Social proof works. That’s why over 70% of US consumers look at reviews before buying, and it’s also why Netflix users are more likely to watch a show if it’s one that people with similar tastes enjoyed. But for social proof to work correctly, you need to discover the relevant content in the first place. And that’s where this article comes in.
What is content discovery?
If you’ve got this far then the chances are that you already have a rough idea what content discovery is. Still, just in case you missed the memo:
Content discovery is the process of finding content on blog sites, social networking sites, news outlets and more. The aim is to feed the ever-hungry machine that is your blog site and social networking presence.
It almost doesn’t matter whether you’re simply sharing the link to someone else’s website or whether you’re posting summaries and links to the content from your blog. Ultimately, you’re simply acting as a bridge between your social following and the content that’s going to help them out in some way, whether you’re entertaining them or teaching them something.
But how exactly do you find that content in the first place? Well, with a content discovery platform, of course! Here are just ten of the best.
The 10 Best Content Discovery Sites
1. Google Alerts
2. Miappi
The Miappi UGC platform is arguably one of the best content discovery tools when it comes to actually displaying the content that it helps you to find. Most of the tools on this list are only designed to help you to find content, but Miappi is all about discovering UGC on social networks and embedding it wherever it’s going to have the greatest effect. The voice of real customers producing real and authentic stories is what powers Miappi. The discovery, curation and distribution of UGC is happening within a state-of-art dashboard. Then the collected content is displayed on the digital touchpoint that is going to help the business either convert more sales or increase engagement.3. Samplify.io
Billed as a sort of “virtual virtual assistant,” Samplify is an automated tool that will search out content based on the topics that you’re interested in and then send you automated alerts on Slack. This comes in super useful if your content team is using Slack to plan and coordinate campaigns, but it’s far from the most established tool on the market.
4. Trapit
Trapit is technically a social selling platform that’s designed to empower employees to sell your brand on your behalf. That said, it also has a social discovery platform that’s worth giving a go if you’re already using it. Otherwise, you’re better off going with a free tool instead.5. DrumUp
You can get started on DrumUp for free, and while it’s not necessarily as big as some other content discovery tools, it’s still pretty good. They offer a specialised workflow tool that they claim will reduce social media management time by 90%, and they also have a handy Google Chrome extension that can further streamline the process.6. Buzzsumo
Buzzsumo is essentially a discovery search engine that ranks its results by the number of shares they’ve received on social networks. That means that you can tap right into the zeitgeist by sharing content that’s already being shared. The downside is that you can only run a certain number of searches before you’ll need to switch from a free to a paid account.7. Leiki
Leiki uses semantic AI and natural language processing to provide their suggestions. That all comes together to provide a range of content data and a choice of smart tools to help you to find the content that’s right for you. And like many of the options on this list, they offer a content tracking tool, too.8. Feedly
9. Post Planner
Post Planner comes in handy because it uses proprietary algorithms to crunch the big data behind your social networking presence and to provide predictive analytics. In other words, it can give you an idea of whether a potential piece of content is likely to perform well based on historic data – before you even post it.10. StumbleUpon
Yes, StumbleUpon is still going! In fact, it’s a great way to find content that you might want to use because it gets to know you more and more as you continue to use it. That means that it can take a while to get good, but once it’s good, it’s really good.Conclusion
If you’re looking to find content for social media then the tools and digital media discovery sites on this list are sure to help. In fact, we’d suggest giving each of these content recommendation tools a try and seeing which ones work best for you. Then you can build your own list and use them to inform your content strategy from there.
Of course, discovering content is one thing and displaying it is quite another. That’s why it’s also a good idea to look into solutions like Miappi which allow you to discover, moderate and display content in the most effective way for you and your brand. After all, if you can discover user-generated content around your brand and display it in the right place, it can lead to 90% higher conversion rates. You’d be crazy not to!
