The Master List of Where to Find Valuable Content Without Having to Create

I have lots of friends with small businesses and one of the most common complaints I hear about social media is creating content. They simply don’t have the time nor the inclination to create valuable content several times a day for several different social media profiles.

It’s exhausting, right?

But I tell them you don’t have to create it all and it’s best if you don’t always post your own stuff.

One of the top reasons to share other people’s content is that it makes them interested in you. For instance, if you retweet a local business’s information, they’ll get notified and it’s likely they will (at the very least) visit your profile. Maybe they’ll interact with you and reach out and thank you for the retweet.

But if not, it still is likely they went to your profile and learned a little bit about you. By doing so, the next time they see your business name, it won’t be a cold exchange. That’s how relationships are built. And who knows what can come from there.

So let’s take a look at places where you can find amazingly valuable content for your audience.

 

29 Great Sources for Content

Don’t just rely on your own content works of art. Share content from other quality sources. Just make sure you’re not taking credit for something you didn’t create. Prime locations include:

1. The local chamber or visitor’s bureau. From business advice to local happenings, local spotlights to beautiful pictures of your area, these groups are ripe for the picking. And if you share their content, they might just return the favor.
2. The local historical society. They have a bunch of amazing local history that can be fun to share with your audience.
3. Industry thought leaders. Google your industry and the term “guru” or “subject matter expert.” See what comes up. Look for that thought leader’s blog on their website or follow them on social media and share their content.
4. Industry association. Your business has an association and it’s likely they have a ton of resources and statistics that can be shared.
5. Magazines. There are magazines or journals that cover something your business does. You can share articles, stats, or trends from their publications.
6. Authors who cover your area. When you find articles in magazines written about something you and your audience care about, Google the author. Many authors serve niches and you may find a plethora of things they’ve written on the topic that your audience would also like.
7. Events you think your audience would like. These don’t have to be within your industry. You can share events that seem like something your audience would be into. For instance, if you own a toy store and the local park is having a Santa or Winter Wonderland event for kids, share it. People who shop at your store probably have children or grandchildren and would be interested in children’s events.
8. Instagram pictures that capture your life, the way you feel, or your town. Showing people more about you, even if it comes from someone else, can be very powerful. Plus, if you post that this is how you feel or some other connection to the image, the poster may feel drawn to you as well.
9. Something you sponsor. If you sponsor a youth sports team or an animal shelter or give to an organization, share your connection to them and their information. Help other people fall in love with them as you have.
10. A post your family or employee shared. Those who are closest to us often have the same interests we do. Share their posts if they fit your (or your business’) world view.
11. Location pictures of somewhere you’re going. Off on vacation somewhere or maybe a business trip? Share someone else’s pictures of their travels to this spot.
12. Ask a question. Okay, technically this is a post you create but the question isn’t the important part of the post. Your audience response is. Ask a question on social media and wait for others to respond, then engage them in conversation about their answers. For instance, if you ask about a favorite book and they answer, make sure to ask them why or what they liked about it. Make them feel like their opinion is really important.
13. Marketing and other companies. Companies like HubSpot, Buffer, Marketo, Constant Contact, American Express, and a ton of others offer great content that’s applicable for small businesses.
14. Twitter, Linkedin, or Medium. Search a hashtag that means something to you and go through results. You’ll likely find lots of stuff to share. Just make sure what you share isn’t from a competitor.
15. Peruse Quora for questions that are of interest to your ideal demographic. Sometimes the questions are really off the wall and can be a lot of fun.
16. Look at what’s trending on Twitter. Sharing what’s popular can insert you into important conversations. You can even put your own spin onto the content with the intro sentences you post.
17. Search for videos on YouTube of things that are important to your audience. Again, be careful that the videos aren’t from competitors.
18. Feedly. This news aggregator app has a lot of great content. Plus, when you find sites that you like that offer valuable content you can save it to your list to come back to again and again.
19. Scoop.it. Scoop.it is a lot like Feedly. Search for topics and save them to your own newspaper/stream. The site will also make suggestions for you. You can follow topics of your choice as well.
20. Content from newsletters. Most newsletters have share capabilities. If you find something valuable in a newsletter you receive, share it with your audience.
21. Approach a local expert and ask to use something from their blog or ask them to write a guest post for you that will appeal to your audience.
22. Google alerts. Set a Google alert on a topic that’s of interest to your audience. You can have the alerts delivered as they happen, daily, or weekly. Peruse them and then share the valuable pieces of what you’ve found.
23. BuzzSuomo. If you’re looking for great social media content, they serve up a lot. Plus, they have a great search feature that allows you to search for content by keyword, date, and type of content.
24. Pinterest. Are you ready to go down the rabbit hole? Just run a search on Pinterest under your keyword or hashtag of choice and you’ll see a lot of visually appealing content.
25. Tumblr. Tumblr appeals to a younger crowd with a lot of good content on trends.
26. Reddit. This massive site has more subreddits than you care to know about. Think you’ve found your niche? Keep on digging. Those sub-topics drill down into very granular detailed niches. If you can’t find it here, it likely doesn’t exist outside of your imagination.
27. Slideshare. Slideshare is a place to find some great presentations/slide decks to share with your audience. It’s a format that’s not shared as often as others so it provides a nice change of pace.
28. Buzzfeed. Okay, you won’t see a whole lot of Mensa-caliber content here but this site’s content is so popular and viral that it has a reputation that people want to emulate. People ask for it. “I want content like Buzzfeed’s.” It’s very engaging and will likely not be serious at all but no one said you have to simply educate your audience. In fact, most marketers will suggest mixing it up and providing content that inspires, educates, or entertains. Buzzfeed is definitely entertaining.
29. Facebook pages that have similar audiences. Find Facebook pages that have a similar audience to yours and share their most popular content. If it’s well received on their page, it’s likely it will be on yours too.

 

Finally, when you find good content for/from your audience, schedule it out immediately with a platform like Hootsuite. If that’s not possible, create a file in DropBox, Google Docs, Keep, Evernote, Pocket, or some other software where you can save content and notes for later use. Having good quality content means you’re always on the lookout for it. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’ll remember it. If you don’t schedule it right away, place it in a folder to be used at a later date.

There’s tons of good content around. Don’t waste any of it when you find it.