Over the last decade, the internet has changed the way businesses market themselves. This has resulted in video becoming an integral part of most businesses’ marketing strategy, with research finding that 87% of marketers now use video as a tool. Even SMEs that in the past weren’t creating content online due to budget constraints, now have a relatively cheap way to utilise video and 83% of marketers believe that it gives good ROI. While this is a major driver for its use, there is also huge customer demand, with 87% of consumers revealing that they’d like to see more video from brands in 2019. In addition to its use externally, filmed footage and other visual materials are vital to the way in which organisations share content with their employees.
This has resulted in every company having a growing video management headache owing to an increasing need to store, manage and share content. However, this problem has largely been met with a sense of inertia and little has been done to tackle the issue, and as the amount of collateral enterprises create increases, it is only going to get worse. So, what can enterprises do to overcome the challenges of managing their growing content library?
What challenges do businesses face?
For those working within enterprises, the management of a combination of internal and external content is one of its biggest challenges. Companies share a massive wealth of information with their employees, such as HR and training resources and branding assets, most of which can’t sit on a public platform for obvious security reasons. Many are also now generating more video and imagery than they ever have for external purposes to ensure they are continually engaging with audiences, whether in the form of adverts, email communications or graphics for social media.
As the quantity of content being created increases, most are finding it more difficult to manage and store it efficiently and safely. Often, it is stored in disparate locations, even on individual employees’ laptops. This means that if an employee leaves the organisation, they tend to take the knowledge of where certain files can be found with them. This is resulting in businesses spending time internally trying to locate assets, with some having to take the expensive route of recreating pieces they are unable to find. Also, with many larger organisations spread across several office locations, sometimes globally, and with an increasing number of people working remotely, often sharing content presents difficulties, particularly when dealing with large document files.
What is the solution?
Businesses must look to implement a content management platform that will allow them to access and distribute within the organisation, while also publishing marketing resources to consumer-facing outlets. The use of a simple cloud-based system will ensure content for both internal and external purposes can be managed securely, and private content won’t go into the public domain. A single portal will enable employees to share resources and as well as employee-generated content. Additionally, adopting a content management system will streamline processes, saving time spent finding content and posting it to social media or sharing it across the business. This will encourage collaboration across the company, simplify the sharing of key messages and make the most of all internal assets. It can be used as a platform to promote the brands’ culture, improving communication within the organisation and the way different departments connect. For instance, the marketing department will be able to easily upload and share materials which may also be of use to the sales team, which they can then use when liaising with customers.
Furthermore, a cloud solution is futureproofed and, as such, capable of handling growing file sizes as enterprises begin to use the latest technologies, such as 4K and 5G. It is also highly scalable, which is critical when dealing with increasing or changing volumes of content. Yet, it needn’t be a huge expense thanks to the ability to pay based purely on usage and consumption, this means that organisations can easily cope with peaks in demand without having to suffer permanent costs in quieter periods. There are also substantial financial gains to be experienced from not having to recreate lost assets.
Currently, most businesses are unaware of the exact size and scale of the headache they are dealing with, but the longer they leave it, the bigger the problem will get. Those responsible for the management of materials will find that implementing a single digital solution to pull together all exisiting and future content will make it easier to store and share with relevant groups to create a stress-free experience for all involved.
