New Blog module in Brandkit

Brandkit now includes a Blog module.

You might be wondering what a BLOG is doing in DAM software?

Firstly, This is a great way to announce new brand and marketing content to site users and provides a way for Brand and Marketing Managers to capture and communicate the rationale for campaign assets, photo shoots, etc.

Secondly, we've found from experience that Brand's that use a combination of Blog posts and Emailed updates (EDM's) really drive usage of their Content investments.

After each email we see large spikes in traffic and usage. Then the Blog and Blog Posts act as landing pages for the email, which can then hook back into specific assets which the Marketer is wanting to get out into the market.

It's a great way for Marrketers to drive uptake of new content, new campaign images, new product marketing resources, etc.

A Blog is optional

Like any Blog - it takes effort and work to develop and write content - so it's really only suited to active marketing teams that are making consistent investments in content and are intent of driving usage and market deployment of those assets.

Therefore, the Blog feature is turned off by default, it's a configurable option, but you will need to be committed to make it work for your brand.

Please contact Brandkit support or your Account Manager to get this feature enabled.

Once enabled you can access the Blog module from the Admin main navigation menu.

Posts

You write posts in the usual manner for blogging systems. We have separate data entry fields for the Excerpt and Main body of the post.

You will need to use HTML code for layout and styling. For example a paragraph is wrapped in a <p> </p> tag pairing.

Tags

Being a BA/DAM system our approach to Tags used in Posts (blog article) is a little different. For Posts, you use existing Approved Asset Tags. You can add Approved Tags in the usual way in Admin > Assets > Manage Approved Tags.

This way we can make Posts more useful by automatically associating Assets with the same Tags used in the Post. 

Assets related to the Post

As a way to integrate Posts and Assets we also display associated or related assets to the Post based on the Tags used in the Post.

Essentially we take up to 4 Tags (allocated to the Post) selected at random and search for Assets that have those Tags and then display a small grid of these Assets below the Post. (BTW This is also how the Similar Asset feature on the Asset detail page works). 

So Admins who are tagging Posts should consider how a Tag relates to not only the Post's content, but also how it relates to Assets.

Each related Asset can be clicked on to display the detail page of that Asset.

It's a nice way to drive users to Download or Share an Asset after reading a Post.

For best results Admins should use fewer Tags on a Post and then ensure that the Tag or Tags used are also applied to any Asset they want associated with a Post (bearing in mind that it will be a random selection).

In this case the 4 assets shown feature both Tags: 'Brand' and 'Fernmark'.

Social Networks

The Blog module also features links to your social networks, such as Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

Once configured for your account, the social network icon and link to your account for each is displayed at the top of your Blog pages and optionally also in your site footer.

Contact Brandkit support or your Account Manager to get this set up.

Available social networks at time of writing:

• Facebook
  
• Twitter
  
• Linked In
  
• Instagram
  
• Pinterest

In summary

In summary, the Blog feature is all about telling timely stories in order to drive uptake, usage and deployment of your brand content. To improve the ROI on your investments in brand content.

One of the best examples of the Blog in action is NZTE's New Zealand Story - which can be seen here.

Enjoy :)