• Table of contents

  • What is metadata?

  • 5 best practices to store assets with numbers and metadata fields

  • Conclusion

What is metadata?

If you’re not familiar with metadata, here’s a quick refresher:

Metadata is information and data about your digital images and other assets. Metadata makes it easy for you to store, manage, organize and find your content.

• There are three types: Descriptive, administrative and technical.

  • Descriptive: This type of metadata helps you search and filter assets, including file type, colors, keywords, brand, and campaign.

  • Administrative: Helps you manage asset usage, ownership, approval, compliance, and enables automated workflows.

  • Technical: Make sure you use images correctly, by specifying file type, format, dimensions, and resolution for different platforms.

By using metadata, you can increase the control you have over your assets and optimize their use across your channels. In return, you make sure content stays accessible and ready for efficient use.

5 best practices to store assets with numbers and metadata fields

From standardizing your metadata to establishing a consistent naming convention, here are five best practices to store your assets with numbers and metadata fields:

Have a consistent naming convention

One of the most important best practices when it comes to storing your assets with numbers and metadata fields comes down to consistency.

Why?

Because it helps you easily identify and organize your digital assets.

For example, if you have a collection of product images, you can use something along the lines of “ProductCode_Description_VersionNumber.jpg”. This is an easy way to gain some clarity into which files represent what without having to click through and open them.

Tip: Avoid using any unnecessary special characters or spaces in your file names. That way you can make sure you have compatibility across your different operating applications and systems.

You should use leading zeros for numerical values, in order to uphold the right kind of sorting for your assets (like “001”, “002”, “003”, etc, not , “1”, “2” and “3”).

Let’s say you’re a manufacturer. Having a consistent naming convention is crucial, as you’re collaborating with both internal and external stakeholders.

So if you use a format like “ProductCode_Description_VersionNumber.jpg” to easily find each of your image’s version and content, it will look something like this: “P1234_BlueWidget_V2.jpg”.

Which adheres to a version 2 image of the blue widget product with code P1234.

Standardize your metadata

Another best practice revolves around metadata standardization.

You should decide on a set of standard metadata fields that will be consistently applied to all your content.

Some common fields can include a title (with a descriptive name for the asset), keywords (relevant tags or terms that are associated with the asset) or description (information about the purpose and content of the asset).

You can also include fields about the copyright and usage rights with details on ownership and usage permissions.

It’s crucial that you make sure the metadata fields are well-defined and communicated to all the users who add digital assets to your DAM system.

If you’re in the manufacturing industry, it’s fundamental that you efficiently (and safely) manage your digital assets. You can include fields like “title”, “copyright”, “description”, “keyword and “creation date” for all your content.

For instance, every single one of your product images should have a well-defined title, information about the creation date and relevant keywords.

Version control

Third, you should consider assigning version labels or numbers to content that go through updates and revisions.

For instance:

A product catalog PDF could have different versions like “V1”, “V2” and “Final” – just to name a few examples.

Add version tracking features in your DAM to record all changes and make it possible to access older versions (if necessary). But make sure you make it clear exactly which version of an asset is the most relevant and which version is going to be used for future reference.

Version control is crucial in a manufacturing setting. Especially when it comes to sharing documents like product catalogs with external partners.

That’s why professionals working in this industry should assign version numbers like “V1”, “V2” and “final” to catalog files to help keep track of edits and updates. Like for example “ProductCataglog_V2.pdf”.

Assign user permissions and access controls

For safety reasons, you should define user permissions and roles for increased control to assets and metadata fields.

So that for example, only specific groups or people have access to edit or remove content. Restricting access to sensitive information in metadata fields, like financial data or copyright to authorized users only is key.

Then, make sure you regularly update and review permissions if internal changes in terms of responsibility are made within your organization.

Manufacturers today deal with heaps of sensitive data, so it’s crucial to implement strict access controls and user permissions. For example, only specific and designated employees have access to confidential financial information in the metadata.

Focus on backup and redundancy

Lastly, we recommend that you consistently and regularly back up your DAM system.

Why?

Because that way you’ve done the steps to protect against data loss due to pitfalls like accidental deletions, hardware failures etc.

Try conducting periodic tests of your recovery processes and backup to make sure that you can easily retrieve and restore data if you need to.

It’s crucial that manufacturers make sure their content stays safe, and in the right hands.

That’s why regularly backing up the DAM protects against accidental data loss.

Manufacturers can look into cloud-based or off-site backup solutions for that extra layer of disaster recovery.

One last tip: Conduct a regulatory audit of your DAM system.

Why?

To remove duplicate or redundant assets, ensure data accuracy and update your metadata fields (if applicable).

Having a well-maintained DAM system makes sure that your content stays organized and made available to all approved users.

Leveraging metadata for efficient visual content management

By now you’ve probably gotten the gist: Having great metadata is key.

Effectively managing visual marketing content through metadata offers significant benefits for enterprises throughout the sales cycle.

Like lead generation to building customer relationships and closing down tons of deals.

In order to attract leads to a company’s website, marketing teams need to create visually compelling content. And to streamline this process and make sure content is delivered in a timely fashion –  they need quick access to the right images in their compliant versions.

Which eliminates time wasted on searching.

By adding the right metadata into all images and videos, your teams gain more opportunities to create compelling content. At the same time, sales teams have great resources to convert potential deals into actual revenue.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve taken a look at 5 best practices to store assets with numbers and metadata fields:

1. Have a consistent naming convention

2. Standardize your metadata

3. Version control

4. Assign user permissions and access controls

5. Focus on backup and redundancy

Because here’s the thing:

Using numbers and metadata fields for storing digital assets ensures efficient organization, enhanced collaboration and quick retrieval of assets. It also supports rights management and scalability.

Want to learn more about Digizuite DAM, and how to get all the right metadata attached to every single piece of content you have?

Book a demo and contact us today.

• Questions from buyers:

  • How Can I Master DAM Migration?

  • What Are The Best Ways To Train My Team On Digital Asset Management?

  • Why Should I Use a DAM Instead of SharePoint To Manage Content And Assets?

  • What Kind Of Tools Do I Need In My MarTech Stack?

  • How Do I Get A Complete Overview Of My Assets?

• Table of contents 

  • How to drive the DAM buying process 

  • 5 steps to prepare for a successful DAM migration

How to drive the DAM buying process 

Before migrating your DAM system to a new one, it’s crucial to choose the right one. Which in a lot of cases can serve as a challenging task – like successfully getting everyone on board with the implementation etc.  

No company is truly the same, which means the process can vary for everyone. However, there are some crucial steps to consider:  

1. First, you need to have a clear understanding of your business requirements and DAM vision. 

   It’s essential to identify the challenges you’re facing, brainstorm with colleagues, and research to establish a broad vision for what you want the DAM platform to achieve.
    

2. Next, you should map out your use cases, understand the necessary requirements for your DAM system, and conduct an audit of your current assets. 

   This audit will help you identify the asset types and distribution channels your DAM platform should manage.
    

3. Once you’ve completed the previous steps, it’s time to identify three to five vendors who could be a good fit and review the proposals they send you.  

4. Next, shortlist vendors with well-scoring proposals and invite them to demo their offerings, demonstrating how they can support your long-term DAM vision.  

5. Finally, it’s crucial to conduct real user case testing to identify the functionalities that meet your business needs. Focus on a few core usage cases that align with the problems you’re trying to solve.  

By following these steps, you can ensure you choose the right vendor that provides the best value for your business, and your DAM system meets your needs for years to come. 

5 steps to prepare for a successful DAM migration 

From auditing your current DAM system to training your users, here are 5 steps to prepare for a successful DAM migration.  

Assess your current DAM system 

To migrate your DAM system, start by assessing and auditing your current content.  

Why? 

This is a great way to identify your core strengths and areas for improvement, plus understand which features are important to include for the new system.  

• Ask yourself questions about your current system:  

  • What do you like in particular?  

  • What specifically needs improvement?  

  • Are any significant features missing? 

By understanding these pain points, you can make sure your new system addresses them. 

It’s also important to be aware of the types of data that need to be migrated and where they are located.  

This includes understanding the structure of your content, the metadata associated with it, and who has access to the data. 

When auditing your content, ask yourself some additional questions:  

1. What kind of data do you have?  

2. How is it organized?  

3. Where is it stored, and how is it currently being used?  

Answering these questions helps determine the best approach for how you’re going to migrate your content to the next system. 

Define your migration goals 

When migrating to a new DAM system, identifying specific goals is crucial for success.  

A tip: Goals should in most cases be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. 

For example: Improving the searchability and findability of assets is a major goal in a DAM migration.  

Choosing a DAM that uses AI to automate the tagging process of assets can significantly enhance searchability, saving time and increasing efficiency.  

Streamlining workflows for asset management is another crucial goal. Which is why opting for a system with automated workflows can reduce workload and boost productivity. 

• Adding on:  

  • Enabling the creation and production of creative content in various formats is essential for reaching a wider audience.  

  • The best DAM systems today can help boost marketing activities by providing insights from content analytics – plus facilitate quicker publishing through integrations with content management systems (CMS).  

Lastly: Compliance with regulatory requirements is yet another significant goal that you should want to achieve when migrating to a DAM platform.  

Because here’s the thing: 

Choosing a DAM that comes with rights management capabilities and regulatory compliance will ensure that only the right images are used – particularly relevant for highly regulated industries like the life sciences.  

Digizuite as a DAM offers tight access control by easily letting you set strict permissions, restrict certain users from assets and put in place asset expiration dates – which altogether helps prevent unauthorized access.  

Identify your metadata strategy 

When it comes to organizing and retrieving digital assets, metadata is essential.  

A well-defined metadata strategy can help ensure that your digital assets are easily searchable and accessible. 

That’s why identifying the metadata fields you need and how you plan to populate them is the third step in a successful DAM migration.

There are several questions to consider during this phase.  

• Here’s a few to keep in mind:  

  • What metadata fields are required for your digital assets?  

  • What metadata standards will you follow?  

  • And who will be responsible for populating the metadata fields?  

  Quick note: Need a refresher on digital asset metadata and taxonomy? 

  • Metadata makes the task of managing digital assets effectively for digital marketers, as you apply labels and numbers to make them easy to search and retrieve.  

  • To ensure easy accessibility, digital asset management taxonomy involves organizing digital files (like images and videos) into structured metadata fields and folders. This systematic classification enables convenient searching and categorization of valuable assets within a unified system. 

A properly defined DAM taxonomy and comprehensive metadata system can significantly enhance the way users adapt to your system – regardless if you’re managing your digital assets within or outside your organization. 

Plan your migration process 

The fourth step comes down to organization. Proper planning is crucial for a successful digital asset migration.  

The main purpose of this step is to plan out your migration process, which involves creating a detailed plan that outlines timelines, milestones, potential roadblocks, and user responsibilities.  

It’s also essential to involve users from various teams to ensure the taxonomy aligns with the user base’s needs. 

We recommend putting together a dedicated team to oversee the process. Say you pull together a project manager, system administrator and different subject matter experts.  

This dedicated team collaborates to create a thorough and structured plan – and efficiently manage the entire migration procedure from A to Z.  

All in all, by having a well-defined plan (that you actually spent time on instead of throwing something together last minute) and the right team: A seamless transition to your new DAM can be achieved without any issues or bottlenecks.

Train your users 

Last but not least: Training your users is an essential step in a successful DAM migration. 

Once you’ve migrated to a new DAM system, it’s crucial to train your users on the new system’s features and functionalities in order to get comfortable with the new tech.  

This can be easily done through consistent training sessions, handing out user manuals, and providing tutorials. 

When training your users, it’s important to consider the key features and common use cases of the new DAM system.  

Additionally, a good tip is to designate someone to be responsible for training users and ensure that there is sufficient training support available. 

To ensure successful training, consider requesting one-on-one educational sessions and support for creating a metadata strategy or model.  

It’s also important to confirm that your DAM partner can provide 24/7 resources and support when needed

Conclusion 

All in all:  

A successful DAM migration can transform your organization’s content management from chaos to cohesion – saving time, effort and money.  

In this article, we outlined 5 crucial steps to follow in order to migrate your assets to a new platform in the best way possible:  

1. Assess your current system and audit your content 

2. Define your migration goals 

3. Identify your metadata strategy 

4. Plan your migration process 

5. Train your users 

Interested in learning more about what Digizuite DAM can do for you and your organization?  

Book a demo with us. 

• Questions from buyers:  

  • What Are Some Signs It’s Time To Invest In A DAM? 

  • What Is The Business Value of DAM Software? 

  • How Can I Eliminate Content Production Inefficiencies? 

  • How Can I Manage User Permissions In My New DAM? 

  • What Are Some Ways DAM Reduces Time-To-Market? 

Preserve the original image

Picture this. You need a photo of an old product to share with your team. You want to revisit the progression of your product’s features with a timeline to celebrate success. You find the image, which has been permanently edited and includes new features.

There are many reasons why you need to access older images.

Celebrating achievements is just one of them.

Saving original images in a separate file allows for future editing requirements. Everyone can try out new changes to see if they work without affecting the original version. And you have the original image securely saved to access when needed.

Non-destructive editing helps you explore different approaches and change them back to the  original image. Besides flexibility, it ensures you can maintain the images’ integrity throughout editing.

Optimize image resolution

Image resolution can have a significant impact on marketing goals. Considering we recall almost two-thirds of what we see compared to just 10% of what we hear, images play an important role in content marketing.

That said, images need to be high quality. Uploading an image on your website which isn’t optimized correctly can slow down website performance and make quality images distorted–leaving customers frustrated and clicking off to seek alternative products.

Social media platforms, like LinkedIn and Facebook, have different image guidelines that give optimized results every time.

Improve image management with DAM. Reduce the potential for repeat editing by making sure your product image sizes are based on their intended use. Higher resolutions may be necessary for printed materials, such as brochures or catalogs, while lower resolutions are usually better for digital distribution.

Determine the appropriate resolution for your channel distribution. Using optimized image resolutions from the start can reduce the need for repetitive editing.

Make use of metrics

Some 32% of marketers say images are the most crucial aspect of their content creation efforts.

Content analytics provide real-time data about what assets are performing well and what needs further effort allowing you to make changes to your marketing strategy without further delay.

Content analytics give the evidence needed to tackle shortcomings and put measures in place to reduce the need for multiple edits. For example, you may notice that one department spends more time revising images than another.

DAM metrics offer data about how much time your people spend on editing.

Base future decisions on fact, not a hunch. Plus, metrics support the reason to invest in DAM software, giving you a transparent and accountable ROI.

Reduce the number of times you edit product images

There’s no getting away from the editing process. But following the six best practice tips here to reduce editing images several times can make life easier for everyone, saving time and money. 

We’ve only scratched the surface of the vast capabilities that DAM can support your business when editing product images.

Are you interested in learning more about Digizuite DAM?

Request a demo today.

Set up a great DAM taxonomy

One of the first steps to improve the way people search for files within your DAM is making sure that everything is organized in the best way possible.

Which is why setting up a strong DAM taxonomy is key.

Digital asset management taxonomy involves the systematic organization of digital files, such as images and videos, into structured metadata fields and folders for the purpose of easy retrieval.

This process includes the classification and categorization of assets, creating an organized and coherent system.

And simply put: If it isn’t organized, intuitive or systematic enough – people just won’t use it, or, simply searching for just one image will become a drag.

The three main benefits of setting up the best DAM taxonomy for your organization are:

1. It makes it a lot easier to search for and find specific assets. Not only can users filter through content more effectively, but it also helps uncover content they may not have even known existed.

2. Secondly, there’s the added flexibility of using categories or metadata – or both! Depending on your needs, you can decide which approach works best for you.

3. Lastly, adopting a categorization system can help users transition away from more traditional folder structures. This can make things more intuitive and user-friendly, ultimately improving efficiency and productivity.

Metadata standardization

Standardizing metadata is important to keep all assets organized and easily searchable.

This means creating a consistent set of fields to describe each digital asset so that all users can use the same terminology, making it easier to find assets and ensuring accuracy in data entry.

Consistency in terms of asset naming and tagging means easier asset location with just one simple keyword search.

The result?

No more sifting through tons of irrelevant content and files you don’t need at that moment.

In return, you’ll get increased productivity, operational efficiency plus improved collaboration.

Metadata standardization enables your team to work much more efficiently as everyone’s using the same set of metadata standards – so that teams no longer have to repeat mundane tasks like data entry and specific asset searches.

Best of all you avoid unnecessary errors that are caused by inconsistent information.

Because here’s the thing: A shared language to communicate about assets inherently boost collaboration and makes it easier for teams to stay on the same page.

Implementing advanced search capabilities

Another tip to improve asset search within your DAM is to implement a DAM that already comes along with advanced search capabilities.

Within a DAM system, you’ll probably have a vast amount of all your most digital assets – your company photos (f. Ex logos), videos, documents, audio and more.

But if you don’t have advanced search capabilities, your users will spend hours manually browsing through thousands of assets to find the asset they need.

It’s both time consuming and frustrating.

Digizuite DAM has taken its search capabilities to the next level.

In the past, the free-text search results would only show assets. But now, the tool comes with an upgraded search engine that shows Collections and Folders in the search results as well.

This means that you can easily locate the content you need with just a few clicks.

When you search for assets, you will see the top results along with a large preview, quick asset information, and a number of available actions.

Additionally, you can now view Collections and Folders, which will appear in the search results with a preview of their contents and a number of available actions.

Whether you’re looking for specific assets, entire Collections or even Folders and their subfolders, our improved search capabilities have got you covered.

Implement automated digital asset tagging

Modern DAM software often includes AI capabilities, which can automate the categorization, tagging, and governance protocols.

This can be a game-changer for marketing teams, as it saves a lot of time and effort in identifying the right images for a new website, for instance.

Imagine you’re a graphic designer at a global sports equipment company, and you’re tasked with updating the website with photos of the latest offerings for the summer.

You need to find images that feature “women, surfing, beach, yoga, and fitness.”

This is where Digizuite’s DAM software with AI automation comes in handy.

With just a few clicks, you can conduct a search within the software for those specific keywords and narrow down an assortment of images from the company’s entire catalog that would be perfect for the website.

Automating the tagging and categorization of your company’s assets can also help you prepare for the future as content continues to evolve.

By using a DAM system to automate these processes, you can streamline your workflows and ensure that your content remains organized and easily searchable.

Plus, a DAM system can also help with enterprise content management by automating notifications for when content expires. This means you can stay on top of your content and make sure that it’s always up-to-date and relevant to your business needs.

Integrate with other core systems

Integrating your DAM with other systems can also immensely improve how people search and navigate for digital assets.

Through integrations with for example your PIM or your CMS, you can get more context and data that make your searches more accurate and helpful.

You’ll learn more about how your assets are used, where they are used, and what they are used for. In return, This will help you find what you’re looking for more easily.

Also, this will make it easier to keep all your assets consistent across different systems. That means less work for you to do manually, and more time for your team to work on important projects.

Furthermore, integrating your DAM with your CMS allows for advanced search capabilities, saving time and effort for teams searching for specific media content.

Leverage content analytics

A good way to improve the way people search and find assets is by understanding how they’re doing it in the first place.

Enter: Content analytics.

If you’re looking to improve the way your brand assets are searched for, content analytics can provide valuable insights.

With Digizuite DAM’s Power BI dashboard integration, you can quickly generate reports that show you which assets are being downloaded the most (and the least) and where they’re being accessed from.

By analyzing this data, you can optimize the way you organize your digital assets and content. For instance, you might want to consider adding more detailed metadata to make it easier for people to find and use your assets.

Or, you could use the data to remove any assets that are no longer relevant or available, ensuring that customers aren’t shown products they can’t purchase.

So by using content analytics, you’ll gain a better understanding of how your assets are being used and from there make informed decisions.

Decisions that ultimately will help improve your brand’s overall performance.

Tap into user feedback and ratings

Lastly, another foolproof way to understand exactly how you can improve search within your DAM is by asking your users directly.

User ratings and feedback can help you make the internal search more relevant, and you can also gain more insight into what assets people search for the most and which assets are relevant to specific campaigns or projects.

Furthermore, getting user feedback and ratings can also bring about other insights into how users are experiencing your DAM beyond just searching for assets.

Which can help you improve how your teams leverage the DAM beyond just marketing f.ex.

All in all, user ratings can help you understand which assets are more useful than others, which can help other users make more informed decisions about which assets to use (and at what times).

Conclusion

Digital asset management is a tool that goes beyond just storing all digital assets in one location.

It also helps people quickly search and find the content they need – when they need it – in order to distribute it just as quickly within an omnichannel marketing strategy.

But how can users improve the way people search for digital assets within the DAM?

In this article, we outlined 7 easy ways:

1. Set up a great DAM taxonomy

2. Metadata standardization

3. Implementing advanced search capabilities

4. Automated tagging

5. Integrations with other systems

6. Leverage content analytics

7. User feedback and ratings

Want to learn more about how DAM tools like KeyShot can help you quickly find the content you’re looking for – without taking away time from all your other important tasks?

Get in touch with us here.

• Resources you’ll love

  • 4 Ways Remote Teams Use DAM To Manage Content Complexity

  • The Cornerstone of Digital Rights Management (DRM): Access Rights & Permissions

  • The Best Way For Enterprises To Store Digital Assets

  • 5 Ways To Drive The DAM Buying Process

  • The Business Value of DAM Software

The table below shows what we consider to be the beginning of a taxonomy. It categorizes assets based on their different traits:

We can say that the different categories in the table above depict metadata – which is information that tells you what that asset is about.

So if the product brochure is the asset, the team and the channel are considered the metadata which describe it.

Benefits of building a great DAM taxonomy

• There’s a few advantages to classifying all your digital content, like:

  • It improves filtering, searchability and discoverability of assets (even assets the users themselves aren’t aware of)

  • Offers flexibility with the option to use categories or metadata (or both put together)

  • Makes it easier for users to transition from folder structures to categorization

All in all, everyone benefits from more organization and structure in your digital library.

5 best practice steps when creating your DAM taxonomy

We’ve outlined 5 easy best practices to keep in mind when setting up your new DAM taxonomy below.

Identify the needs of your DAM users

Creating a taxonomy structure for your DAM system requires careful and considerate planning.

That means that one important aspect of this process is determining who will be accessing and storing assets within the system.

Why?

By understanding the needs and requirements of your target users, you can develop a taxonomy that is relevant and easily understood by everyone.

So involving all users in the creation process is crucial, especially if multiple teams will be utilizing the system.

For instance, if both marketing and sales teams need access to the same creative assets, it’s important to engage in open communication with each team to determine the best categorization that suits the needs of each. This will ensure a smooth and seamless experience for everyone involved.

Tip: Talk to different teams about how they find and search for assets. What information is important to them (for ex. dates, location, language)? What specific terms do they want?

Conduct an audit of all digital assets and folder structures

What’s next is to do a check of all the assets you have.

That means going through your digital folders, personal drives, cloud storage and shared drives, and bringing everything together in one spot.

This way, all the digital assets that your team needs for their daily work will be easily accessible in one place.

Gathering the details is like having all the pieces to a puzzle. Once you have them, you can put the puzzle together and make smart choices about what words to use and how to successfully set up your taxonomy.

• Take a look at a few tips on what information to gather:

  • Take stock of what you’ve got: Ask people from different departments to help you figure out which assets you want to add to your DAM or organize better.

  • Give your file names a check: The names you’re using now might work great as categories in your system too.

  • Check out the search history: Look at what people have been searching for in your system and what terms they’ve used. This can help you figure out which words people might like to use when searching in the future.

  • See what people are looking for but can’t find: When people search for something and don’t find it, it could mean there’s a missing category in your system or that you don’t have that asset.

Identify your most important categories

When it comes to determining your most important categories, there are two elements to consider:

1. It could be the categories with the most assets, or

2. The categories that people use most frequently.

These two factors can also be the same thing.

You should note that figuring out your most vital categories will also affect how they are displayed in your system. You might want some categories to be more present on your dashboard than others – or have come categories appear first in your structure while the rest of the categories follow based on their date of creation, for example.

When designing your DAM system, don’t forget to think about the user experience. How will people move throughout the platform on a daily basis? Also, keep the categories and their functionality in mind. Make sure it’s easy for your DAM administrators to update and move around assets within these important categories.

Set up your taxonomy

You’ve successfully figured out your top categories – let’s move on to selecting what structure you will be using in your taxonomy. Which categories will be at the top level and which ones will be at the level below?

Take a look at these examples:

As you progress, you will likely notice trends and patterns among your assets, as well as recurring categories that they will conveniently fall into.

Use this chance to creatively think of the naming conventions you will adopt for your files. Consider incorporating various details about your assets in the file names or aligning them with the organized taxonomy.

Why should you connect your file naming conventions with your taxonomy?

It simplifies the process of associating metadata and speeds up the automation of metadata tagging.

Why is this smart?

Once in the future you decide you want to further boost your DAM system’s capabilities through integrations and content automation, having already thought out about metadata tagging, file names and taxonomy could be highly beneficial – as it saves you time from figuring it out all over again.

For example, a large multinational retail company could use DAM to create categories of their brand materials – that all differ depending on whether or not their use is intended for local or regional (or international) distribution.

They could then easily set up brand portals for every single distributor or retailer that sells their products – to make sure that content remains on brand no matter what channel it’s distributed on.

Upload data into the DAM and start

Does the taxonomy make sense?

Were you able to include the most important metadata for all your brand assets?

This is the time to take one last look to make sure that it’s all in order.

When you’ve given your new asset classification the check of approval, you can start implementing the data into the DAM (which includes automated workflows for metadata tagging etc).

(Make sure to follow DAM best practices in terms of both decision-making and implementation).

Once you’ve ingested all the content, a good tip could be to check content analytics to see just how efficient the taxonomy is – are assets easily discovered and searched for? How effective are the new categories?

These insights will help you further tailor your taxonomy for best possible usage.

It’s never finished – keep testing & updating your taxonomy

Your taxonomy should never be one-hundred percent set in stone.

Keep checking your analytics to find out how efficient the system is – and also ask your peers for feedback on how they experience searching and finding the assets they need.

The bottom line is: Keep adapting your taxonomy so that you make the most of your DAM.

An idea could be to test it every year (or maybe more frequently) to truly assess how effective it is – if the metadata and tagging you’re using are improving asset discoverability.

And in terms of asset search and usage – it’s important to keep everything safe and secure. Meaning that you better manage your content and avoid assets being deleted (hopefully by accident) or used in ways it shouldn’t.

Digizuite DAM ensures that your central source for all assets remains protected thanks to both enabling user permissions and notifying users when assets expire. That saves you the time of having to manually check your assets or clean up any unlucky mistakes.

Nonetheless, consistently checking your taxonomy as your enterprise scales ahead is recommended to make sure it’s in the best and most efficient shape for all users involved.

This is especially important to keep in mind for manufacturing companies that often bring in new stakeholders (distributors, end sellers, suppliers etc) that need access to content. Are they easily able to find what they’re searching for?

Always renew and improve your DAM taxonomy if necessary as you go along.

Conclusion

Creating your DAM taxonomy is crucial if you want to experience all the benefits that come along with the system.

Benefits like faster search of assets, improved discoverability and easy access to the branded content you need – when you need it.

In this article we highlighted 5 best practice steps to take when creating your DAM taxonomy:

1. Conduct a general DAM audit

2. Conduct an asset audit

3. Identify your most important categories

4. Set up and document your taxonomy

5. Implement and launch

The most important thing is to make sure that everyone is on the same page and agrees with the type of categorization you set up. Interview different users (from different departments and teams) and send out surveys to get the information you need to create a taxonomy that makes sense for everyone.

Digizuite DAM scales with your business and will successfully support any type of asset classification you choose.

Interested in learning more about Digizuite DAM? Schedule a personalized demo today.

Alternatively, get instant access to Digizuite DAM – try it here.

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