Scoop.It : Like Pinterest, But The Focus is on Content

Ok kids. Brace yourself.

There’s a Pinterest for Business on the block, and it’s name is Scoop.It

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Now before you groan – “but I don’t have time for another Social Media site”, let me tell you what it’s all about.

Instead of posting and swooning over pretty pictures, this site is a “magazine” of curated content.

Quite simply, you can sign in with Facebook or Twitter (or email address).

(I chose to log in with my Twitter account).

Then you’re expected to add the Scoop.it bookmark to your computer to make it easy to “Rescoop” content.

You curate a topic, which means, you decide on a title and subtitle (description).

Then look for content that will fit within this category and you can either comment on it, share it, give a thumbs up “thanks” and/or “rescoop” it so that it’s “pinned” to your page.

People can follow your “scoops” in a very similar fashion to the way that Pinterest works.

You can simply enter in some keywords and relevant content/articles will appear.

Each “scoop” is hotlinked to the original source.

So why would you use Scoop.It?

Creating content is undeniably one of the biggest challenges for Social Media. It takes time to write and publish. It takes creativity to come up with an idea.

Re-purposing content in your industry can have a similar effect as it shows your connections that you’re staying on top of your industry and reading the most relevant news.

Like may other tools in the Social Media world, it helps to make you look like an expert in your industry.

I’ve only spent a few hours looking through the site. I’m sure there is a lot more ground to cover here, and a lot of potential for showcasing your business.

You can check out my work in progress at: http://www.scoop.it/u/lesliehughes

I will make TWO cautionary notes:

ONE: Just because you can publish once and syndicated to many channels – PLEASE DON’T DO IT. 

Heavy users of Social Media see that you are posting the same message to all your channels and your “important” message then is dismissed and people will begin to unsubscribe/unfollow.

Make each post relevant and interesting to your audience. Don’t make noise just for noise sake.

Besides, it’s not social to be simply pushing information out into the ether. You have to make conversations.

TWO: Curation tools such as Scoop.It and Pinterest are NOT designed to solely to push *your* agenda.

These tools help create a personality of who you are: show what you are reading, share what you think your connections will be interested in. It’s a mixture of copy, pictures and topics.

It is NOT an opportunity for you to push your  “one man/woman show” with you as the writer, actor, and director. You’ll only end up with an audience of YOU if you do this.

Always remember there are people on the other side of the computer. Build relationships and cultivate a community. It’s SOCIAL media, not PUSHY SALES media.

Let me know what you think. Is this a site you’ll be spending more time with or just another time suck?

Do you think it’s similar to Pinterest? Would this platform work for your business?[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]