Gone are the days when content meant text that was created and presented solely in the paper-based form. The traditional content is considered insipid today and has given way to intriguing and easily accessible digital content. Now, with burgeoning content on the myriad contemporary digital media, the entire life of content from its creation to the end needs to be managed efficiently to enable it to reach the expected audience in the required shape. Here’s where managing the content lifecycle using effective tools and technology becomes essential.
The Significance of Content Lifecycle Management
Content is one of the most important elements in today’s digital world. Regardless of which form it takes—a web page, a tweet, a blog post, or any of the umpteen number of formats it could appear—content has its own lifecycle. Content lifecycle is the set of various processes involved in the evolution of content – from strategy through creation through promotion, until its measurement. Achieving measurable results with content becomes possible only with appropriately mapping and tracking its lifecycle.
The Key Stages in the Content Lifecycle
With new and modern ways to share information having been invented, the management of content has become an important aspect. There are several content containers such as books, the worldwide web, documents, and social media. Accomplishing the expected results with content lies in efficiently managing its lifecycle so that it can be useful and accessible to the intended users.
To make content more visible and easily accessible, the different processes involved in its lifecycle need to be managed skillfully. This enables authors and organizations to promote and market their content effectively and makes the content more penetrating. The major phases in content lifecycle management are planning, developing, controlling, deploying, preserving, and evaluating
- Planning: The primary phase in the content lifecycle management, planning includes analyzing and quantifying the current requirements and situation. Aligning the content management strategy with the specific business goals of the organization is performed in this phase.
- Developing: This is the stage in which content will be created, captured, edited, acquired, or collected in several ways. The content is given a meaningful context by adding metadata.
- Controlling: The controlling phase is where the content is stored, optimized for search, secured, reviewed, and approved after reviewing.
- Deploying: In this phase, a range of publishing channels and mechanisms are used to assemble and deliver the content to the users. Personalizing the content to meet the specific requirements of the individual user is done. The content is localized for reflecting the national, regional, or cultural standards and appropriate brand values.
- Preserving: The content can be protected from being lost or subject to change through backup and archival storage. Outdated content can be removed as well during this phase.
- Evaluating: The parameters such as whether the content is up-to-date, quality of content is good, and whether users will be able to access or find it are checked in this phase. The need for redefining the content strategy or its goals is determined here.
Common Features of the Content Lifecycle Management System
An ideal content lifecycle management system has to work alongside the routine functioning of the business while relieving the administrators from the pressure related to content creation. It has to manage the analytics associated with the content lifecycle processes.
The Advantages of Content Lifecycle Management
Content lifecycle management helps to save resources and time, thus freeing the administrators from having to oversee the processes in the content lifecycle. It enables them to focus better on their core functions. This leads to increased productivity and efficiency and enhances creative development within campaigns and projects.
It gives a clear picture about the various processes which the content within a specific campaign has to undergo. Moreover, it provides concrete evidence and data to admins regarding the performance and production of the individual team members.
Wrap-up
Organizations in the contemporary world are required to handle voluminous content. Making use of a content lifecycle management system is beneficial. It calls for a clear understanding of the various aspects related to the content lifecycle.
