Using Digital Asset Management Integrations
A digital asset management (DAM) system is a powerful tool on its own. Acting as the foundation for content, teams rely on their DAM solution to centralize assets, collaborate across teams, provide secure access to collateral, and so much more. There’s no doubt that the business case for DAM is there, but many teams are extending this value even further through digital asset management integrations.
DAM integrations are plentiful and are typically available as pre-built or custom options. Organizations tend to seek out integrations as a way to optimize and automate workflows, and integrating marketing technology, or martech, is also a way organizations realize the full potential of their DAM system. Businesses are taking stock of the tools they use the most in order to see how they could extend the benefits of all their technology investments. This makes it easier for teams to access what they need using the tools they’re most comfortable in. And it keeps information consistent when you have a single source of truth as opposed to multiple repositories. Common DAM integrations are used for content distribution, content creation, project management, and more.
And the benefits of DAM integrations include:
- More control over brand consistency
- Boosted team productivity
- Increased content security, extensibility, and accessibility
- Enhanced workflow efficiency and technology agility
- Trackable data into site and asset performance
Let’s explore some of the ways teams are connecting tools and departments using a DAM system.
Three ways to connect and extend your assets
To determine how to connect your DAM system to existing tools and teams, it’s important to understand the options available. Making assets accessible in other tools can be as simple as creating a share link to a curated set of files. It can also be as complex as developing your own custom integration. Each option has costs and benefits.
- Share and embed links: A share link is a URL that directs users to a file or curated selection of files. Share links can be used to distribute or connect content inside and across tools or whereas embed links are used to insert assets into HTML. Both link types offer version control and the ability to manage content from a single location.
- Out-of-the-box integrations: These integrations are background middleware that sync files and data between your DAM platform and another application. New out-of-the-box integrations are constantly being added and pre-built integrations make installation easy.
- API: An API, or application programming interface, allows other web apps and software programs to search and access digital assets and metadata from the DAM system. The API exposes subsets of data and functions that users can control with other apps. Unlike standard out-of-the-box integrations, with some help from a developer, leveraging an API can allow for customized functionality that your team or company requires.
Important digital asset management integrations
Between the ease of share links and the customizability of development with an API, integrations are great options for syncing your assets across platforms.
If your teams are using the types of tools listed below, you’ll likely have options for out-of-the-box integrations with your DAM system.
1. File-sharing tools
File-sharing tools definitely have their place within an organization. They’re great for team documents, individual files, and even some content-sharing functionality. But once companies start to grow, they often find these tools aren’t able to scale with them. The good news is that this software can be used with your DAM system.
Integration workflow example: Uploading files to the DAM system from a hot folder
A hot folder in a file-sharing tool can make it easy to upload assets into a DAM system, especially when working with external partners. Teams often take this approach when working with photographers.
Although photographers are busy — and don't have time to learn how to use the DAM system for every client they work with — their photos must be uploaded to your platform. Creating a hot folder in a file-sharing tool that’s integrated with your DAM solution allows photographers (or anyone with permissioned access) to add assets to a specific folder. On the DAM side, the DAM admin can set up this folder with metadata and category mapping so that any files added to this folder are seamlessly ingested into the DAM workflow. This streamlines the workflow between the photographer and the DAM admin.
Popular file-sharing tools to integrate with DAM software
2. Collaboration tools
Collaboration tools help teams coordinate and get work done. While there can be some overlap with project management tools (more on that below), collaboration tools focus on communication. Connecting your collaboration tools and DAM system can reduce manual efforts to keep teams aligned and informed.
Integration workflow example: Alert dispersed teams about key asset updates
The bigger the teams, the harder it is for people to stay up to date on what’s being created and what’s available for use. Sometimes, important assets are uploaded to the DAM system or edited by users on one team, and other teams aren’t aware of these updates.
By connecting your DAM platform with tools like Slack, you can provide an activity feed in your cross-team communication channel. As assets are uploaded to specific asset groups, notifications with share links are posted to a Slack channel.
For example, as designers upload product images for a specific product line, notifications with preview images are posted into a Slack channel dedicated to that product.
Popular collaboration tools to integrate with DAM software
3. Project management integrations
As mentioned above, the line between collaboration tools and project management software is a little fuzzy. But that’s to be expected with over 11,000 tools in the martech landscape. The biggest differentiator is that project management tools allow you to assign and track projects whereas collaboration tools aid in team communication with real-time information sharing. Often, tools are grouped into one category or the other, but they will most likely have cross-pollinated capabilities. The important thing to remember is that when it comes to getting work done, connecting these technologies can help streamline workflows to keep teams from jumping between tools.
Integration workflow example: Make assets available after projects are approved
Your designers and marketing teams may use a project management tool to coordinate on content creation. By connecting these tools and your DAM system, final files can be automatically uploaded to the DAM site as they’re finished. DAM admins can also configure the integration to automatically tag assets in the system with relevant metadata from your project management tool.
Popular project management tools to integrate with DAM software
4. Marketing automation integrations
Whether your marketing team needs a photograph for a social media post or your sales team needs a link to a brochure, the DAM system provides the right content for the job. An integration with marketing automation tools allows your teams to access these assets from the platforms they use to communicate with their audience.
Integration workflow example: Access approved assets via marketing automation tools
Social media teams need to move quickly. When something timely happens, they need to be able to react appropriately and accurately. They won’t always have time to source new creative, so reusing — or repurposing, if they have a little more time — an existing asset might be the best way to go. By connecting marketing automation tools to your DAM system, users can search for assets from within their marketing platform by using keywords or folder structures. And the integration upholds the DAM site permissions, meaning assets won’t be accidentally used when they shouldn’t be.
Popular marketing automation tools to integrate with DAM software
5. Sales enablement integrations
Sales teams need access to content on the fly. They won’t always have time — or maybe even an internet connection — to search for what they need to close a deal. By integrating your DAM system and sales enablement tools, sales teams can stay in the tools they’re already using while leveraging the configured metadata in the DAM site. Using the DAM platform as the central source of truth for integrated tools means teams always have access to the latest version of a file and sales teams can promote a consistent message.
Integration workflow example: Give sales teams access to the content they need
Keeping sales and marketing teams aligned can often be a full-time job. When the marketing team makes updates to a piece of collateral, it’s not guaranteed that the sales team will catch this change if it’s only sent to their inbox. But by connecting your DAM system and sales enablement tools, an automatic sync between the systems keeps assets up to date and searchable in both platforms.
Popular sales enablement tools to integrate with DAM software
6. CMS integrations
Just like file-sharing tools aren’t a true substitute for a DAM system, neither is a content management system (CMS) media library. But together, DAM and CMS platforms can help teams create once and publish everywhere. By using the assets from your DAM system to populate content in a CMS, you’re able to track its embed and download data.
Connecting your DAM site and web CMS also allows web designers to save time and avoid the hassle of working in multiple media libraries.
Integration workflow example: Access assets from within your CMS
As web designers create pages in your CMS, they can access brand assets from your DAM system without actually needing to be in the DAM site. This integration allows designers to search for image and video content within the DAM platform while upholding the security permissions set by the DAM admin.
Once an asset is selected, an embed code is inserted into the page — meaning that anytime a new version of a file is added to the DAM site, it will be updated wherever this asset is used within the CMS.
Popular CMS tools to integrate with DAM software
Start using digital asset management integrations
We believe that a DAM system is the foundation of your martech stack. And it’s clear that the value of your DAM solution is amplified when you integrate it with other tools in your digital ecosystem. Combining the power of DAM with the rest of your martech stack ensures that your content is securely accessible across your entire organization.
Whether you’re connecting file-sharing, collaboration, project management, marketing automation, sales enablement, or CMS tools, the opportunities for workflow improvement are endless. Learn more about the integration opportunities with Acquia DAM (Widen) or request a demo to see our platform in action today.
Note: This article was originally published on Widen.com.
Manager, Product Marketing Marketing Acquia
