Digital Marketing - Study Notes:
What are they?
We're now going to look at content management systems (CMSs).
They are often web-based applications that allow users who may not be too technical-minded to create, edit, and manage content through social media platforms and through blogs. Essentially, a content management system allows you to potentially cut down on the resource you need to cross-publish across multiple platforms, but it also has great interaction and engagement with the likes of Click to Tweet buttons, Facebook Like buttons, and being able to essentially socialize content that may live from a web presence, and being able to publish that across the social web indeed.
Benefits
The benefits of using a content management system include automation. As we talked about, content can be pushed out simultaneously across multiple platforms by using one of these CMS solutions.
In addition to this, content can be enhanced, allowing for that cross-publishing piece, but also the aspect of social interaction with more static, like web content. This Click to Tweet or, indeed, Facebook Like or Share via Twitter enables users to get more involved in the content from a social perspective, rather than just reading it flat.
Some of the more advanced content management systems allow you to create content within the web-based application. A great example of that would be Percolate, which allows you to create content within the CMS itself, which is quite nice.
And lastly, one of the benefits of a great CMS system is that you can assign tasks to people within your business who are also working on that same piece of content. You can hashtag users who also are signed in via the same CMS, highlight tasks for them to complete, or issues for them to manage. This allows you to manage an online team who may not necessarily be in the same location together.
A CMS really brings all of that content piece together that mitigates working in silos where somebody may be on a disconnected machine, and being able to move your team online to one initial, and one ongoing target-driven based content marketing system.
Here's some examples of some content management systems, which range across both the social web and, indeed, blogs or website management themselves. As mentioned previously, there's no one size fits all. Try out different content management systems for you to see what works best for your business.
Considerations
What should you consider when choosing a content management system?
- Dynamism: How easy is it to edit the content? How much access are you being given to edit key aspects of your website or, indeed, your social content? And how integrated is it across the digital and social web?
- Intuition: How intuitive is the CMS to use? Is it easy to use, or is it quite complex and technical? A good CMS should be what we call WYSIWYG, what you see is what you get, and essentially allow you to edit in real time, and be really simple to use, and shouldn't require too much technical know-how.
- Cost: A lot of CMS platforms have a rolling, recurring monthly cost. Factor this into your resource planning, and determine whether this provides good value for your business, or, indeed, if it's just an additional expense that you don't need.
As mentioned, try out as many as possible. A lot of CMS platforms come with free trials that allow you to assess whether the platform is right for your business or not before you make the initial investment decision.
Back to TopSeán Earley
Creative Director at Teneo PSG Digital
- Creative Director at Teneo PSG Digital with five years’ experience in Digital Marketing, Social, and PR Agencies
- Founding member of Teneo PSG Digital
- Former Director on the Board of the Irish Internet Association
- Passionate about creating content that captures audience imaginations and delivers business objectives
