Digital content management is not an entirely new notion, but it is definitely gaining more attention. Digital content management, often referred to as simply “content management”, is the process of collecting, processing, preparing, and delivering information. Most of the time, content can come in different types and formats such as articles, text posts, images, videos, GIFs, audio, podcasts, and other multimedia. It can be tough to keep it all organized if you don’t know where to start. In this post, we will break down a few ways to take your digital content management to the next level.
Types of Digital Content Management
Digital content management can usually be divided into several different types depending on the content you are managing and the platform you are using for it. Here are the main types:
- Web Content Management: Web content management is mostly concerned with the content you publish on your website, but it can also be used as a term to encompass all the content you publish online on different platforms.
- Mobile Content Management: Mobile content management refers to the information intended to be viewed on mobile devices (e.g. content for mobile apps, mobile version of your website, messaging campaigns).
- Social Media Content Management: Social media content management, of course, refers to all the content you publish specifically on your social media accounts.
Organization
The first stage of content management is organization. Without organization, you won’t be able to process and manage your content properly. This is the stage of preparation that helps you set certain requirements for your content and develop a system for further classifying, developing, managing, and publishing your content.
It’s better to start by determining which types of content you will be posting (e.g. photos or illustrations on Instagram, product descriptions for your website, interactive media for your app, and so on). Then, you can move on to more complex things such as how the ideas for content are generated, how the content is created, how it is stored, when it is published, etc.
It is important to do the research correctly during this stage because it is pretty much laying the foundation for everything you do afterward. Find out who your audience is and what they are looking for, what the market is currently like, and what your competitors are up to.
Creation
Once you have everything ready, you can start creating content. It is crucial that you follow the outline you have laid out for yourself during the organization stage. All those content guidelines are meant to keep your content consistent and help you be more organized when creating it and during the further stages of content management.
If you don’t know how to create content that will meet your guidelines, you can always hire professionals who will create your content for you. For example, you can hire a writer from a writing service like Best Writers Online who will create your articles, social media posts, email newsletters, and product descriptions.
Storage
Though most of the content you create will be published immediately, it is wise to store a part of it to use in different ways. For example, a media library will make the process of searching for relevant images easier because you will be able to reuse your old images.
Another way storing content can be helpful is by allowing you to plan ahead and be prepared for unexpected situations (i.e. when your content creators can’t provide you their services). For example, you could plan out your social media posts for a month ahead while your email newsletter campaign can be sent out “in waves”.
Workflow
Though you already have a set of content guidelines and your posting schedule as well as any other organizational rules to follow, you can organize your workflow even further at this stage. This is usually either meant to improve your current rules, add some extra details to existing ones, or even integrate new tasks and processes into your system of management.
For instance, you may want your social media profiles to feature more user-generated content (UGC), so you will need to add that part into your workflow with such points as how to find UGC, where to store it, how to curate it, where to publish it, when to give credit, and so on.
Editing
The editing stage is a bit confusing because it actually refers to two things: improving your workflow and editing your content. Over time, you will notice that some things don’t work while others need improvement. This is when you need to adjust your workflow once again by analyzing the performance of your previously published content.
Content editing, on the other hand, simply refers to how you check your content before it is released on whatever platform or channel you use for publishing it. If you don’t have an editor, you can always hire a professional writer who will edit their own content according to your needs, saving you both time and energy.
Publishing
Publishing content should be done according to the posting schedule you have set up for yourself in the first stage. You need to use the relevant channels and platforms for delivering your content to its respective audiences.
Note that the content you send out to your employees – especially remote workers – can also be included in your strategy. In addition to that, when you launch digital campaigns on multiple platforms, you can always cross-publish by uploading your articles or posts on social media, website or blog, and emails at the same time.
Removal
Last but not least, old content that may have become outdated factually or doesn’t fit your current brand can be archived, which is often referred to as removal. Content removal can also help free up space on your website.
If you don’t want to simply delete or archive your old content, you can also recycle it by updating the piece and publishing it again on the same platform or on a different channel depending on your goals and circumstances.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, digital content management is necessary for any digital marketing campaign because it allows you to have more control and organization. Follow the tips in this article to start managing your content more effectively.
The original version of this article was first published on V3Broadsuite.
developing. She is currently working in the writing service reviews company Online Writers
Rating She is constantly trying to find new ways for personal and professional growth and is convinced that it's always important to broaden limits.
- Take Your Content to the Next Level with Digital Content Management - September 10, 2020
