Enhance DAM Search Efficiency: 7 Tips for Success
It's no secret that content management can become a huge headache for the modern enterprise.
But a recent survey of 1200 IT professionals and information workers from around the world has shed new light on the extent of the problem.
On average, workers spend a staggering 4.5 hours per week searching for documents.
What's even more surprising is that these are the very people who should be experts at locating files.
And yet, half of that time is spent on unproductive searches for the documents they need.
To make matters worse - the remaining half is spent recreating the missing files from scratch.
In order to cut down on the time spent looking for and managing digital content, companies have sought solutions like digital asset management (DAM).
These types of tools allow marketers, creatives and sales reps (just to name a few) much more efficiently manage all company digital assets from a “single source of truth” - all whilst automating key content processes and ensuring seamless distribution of content across relevant channels.
But when it comes to the searching of the content itself within the DAM: How can you use the tool to the best of its ability to get that quick and easy retrieval of the content you need (when you need it the most)?
In this article we take a look at the 7 ways you can improve the way you search and find digital assets within your DAM system.
Table of contents
7 ways to improve search in your DAM
1. Setting 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 rating
7 ways to improve search in a DAM
From organizing assets to setting up automated workflows - here are the seven ways you can significantly improve the search within your DAM.
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:
Set up a great DAM taxonomy
Metadata standardization
Implementing advanced search capabilities
Automated tagging
Integrations with other systems
Leverage content analytics
User feedback and ratings
Want to learn more about how DAM tools like Digizuite 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.
