to share is well-written, well-thought, and (here’s a pet peeve of mine) accessible if your audience member doesn’t have a subscription to a website. Nothing is more irksome than following a link to a piece of content I can’t read unless I subscribe. Unless you know your audience is mostly subscribed to a site, share that content by linking, summarizing, commenting on, and quoting it in your own standalone blog post. If a tool makes it easy to fill your content curation schedule with recommended content without you having to read it, be careful. You're trusting them to curate for you and your audience is expecting you to be the tour guide in the library, not someone else. Curation keeps your social schedule fresh and promotional social messages  to a minimum.Start By Finding Your Content Core As a content curator, it's your goal to share content that your audience will enjoy and benefit from.  The purpose of the content core exercise  is to understand the difference between what you do, and what you need to talk about. Visually, the content core looks something like this: At the center of your content is what you do. At , we make editorial calendar software, so this is a combination of social media and content marketing topics. For our customers, we solve problems such as: Providing a single interface for planning and executing content marketing efforts. Displaying an upcoming publishing schedule on a visualized monthly calendar. Allowing users to reschedule content via simple drag-and-drop. Facilitating team communication and an effective workflow. Providing a tool that helps them save time and grow their blog traffic. These are topics we should definitely write about and be searching for to help our audience understand a correlation between our tool and their needs. As we move away (ever so slightly) from our content core and focus on what our target audience really wants to hear about, we improve the  effectiveness  of our content marketing and better focus in on our target audience’s needs. Keep this in mind when you are searching content  through various sources. There are plenty  of tools out there that will help you with curation, you just have to figure out what your audience wants to read about then decide which sources will work best for you. Here are some examples of strong sources: Reputable publications in your industry. Blogs from other companies you partner with. Your clients, if you're an agency or consultant. Content Marketing Institute also put together a killer list of curation sources. Are you curating content from the best possible sources?Identify What Types Of Content Your Audience Likes To See Does your audience prefer videos or blog posts? How about quizzes or polls? Identify what resonates with your audience and try to curate your content types around that. But how do I know what my audience likes? Look back no more than six months into your social news feed history. Look for trends in what you’re audience responded to. If you see a 35% increase in engagement when you post videos, focus on curating video content posts. Look to your audience, they’ll tell you what they want to see. How to Curate Content the Best Way to Grow Your Brand Think about the content you share for a second. Is it all your own content? If so, that needs to change. As much as your audience may love you, they want to see a variety of content. This is what we call content curation. Its simply sharing the content from others similar to you on social media.  Sharing others’  content is one of the best ways to show that you’re not all about you, and that you value a variety of perspectives beyond your own. If you are already curating content, are you doing it correctly? Is it the right content for your audience? Lets take a look! By the end of this post, youll be a pro at content curation. Table of Contents Whats the Definition of Content Curation? What Are the Benefits? See Some Examples of Well-Curated Content What Content Should Your Company Curate? Choosing Tools and Developing a Workflow The Best Curation Frequency and MixHow To Curate Content the Best Way to Grow Your BrandWhat Is  Social Media Content Curation? Marketers borrowed the word curate from museums. Curators are the ones who strategically choose  collections of art that appeal to a specific audience to feature in their museums. When you apply that concept  to social media curation, the definition looks like this: Content curation involves: Planning topics your audience loves. Searching for content from others that ties into those topics and your audiences interests. Sharing only the best information you find on your social networks for your audience to. To help you get started, here are a a few freebies to download: Content Curation Template: Keep track of your favorite content curation sources with this Excel template. Content Curation Frequency Infographic: Know the best frequency and mix for sharing content. Social Media Marketing Calendar: Plan every post, all in one place. Five Key Benefits to Curating Content There are many reasons a team will turn to using curated content for social media. Your Marketing Team Can't Produce Enough Social Media Content  On Their Own Social media requires a steady stream of professional, reputable content. Twitter alone should have about 15 unique posts a day (typically). By utilizing great curated content, you're able to fill those gaps more easily. How to Curate Content For Social Media To Help Boost Your ReachIt's Efficient and Cost-Effective Since you're not being slowed down by creating every piece of content yourself, curation is a great way to still have a content marketing strategy in place without investing a huge amount of money and time. Position Your Brand as a Thought Leader Once you get to know your audience and curate only the best, most share-worthy content tailored to them, you'll be recognized as a trustworthy and dependable specialist in your area. In other words, they'll trust that you know what you're talking about. Maintain Conversations With Your Audience Especially in the early stages of your content initiative, it's important that you figure out exactly who your audience is and what kind of content they like to devour and share. The only way to do this is by experimenting with several different content types, and the last thing you should be doing is creating all  of that content. By curating and tracking performance, you quickly pick up on what your audience  finds valuable, in what format they like to consume, from which sources, at what time of day, etc. For audiences that are more mobile and social, content curation is a great way to start and maintain a conversation every day. It also allows you to be present with your audience without making it all about you. Experiment with content types and topics to find  out what your readers  want. #contentcurationIt's a Great Way to Connect With Influencers Behind the scenes, the relationships you build with other influencers in the space by showcasing their work is a happy byproduct of content curation. Remember that analogy I made about the kid who stole homework and claimed it as his own? That's all wrong. It's more like the kid collected and compiled the best work from multiple kids' homework, printed out copies for everyone, and shared it as a study aid. #ContentCuration is like finding  the best work from everywhere and  sharing it with everyone.As a curator, when you share someone else's content, you are giving it more exposure and doing so in a favorable light. You are saying, "Hey, check this out. The message in this is totally on point." And the original content creators will remember this! When done right with proper attribution, curation creates symbiotic relationships. 7  Examples of Quality Curated Content So, what does quality social media content curation look like? Get an idea with these seven  examples. Every one of these posts does the following things: Shares something from a reputable source. Adds its own perspective with custom post copy. Adds value for each brand's audience. #1.   Convince and Convert #2. RealTruck.com #3.   Passion Planner #4. Cambria Quartz #5. Buzzfeed #6. Lemonly #7. Sanford Health Assembling Your Content Curation Toolbox Now that we've covered how awesome and beneficial content curation is, it's time to implement it into your own strategy. First off, you'll need to locate and find curation worth sharing. It's one thing to share content, but it's another thing to share good content. So where do you find this magical content? RSS readers. Gather the RSS feeds of content you know your audience will consistently enjoy. Categorize them tightly into narrowly focused topical groupings so you can better plan on the topics you’ll share when the planning stage comes. A tool like Feedly works well for this. BuzzSumo: This powerful platform is excellent for surfacing highly shared and trending content. Google Alerts. Sign up for Google Alerts on topics your readers care about.  Be cautious about two things: 1) make your search as narrow as possible, or you’ll regret the flood of information, and 2) read the content you find since it’s a bit of a wild card what Google will dig up for you. You can send these alerts directly to your email. Focused social network lists. Create Twitter lists  of people who  belong in particular niches. Having all of the users in your general news feed isn’t helpful if you're trying to curate according to topic when it comes time to plan. Just as you want to categorize your RSS feeds, you ought to do the same with your social feeds. Forums and groups. Places like Inbound.org and other similar industry or niche related forums are perfect places to find currently hot content. Look to curate  content that is getting a lot of discussion on it. Pieces that die in silence without much reaction can be seen as being down-voted by the crowd. That kind of content is  probably not something your audience is going to want to read and talk about, either. Sign up for emails. Find great email newsletters that consistently share content you might not otherwise find. They’re doing curation of their own, and there’s nothing stopping you from making use of their finds. Just be sure to check them out to be sure it’s something your audience would want. Don’t assume  just because someone else gave it a seal of approval. If you're looking for more options, check out this list of tools  from Curata. With tools like Feedly and Storify, you can create different categories of content and save time!  In the social media world we have  no time to spare, so curation tools are here to help. Know What And How To Curate You can’t share junk. No one wants their social feed filled with garbage, so simply publishing posts for the sake of needing to do it is a bad idea. Find the best content, the content you enjoyed, the content your audience members are sharing and talking about, the content that is actually helpful. Curate and share only the best content your audience is  talking about that is actually helpful.That means you have to actually read the stuff. You have to be willing to go past the headline and make sure the content you’re going to share is well-written, well-thought, and (here’s a pet peeve of mine) accessible if your audience member doesn’t have a subscription to a website. Nothing is more irksome than following a link to a piece of content I can’t read unless I subscribe. Unless you know your audience is mostly subscribed to a site, share that content by linking, summarizing, commenting on, and quoting it in your own standalone blog post. If a tool makes it easy to fill your content curation schedule with recommended content without you having to read it, be careful. You're trusting them to curate for you and your audience is expecting you to be the tour guide in the library, not someone else. Curation keeps your social schedule fresh and promotional social messages  to a minimum.Start By Finding Your Content Core As a content curator, it's your goal to share content that your audience will enjoy and benefit from.  The purpose of the content core exercise  is to understand the difference between what you do, and what you need to talk about. Visually, the content core looks something like this: At the center of your content is what you do. At , we make editorial calendar software, so this is a combination of social media and content marketing topics. For our customers, we solve problems such as: Providing a single interface for planning and executing content marketing efforts. Displaying an upcoming publishing schedule on a visualized monthly calendar. Allowing users to reschedule content via simple drag-and-drop. Facilitating team communication and an effective workflow. Providing a tool that helps them save time and grow their blog traffic. These are topics we should definitely write about and be searching for to help our audience understand a correlation between our tool and their needs. As we move away (ever so slightly) from our content core and focus on what our target audience really wants to hear about, we improve the  effectiveness  of our content marketing and better focus in on our target audience’s needs. Keep this in mind when you are searching content  through various sources. There are plenty  of tools out there that will help you with curation, you just have to figure out what your audience wants to read about then decide which sources will work best for you. Here are some examples of strong sources: Reputable publications in your industry. Blogs from other companies you partner with. Your clients, if you're an agency or consultant. Content Marketing Institute also put together a killer list of curation sources. Are you curating content from the best possible sources?Identify What Types Of Content Your Audience Likes To See Does your audience prefer videos or blog posts? How about quizzes or polls? Identify what resonates with your audience and try to curate your content types around that. But how do I know what my audience likes? Look back no more than six months into your social news feed history. Look for trends in what you’re audience responded to. If you see a 35% increase in engagement when you post videos, focus on curating video content posts. Look to your audience, they’ll tell you what they want to see. How to Curate Content the Best Way to Grow Your Brand Think about the content you share for a second. Is it all your own content? If so, that needs to change. As much as your audience may love you, they want to see a variety of content. This is what we call content curation. Its simply sharing the content from others similar to you on social media.  Sharing others’  content is one of the best ways to show that you’re not all about you, and that you value a variety of perspectives beyond your own. If you are already curating content, are you doing it correctly? Is it the right content for your audience? Lets take a look! By the end of this post, youll be a pro at content curation. Table of Contents Whats the Definition of Content Curation? What Are the Benefits? See Some Examples of Well-Curated Content What Content Should Your Company Curate? Choosing Tools and Developing a Workflow The Best Curation Frequency and MixHow To Curate Content the Best Way to Grow Your BrandWhat Is  Social Media Content Curation? Marketers borrowed the word curate from museums. Curators are the ones who strategically choose  collections of art that appeal to a specific audience to feature in their museums. When you apply that concept  to social media curation, the definition looks like this: Content curation involves: Planning topics your audience loves. Searching for content from others that ties into those topics and your audiences interests. Sharing only the best information you find on your social networks for your audience to. To help you get started, here are a a few freebies to download: Content Curation Template: Keep track of your favorite content curation sources with this Excel template. Content Curation Frequency Infographic: Know the best frequency and mix for sharing content. Social Media Marketing Calendar: Plan every post, all in one place. Five Key Benefits to Curating Content There are many reasons a team will turn to using curated content for social media. Your Marketing Team Can't Produce Enough Social Media Content  On Their Own Social media requires a steady stream of professional, reputable content. Twitter alone should have about 15 unique posts a day (typically). By utilizing great curated content, you're able to fill those gaps more easily. How to Curate Content For Social Media To Help Boost Your ReachIt's Efficient and Cost-Effective Since you're not being slowed down by creating every piece of content yourself, curation is a great way to still have a content marketing strategy in place without investing a huge amount of money and time. Position Your Brand as a Thought Leader Once you get to know your audience and curate only the best, most share-worthy content tailored to them, you'll be recognized as a trustworthy and dependable specialist in your area. In other words, they'll trust that you know what you're talking about. Maintain Conversations With Your Audience Especially in the early stages of your content initiative, it's important that you figure out exactly who your audience is and what kind of content they like to devour and share. The only way to do this is by experimenting with several different content types, and the last thing you should be doing is creating all  of that content. By curating and tracking performance, you quickly pick up on what your audience  finds valuable, in what format they like to consume, from which sources, at what time of day, etc. For audiences that are more mobile and social, content curation is a great way to start and maintain a conversation every day. It also allows you to be present with your audience without making it all about you. Experiment with content types and topics to find  out what your readers  want. #contentcurationIt's a Great Way to Connect With Influencers Behind the scenes, the relationships you build with other influencers in the space by showcasing their work is a happy byproduct of content curation. Remember that analogy I made about the kid who stole homework and claimed it as his own? That's all wrong. It's more like the kid collected and compiled the best work from multiple kids' homework, printed out copies for everyone, and shared it as a study aid. #ContentCuration is like finding  the best work from everywhere and  sharing it with everyone.As a curator, when you share someone else's content, you are giving it more exposure and doing so in a favorable light. You are saying, "Hey, check this out. The message in this is totally on point." And the original content creators will remember this! When done right with proper attribution, curation creates symbiotic relationships. 7  Examples of Quality Curated Content So, what does quality social media content curation look like? Get an idea with these seven  examples. Every one of these posts does the following things: Shares something from a reputable source. Adds its own perspective with custom post copy. Adds value for each brand's audience. #1.   Convince and Convert #2. RealTruck.com #3.   Passion Planner #4. Cambria Quartz #5. Buzzfeed #6. Lemonly #7. Sanford Health Assembling Your Content Curation Toolbox Now that we've covered how awesome and beneficial content curation is, it's time to implement it into your own strategy. First off, you'll need to locate and find curation worth sharing. It's one thing to share content, but it's another thing to share good content. So where do you find this magical content? RSS readers. Gather the RSS feeds of content you know your audience will consistently enjoy. Categorize them tightly into narrowly focused topical groupings so you can better plan on the topics you’ll share when the planning stage comes. A tool like Feedly works well for this. BuzzSumo: This powerful platform is excellent for surfacing highly shared and trending content. Google Alerts. Sign up for Google Alerts on topics your readers care about.  Be cautious about two things: 1) make your search as narrow as possible, or you’ll regret the flood of information, and 2) read the content you find since it’s a bit of a wild card what Google will dig up for you. You can send these alerts directly to your email. Focused social network lists. Create Twitter lists  of people who  belong in particular niches. Having all of the users in your general news feed isn’t helpful if you're trying to curate according to topic when it comes time to plan. Just as you want to categorize your RSS feeds, you ought to do the same with your social feeds. Forums and groups. Places like Inbound.org and other similar industry or niche related forums are perfect places to find currently hot content. Look to curate  content that is getting a lot of discussion on it. Pieces that die in silence without much reaction can be seen as being down-voted by the crowd. That kind of content is  probably not something your audience is going to want to read and talk about, either. Sign up for emails. Find great email newsletters that consistently share content you might not otherwise find. They’re doing curation of their own, and there’s nothing stopping you from making use of their finds. Just be sure to check them out to be sure it’s something your audience would want. Don’t assume  just because someone else gave it a seal of approval. If you're looking for more options, check out this list of tools  from Curata. With tools like Feedly and Storify, you can create different categories of content and save time!  In the social media world we have  no time to spare, so curation tools are here to help. Know What And How To Curate You can’t share junk. No one wants their social feed filled with garbage, so simply publishing posts for the sake of needing to do it is a bad idea. Find the best content, the content you enjoyed, the content your audience members are sharing and talking about, the content that is actually helpful. Curate and share only the best content your audience is  talking about that is actually helpful.That means you have to actually read the stuff. You have to be willing to go past the headline and make sure the content you’re going to share is well-written, well-thought, and (here’s a pet peeve of mine) accessible if your audience member doesn’t have a subscription to a website. Nothing is more irksome than following a link to a piece of content I can’t read unless I subscribe. Unless you know your audience is mostly subscribed to a site, share that content by linking, summarizing, commenting on, and quoting it in your own standalone blog post. If a tool makes it easy to fill your content curation schedule with recommended content without you having to read it, be careful. You're trusting them to curate for you and your audience is expecting you to be the tour guide in the library, not someone else. Curation keeps your social schedule fresh and promotional social messages  to a minimum.Start By Finding Your Content Core As a content curator, it's your goal to share content that your audience will enjoy and benefit from.  The purpose of the content core exercise  is to understand the difference between what you do, and what you need to talk about. Visually, the content core looks something like this: At the center of your content is what you do. At , we make editorial calendar software, so this is a combination of social media and content marketing topics. For our customers, we solve problems such as: Providing a single interface for planning and executing content marketing efforts. Displaying an upcoming publishing schedule on a visualized monthly calendar. Allowing users to reschedule content via simple drag-and-drop. Facilitating team communication and an effective workflow. Providing a tool that helps them save time and grow their blog traffic. These are topics we should definitely write about and be searching for to help our audience understand a correlation between our tool and their needs. As we move away (ever so slightly) from our content core and focus on what our target audience really wants to hear about, we improve the  effectiveness  of our content marketing and better focus in on our target audience’s needs. Keep this in mind when you are searching content  through various sources. There are plenty  of tools out there that will help you with curation, you just have to figure out what your audience wants to read about then decide which sources will work best for you. Here are some examples of strong sources: Reputable publications in your industry. Blogs from other companies you partner with. Your clients, if you're an agency or consultant. Content Marketing Institute also put together a killer list of curation sources. Are you curating content from the best possible sources?Identify What Types Of Content Your Audience Likes To See Does your audience prefer videos or blog posts? How about quizzes or polls? Identify what resonates with your audience and try to curate your content types around that. But how do I know what my audience likes? Look back no more than six months into your social news feed history. Look for trends in what you’re audience responded to. If you see a 35% increase in engagement when you post videos, focus on curating video content posts. Look to your audience, they’ll tell you what they want to see. How to Curate Content the Best Way to Grow Your Brand Think about the content you share for a second. Is it all your own content? If so, that needs to change. As much as your audience may love you, they want to see a variety of content. This is what we call content curation. Its simply sharing the content from others similar to you on social media.  Sharing others’  content is one of the best ways to show that you’re not all about you, and that you value a variety of perspectives beyond your own. If you are already curating content, are you doing it correctly? Is it the right content for your audience? Lets take a look! By the end of this post, youll be a pro at content curation. Table of Contents Whats the Definition of Content Curation? What Are the Benefits? See Some Examples of Well-Curated Content What Content Should Your Company Curate? Choosing Tools and Developing a Workflow The Best Curation Frequency and MixHow To Curate Content the Best Way to Grow Your BrandWhat Is  Social Media Content Curation? Marketers borrowed the word curate from museums. Curators are the ones who strategically choose  collections of art that appeal to a specific audience to feature in their museums. When you apply that concept  to social media curation, the definition looks like this: Content curation involves: Planning topics your audience loves. Searching for content from others that ties into those topics and your audiences interests. Sharing only the best information you find on your social networks for your audience to. To help you get started, here are a a few freebies to download: Content Curation Template: Keep track of your favorite content curation sources with this Excel template. Content Curation Frequency Infographic: Know the best frequency and mix for sharing content. Social Media Marketing Calendar: Plan every post, all in one place. Five Key Benefits to Curating Content There are many reasons a team will turn to using curated content for social media. Your Marketing Team Can't Produce Enough Social Media Content  On Their Own Social media requires a steady stream of professional, reputable content. Twitter alone should have about 15 unique posts a day (typically). By utilizing great curated content, you're able to fill those gaps more easily. How to Curate Content For Social Media To Help Boost Your ReachIt's Efficient and Cost-Effective Since you're not being slowed down by creating every piece of content yourself, curation is a great way to still have a content marketing strategy in place without investing a huge amount of money and time. Position Your Brand as a Thought Leader Once you get to know your audience and curate only the best, most share-worthy content tailored to them, you'll be recognized as a trustworthy and dependable specialist in your area. In other words, they'll trust that you know what you're talking about. Maintain Conversations With Your Audience Especially in the early stages of your content initiative, it's important that you figure out exactly who your audience is and what kind of content they like to devour and share. The only way to do this is by experimenting with several different content types, and the last thing you should be doing is creating all  of that content. By curating and tracking performance, you quickly pick up on what your audience  finds valuable, in what format they like to consume, from which sources, at what time of day, etc. For audiences that are more mobile and social, content curation is a great way to start and maintain a conversation every day. It also allows you to be present with your audience without making it all about you. Experiment with content types and topics to find  out what your readers  want. #contentcurationIt's a Great Way to Connect With Influencers Behind the scenes, the relationships you build with other influencers in the space by showcasing their work is a happy byproduct of content curation. Remember that analogy I made about the kid who stole homework and claimed it as his own? That's all wrong. It's more like the kid collected and compiled the best work from multiple kids' homework, printed out copies for everyone, and shared it as a study aid. #ContentCuration is like finding  the best work from everywhere and  sharing it with everyone.As a curator, when you share someone else's content, you are giving it more exposure and doing so in a favorable light. You are saying, "Hey, check this out. The message in this is totally on point." And the original content creators will remember this! When done right with proper attribution, curation creates symbiotic relationships. 7  Examples of Quality Curated Content So, what does quality social media content curation look like? Get an idea with these seven  examples. Every one of these posts does the following things: Shares something from a reputable source. Adds its own perspective with custom post copy. Adds value for each brand's audience. #1.   Convince and Convert #2. RealTruck.com #3.   Passion Planner #4. Cambria Quartz #5. Buzzfeed #6. Lemonly #7. Sanford Health Assembling Your Content Curation Toolbox Now that we've covered how awesome and beneficial content curation is, it's time to implement it into your own strategy. First off, you'll need to locate and find curation worth sharing. It's one thing to share content, but it's another thing to share good content. So where do you find this magical content? RSS readers. Gather the RSS feeds of content you know your audience will consistently enjoy. Categorize them tightly into narrowly focused topical groupings so you can better plan on the topics you’ll share when the planning stage comes. A tool like Feedly works well for this. BuzzSumo: This powerful platform is excellent for surfacing highly shared and trending content. Google Alerts. Sign up for Google Alerts on topics your readers care about.  Be cautious about two things: 1) make your search as narrow as possible, or you’ll regret the flood of information, and 2) read the content you find since it’s a bit of a wild card what Google will dig up for you. You can send these alerts directly to your email. Focused social network lists. Create Twitter lists  of people who  belong in particular niches. Having all of the users in your general news feed isn’t helpful if you're trying to curate according to topic when it comes time to plan. Just as you want to categorize your RSS feeds, you ought to do the same with your social feeds. Forums and groups. Places like Inbound.org and other similar industry or niche related forums are perfect places to find currently hot content. Look to curate  content that is getting a lot of discussion on it. Pieces that die in silence without much reaction can be seen as being down-voted by the crowd. That kind of content is  probably not something your audience is going to want to read and talk about, either. Sign up for emails. Find great email newsletters that consistently share content you might not otherwise find. They’re doing curation of their own, and there’s nothing stopping you from making use of their finds. Just be sure to check them out to be sure it’s something your audience would want. Don’t assume  just because someone else gave it a seal of approval. If you're looking for more options, check out this list of tools  from Curata. With tools like Feedly and Storify, you can create different categories of content and save time!  In the social media world we have  no time to spare, so curation tools are here to help. Know What And How To Curate You can’t share junk. No one wants their social feed filled with garbage, so simply publishing posts for the sake of needing to do it is a bad idea. Find the best content, the content you enjoyed, the content your audience members are sharing and talking about, the content that is actually helpful. Curate and share only the best content your audience is  talking about that is actually helpful.That means you have to actually read the stuff. You have to be willing to go past the headline and make sure the content you’re going to share is well-written, well-thought, and (here’s a pet peeve of mine) accessible if your audience member doesn’t have a subscription to a website. Nothing is more irksome than following a link to a piece of content I can’t read unless I subscribe. Unless you know your audience is mostly subscribed to a site, share that content by linking, summarizing, commenting on, and quoting it in your own standalone blog post. If a tool makes it easy to fill your content curation schedule with recommended content without you having to read it, be careful. You're trusting them to curate for you and your audience is expecting you to be the tour guide in the library, not someone else. Curation keeps your social schedule fresh and promotional social messages  to a minimum.Start By Finding Your Content Core As a content curator, it's your goal to share content that your audience will enjoy and benefit from.  The purpose of the content core exercise  is to understand the difference between what you do, and what you need to talk about. Visually, the content core looks something like this: At the center of your content is what you do. At , we make editorial calendar software, so this is a combination of social media and content marketing topics. For our customers, we solve problems such as: Providing a single interface for planning and executing content marketing efforts. Displaying an upcoming publishing schedule on a visualized monthly calendar. Allowing users to reschedule content via simple drag-and-drop. Facilitating team communication and an effective workflow. Providing a tool that helps them save time and grow their blog traffic. These are topics we should definitely write about and be searching for to help our audience understand a correlation between our tool and their needs. As we move away (ever so slightly) from our content core and focus on what our target audience really wants to hear about, we improve the  effectiveness  of our content marketing and better focus in on our target audience’s needs. Keep this in mind when you are searching content  through various sources. There are plenty  of tools out there that will help you with curation, you just have to figure out what your audience wants to read about then decide which sources will work best for you. Here are some examples of strong sources: Reputable publications in your industry. Blogs from other companies you partner with. Your clients, if you're an agency or consultant. Content Marketing Institute also put together a killer list of curation sources. Are you curating content from the best possible sources?Identify What Types Of Content Your Audience Likes To See Does your audience prefer videos or blog posts? How about quizzes or polls? Identify what resonates with your audience and try to curate your content types around that. But how do I know what my audience likes? Look back no more than six months into your social news feed history. Look for trends in what you’re audience responded to. If you see a 35% increase in engagement when you post videos, focus on curating video content posts. Look to your audience, they’ll tell you what they want to see.

Finance accounting solution Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Finance accounting solution - Coursework Example The student’s actions have consequences. If the store owner discovers the student’s mischievous actions, he can take legal action against her. Additionally, the business relationship of the two will be ruined, and the student may not be allowed to purchase from the store anymore. There are consequences to the store such as suffering losses because of the fraudulent returns by the student. Return fraud costs retail shops billions every year. Due to this, retailers are trying to come up with policies that curb the behavior, but still protect legitimate customers (Paul, 2012). There are ways through which retailers account for returned merchandise. First, the goods are examined, and their value is determined. If the goods are in good condition, they are restocked and sold again at new prices. However, if the merchandise is not in good condition and cannot be sold again, the retailer bears the loss of both the profit and the cost of acquiring the