The “Content Crisis” Continues
Almost a year ago, as Sitecore was just rolling Content Hub out to the public. At the time, the company’s main message was that Sitecore Content Hub was the cure for “the content crisis,” which is basically the increased pressure placed on content producers and managers to match the demand for new content. Well, that demand hasn’t lessened—if anything, it’s increased with the continual addition of new channels!—and Sitecore has responded by adding some new features and functionality. Let’s take a look at four key updates.
Number One: Video AI Analysis Generates Metadata, Including Transcripts, Related to Content
What Sitecore Says:
Sitecore Content Hub 3.4 adds Content AI to analyze image similarity so brands have instantaneous access to alternative images in the DAM…For example, when using a photo of a family on the beach, Content Hub will recognize the makeup of the photo and offer similar images of groups on the beach, reducing content creation timelines and expense for marketing teams.
What That Means For Content Teams:
Less time scouring your DAM for alternative images, for one. It should also greatly reduce the purchasing of similar images unnecessarily because you need a different angle or composition of the same subject.
There are also some interesting opportunities to support SEO, translation and accessibility requirements with automated metadata creation. Creation of a transcript, for example, aids support for hearing-impaired audiences, it can also be output for translation and it is another asset to crawl for key messages.
Number Two: Mass Edit Templates
What Sitecore Says:
Recent research from SoDA found that 95% of marketers say producing and publishing personalized digital content more quickly is a priority and 39% say manual processes are holding them back… Marketing Resource Management and Content Marketing Platform (MRM and CMP) integration empowers DAM users to manage both agile workflows of content items and timeline-based project management workflows from a single location.
What That Means For Content Teams:
Anyone reading this post can relate to the increasing need to produce and publish digital content and that manual processes can be the major bottleneck. The ability to mass edit templates takes at least one of those activities—and perhaps the most tedious—and makes it a whole lot easier. Imagine being able to update all locations templates or physician profiles with a click or two.
Number Three: Web to Print Enhancements
What Sitecore Says:
(The CHILI publisher) integration connects Content Hub data and assets to CHILI Smart Templates that enable preset customizable elements while embedding brand identity guidelines. Users can now self-service anywhere in the world with just a browser to deliver customized, brand-compliant, and ready-to-use printed assets at scale.
What That Means For Content Teams:
Fewer rogue PDFs, put simply. You can now have some sense of comfort letting remote teams or other departments (read: Sales Teams) create their own collateral knowing designs will retain your brand standards. That alone can make a CMO happy.
Number Four: Integration of Adobe Creative Tools
What Sitecore Says:
With a DAM search panel, users can upload, check-in, and check out assets from InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator. They can preview work-in-progress within InDesign documents directly in the DAM without packaging, and package finished assets directly into the DAM from InDesign.
What That Means For Content Teams:
Big efficiencies and easier reviews. Designers will have easy access to assets within the tools they’re already using, and reviewers can see work-in-progress without the added steps of saving them out and routing. That also means fewer opportunities for miscommunication or lost emails.
In general, the updates in Sitecore Content Hub 3.4 are focused on two things: reducing “admin” time to allow more focus on creation and increasing efficiencies with the ability to make changes at scale. Those should be music to the ears of any content team, but especially those who are working in large volumes. And the way demand is going, that’s likely to be all of us eventually.