Spotlight for Recruiting Professionals, September 28, 2011 

When print and early iterations of the World Wide Web were the chief means of communication, messages were static, recipients didn’t expect a flow of content, and there was no audience interaction. Today, the expectations on organizations to provide new, accessible content that allows for interaction from their talent communities are ever-growing. 

Kasey Sixt, vice president of branding for CKR Interactive and a presenter at the NACE 2011 Conference, cites research that indicates, among other things, that the average user creates 90 pieces of content every month and more than 14 million users worldwide have used social media to find jobs so far in 2011.  

“The battle for our attention is across many screens,” she says.  

With all of this competition, how can you become a key resource for the members of your talent community? 

“It’s about sharing information in context, interactivity, and participation, and cultivating relationships over time,” Sixt notes. “The most important thing to remember is that your aim is to become a valuable resource to a talent community and, in doing so, you want to tell your story.”  

Following are several of Sixt’s tips for effective content creation and curation:

• Identify topics, events, and subjects that interest your talent community—There’s a lot of information available, but you need to narrow it down for your readers and share only the best. Remember, you’re a curator, not an aggregator. Identify topics not only of great interest to your talent community, but also to your internal partners who are providing the information to you. 
• Identify your main sources—Select trusted sources that provide valuable information. This is a fluid list; content providers and events from which you derive content will drop in and out of the list as they become more or less relevant.
• Review, filter, and categorize information in folders and subfolders—Some topics are ongoing, not time-sensitive. Keep those that don’t make the cut for later use. Create a repository around themes and areas of interest.  
• Add value by understanding your target market’s pain points—Analyze and offer insight into the issues affecting your target market. Find articles that address these issues and add your commentary to them.  
• Put all content in context—Take general articles and tailor them to your organization or industry so it’s more pertinent to your talent community.  
• Create a mix of curated and original content around themes and events—Build up content prior to an event you’re hosting or attending. Afterward, share news, experiences, and photos from the event, and opinions about it. Similarly, build content to share around themes of interest to your talent community.  
• Juxtapose or group content and create meaning when posting—There are many angles from which to address a topic. For example, position the topic from a historical perspective versus current state, or from the views of different departments or affinity groups within your organization.
• Remember, you’re telling a story by using themes and establishing an editorial calendar for your organization—Creating an editorial calendar will provide a framework for your communications program. Include topics that are more relevant at specific times of the year, and include key events so that you can plan your build-up and follow-up content.