Local Content Strategy: Mastering the Blend

In today’s digital world, a strong local content strategy is essential for building a brand’s online presence. But when it comes to social media, is it better to focus on crafting original posts or sharing valuable content from others? The answer lies in a clever combination of both content creation and content curation.

This balanced strategy can amplify your voice, build trust, and establish authority – without draining all your resources.

Understanding the Difference: Creation vs Curation

Before diving into how these two strategies work together, it’s essential to define what they mean.

What is Content Creation?

Content creation plays a key role in building a strong local content strategy that truly represents your brand. This includes blog articles, infographics, videos, images, or any other assets developed specifically for your business. Whether it’s shot in-house, designed by your team, or outsourced to a professional agency, this content is owned and controlled by your brand.

Even when using stock photography or templates, businesses must ensure licensing terms permit commercial use – ownership matters.

What is Content Curation?

Content curation, on the other hand, means sourcing and sharing relevant content produced by others. Think of retweeting a news article, sharing an industry report on LinkedIn, or reposting an inspiring quote from a thought leader (with proper credit, of course).

Curated content is not your intellectual property. It’s borrowed to inform, inspire, and engage your audience while aligning with your brand values.

Weighing Up the Benefits and Drawbacks: Local Content Strategy

Both approaches come with their own perks and pitfalls. The most effective social media strategies acknowledge these and use each method to complement the other.

The Power of Original Content

Advantages:

• Brand visibility: Created content reinforces your brand identity and strengthens audience recognition.
• Authority: Demonstrating industry knowledge helps position your business as a thought leader.
• SEO performance: Original articles and videos contribute significantly to higher search engine rankings.
• Audience trust: Tailored content builds credibility and connects with your community on a deeper level.

By following a local content strategy with consistent, high-quality content, brands remain top-of-mind for their audience. Whether it’s educational resources, behind-the-scenes photos, or product demonstrations, original material drives engagement and traffic.

Challenges:

• Time-consuming: Developing bespoke content takes effort, from brainstorming ideas to designing visuals.
• Resource-heavy: Tools for editing, design, or video production often carry a hefty price tag, especially for small businesses.
• Risk of over-promotion: Solely focusing on self-generated posts may lead to a ‘sales-first’ impression. To keep followers engaged, content must be informative, helpful, or entertaining – not just promotional.

The Appeal of Curated Content

Advantages:

• Time-saving: Sharing existing articles or media is usually quicker than creating from scratch.
• Cost-effective: There’s little to no financial investment required when curating external content (though permissions are key).
• Broadens perspective: Curation enables brands to showcase a variety of expert opinions, industry updates, and trends.
• Community building: Interacting with and crediting other content creators opens doors to partnerships and wider reach.

Platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) thrive on curated insights and conversations. When done right, curation supports a strong local content strategy by helping brands stay relevant and add value to their feeds.

Challenges:

• Legal considerations: Always obtain written permission when repurposing someone else’s work – simply tagging or crediting isn’t enough to protect you from copyright issues.
• Diluted messaging: Sharing too much content from others can blur your brand voice and tone.
• Weaker SEO impact: Google and other search engines reward originality. Relying too heavily on curated content won’t support your rankings.

The Winning Formula: Integrating Both for Impact

The secret to a strong content strategy isn’t choosing one over the other – it’s using both intelligently.

Striking the Right Balance

A healthy mix of created and curated content offers variety and keeps your audience engaged. Brands don’t need to adopt a rigid 50/50 approach. Instead, analyse what resonates most with your audience and adjust accordingly.

For instance, a company might publish two original posts per week (a blog and a video), then fill the rest of the week with curated articles, user-generated content, and industry updates. The key is to ensure all shared content aligns with your brand’s tone and values.

Combining Both in a Single Post

Sometimes, the most effective local content strategy blends both creation and curation seamlessly into a single engaging post. Think of a branded graphic that visualises statistics from a third-party study (with proper attribution), or a blog post where you comment on and link to an external trend.

This hybrid approach allows you to stay original while leveraging the authority of other voices – an ideal strategy for building trust and demonstrating expertise.

How to Maximise Impact Across Channels

Social media platforms each have unique strengths. Here’s how a brand can strategically use both content types:

• Instagram: Mix eye-catching original visuals with curated inspirational quotes or collaborations.
• LinkedIn: Share your thought leadership articles alongside insightful industry reads or conference takeaways.
• Facebook: Post original videos and mix them with curated tips, tutorials, or user-generated success stories.
• X (Twitter): Alternate between posting original insights and retweeting relevant commentary from others in your niche.

No matter the platform, consistency is vital. Scheduling tools and content calendars can help ensure a smooth flow of both original and curated posts.

Measure, Tweak, and Grow: Local Content Strategy

Successful content marketing is not a ‘set it and forget it’ process. Brands should continuously monitor metrics such as reach, engagement, and click-through rates. This data reveals what kind of content drives the most value and which areas may need adjusting.

If curated content drives more shares but created content boosts website traffic, you may want to increase blog production while continuing to share industry insights in between.

Final Thoughts

Content creation and curation work together as vital parts of any successful local content strategy for brand growth. By crafting original material and thoughtfully sharing curated pieces, brands can stay relevant, authoritative, and engaging.

The smartest marketers don’t just create content; they curate conversations, contribute knowledge, and connect with their audience in meaningful ways. The art lies in knowing when to speak and when to amplify the voices of others.

In a digital world overflowing with noise, it’s this balanced approach that helps brands stand out – and stay ahead.