As we talked about last week, digital curation can be a great way for training professionals to create a learning story with what you - as an experts - deem the most relevant information on the Web.

Curation adds the human element. It’s not aggregation based on algorithms and keywords. It’s hand-plucked information from the Internet black hole, and it can not only teach learners, but also make a highly engaging and fun experience for them.

Here are some best practices to think about as you begin curating content:

Make a strategy

Be sure you know who is going to be the curator and empower him/her to make good decisions. The curator should have a wide array of tools and be highly connected via social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Think about the objective of the content and make sure you can gauge its success.

Know your audience

Knowing your audience is always vital to any training plan. Curating is no different. Understanding your audience’s needs and interests will help you further collect the best content.

Be a collector 

During the course of a workday, you can run into a steady stream of amazing information. Bookmark it and revisit it when curating begins. Encourage others to do the same and share it with you.

Remember to share

Speaking of sharing, this concept is pivotal to the success of digital curation. Sometimes it’s hard to let go of content that you’ve created, but it’s important to keep a very lose grip. Making it easy to share, creates that conversation and engagement among your learners that you should really be expecting from curation.

Also, don’t be offended if you miss something and someone suggests content to you. This is part of sharing as well, and it only makes the final product that much better.

Presentation is key

Now that you have content to curate, you need to think about the best way to present it.

Do you want a blog-style format? Storify can help you with that. Do you want to send out a newsletter? SmartBrief might be your answer. Thinking about having a microsite? Tumblr or Paper.li have a number of options. There are many other tools out there to take advantage of; you just have to consider the best way for your learners to consume the content. 

Keep up with trends

The concept and practice of digital curation is in its infancy, which means new ideas, tools and metrics are being created all the time. Keep connected on these trends and adjust your strategy as need.

In the meantime, have some fun with it!