Finding a Balance Between Content Creation and Content Curation

Published on 01.02.2026 by Chizoba T

There is no doubt that content is the driving force behind digital marketing, which means brands are constantly seeking relevant content to share with their target audience. On the other hand, website and social media users are looking for high-quality content that adds value to them.

When creating content for their audience, two options worth considering are content creation and content curation. Content curation is a powerful alternative to content creation, though both have their pros and cons. In this article, we examine the role of these content strategies and how to strike a good balance between them.

Definition Of Content Creation

Content creation involves creating high-quality, original content in the form of videos, blog posts, infographics, ebooks, podcasts, white papers, and more. The strategy aims to create content that resonates with your brand values, voice, and expertise. Content creation also aims to deliver a unique message that sets you apart from your competitors. When doing that, you need to properly understand your target audience, the keywords they use, and their preferred channel.

To create the right content, you need the right resources and proper planning. However, when implemented correctly, content creation can be an effective way to increase brand awareness and build credibility.

Definition Of Content Curation

As noted earlier, content creation involves creating new materials. On the other hand, content curation involves sharing other people’s valuable, relevant materials with your target audience. Before you share the material, you find, organize, and add commentary to it.

You can gather reports, materials, case studies, and articles from reputable sources and present them as an overview for your audience. When curating content, you should do more than just share other creators' work. Instead, ensure the content is coherent, insightful, and adds value to your target audience. By doing that, you can position your brand as knowledgeable and a trusted source in the field.

Examples of content curation can include:

A newsletter that an expert in your industry has handpicked.
A LinkedIn post commenting on a trend.
A blog post that summarizes an opinion by an expert.
A dashboard showing statistics, cases, and reports.

When to Consider Content Creation

You can consider content creation in several instances, such as:

Building your brand identity. Creating fresh content can be a good way to showcase your brand identity.
Competitor differentiation. Content creation allows you to use unique content formats, such as creative storytelling, that add value.
Better SEO. Using original content can improve your visibility in search engines.
Thought leadership. You can use original content to position yourself as a thought leader in your niche.

For instance, if you are a B2B software brand launching your latest product, you can create content that showcases how it works. This could be in short video tutorials that help businesses understand how the software can improve efficiency. Such content can work better than sharing other people’s content on industry trends. Therefore, content creation enables you to control the narrative, enhance credibility, and demonstrate the value you add in the market.

When to Consider Content Curation

Content curation can also be helpful in various situations, such as:

Updating your audience with the relevant trends and news.
Showcasing your thought leadership online.
Maintaining a high social media visibility without the need to produce content weekly.
Sharing other people’s materials to build a network.

For instance, let's assume you have a marketing department that finds and shares the relevant industry news through a newsletter or LinkedIn. The goal in such a case should be not only to create new materials but also to ensure that the target audience remains informed.

How to Balance Between Curated and Original Content

There are unique benefits of creating original content and curating content. Therefore, a good content strategy should incorporate both content formats. You can use content creation to create unique materials that highlight your brand's unique personality, especially for your LinkedIn B2B content strategy.

This will ensure that you have complete control over the expressions, tone, and messaging. You can then use the optimization performance to ensure that your efforts are bearing fruit. The downside of this approach is that it requires significant time, budget, and creativity. You might produce too much content of poor quality as a result of content creation fatigue.

Content curation will provide you with some flexibility and better resource management. A good strategy can be to maintain a steady stream of relevant content without creating original content. This is a good strategy for maintaining your social media visibility while inspiring and adding value to your audience.

The downside of using the strategy is that you will need strong editorial judgement to ensure quality content. Otherwise, if you only rehash content without adding a unique perspective, you might come across as a passive distributor rather than an authority.

Additionally, algorithms favor original content, so if you are just redistributing rehashed content, it will add little value to your content. Therefore, leverage each team member's strengths and ensure they complement one another.

Tracking the Success

A good idea to know whether you're balancing curated and original content is to track the success of your content. Start by understanding the KPIs that matter, then monitor them effectively. Some of the key engagement metrics to track include:

Engagement. Use Google and social media analytics to analyze engagement metrics, such as likes, comments, and shares.
Page views and visitor frequency. If you were curating content from another website, the goal was to get page views. Therefore, tracking these metrics will show you whether it paid off.
Conversion. This will track whether the target audience took the desired action. Google Analytics will show you metrics like leads, sales, and referrals.

In Conclusion

When finding a good balance between these two types of content, a good idea is to use 60% original content and 40% curated content. This will offer you the benefits of content curation without losing your brand voice or creating too diverse or broad content. However, consider your brand needs as well and go with what works for you. You can lead our guide on choosing the best type of LinkedIn content format.