Video files are getting bigger, more complex and more difficult to manage without specialist help.   Depending on the format, an hour of 4k video can be more than a 1TB of content.  That’s 1,000GB. That’s 8 times more than I can store on my laptop.

Tweet: Semantic confusion? Cut Through the Bull and Take Charge of Your Video Content 

So what are you supposed to do if you are relatively new to video yet you know that you want to put video at the heart of your content strategy?

There are 2 options.  1. You take charge of the situation or 2. You let the technology dictate the situation.

Don’t let technology dictate your needs

It may sound crazy, but many opt for the latter and let the technology dictate the situation.  The result is always a heap of pain as the technology dates and before you know it you are reacting to changes in environment rather than leading from the front.

If you really want to take charge of your video solution then the first thing you should do is bring in a specialist who can help architect a scalable solution that not only works for you now, but which will also future proof your video.  The one thing I can guarantee is that as you scale your video output – whether it is from 1-5 per month or 1,000-5,000 per month – your workflows will also need to change and you will need the flexibility to grow with your needs.

Sounds easy?  Sure it is.  Only problem is that there are a lot of snake oil salespeople out there who claim to know what they are talking about and that makes it difficult to separate the truth from the fiction.

When I was at the Henry Stewart DAM Europe Conference #DAMEU @henrystewartdam in London last month I had the pleasure of speaking with a number of experts and listening to others talk about digital asset management.  Theresa Regli @theresaregli, Romney Whitehead @romneywhitehead and Victor Lebon @icplondon are just some of the specialist who can help offer an independent view of how to manage your video.

DAM vendors don’t talk a lot about video

What I was surprised about at the time was how little the DAM vendors themselves talked about video.  On reflection, I have come to realise why – Digital Asset Management platforms are good at managing all assets. They are normally specialists in none. So when it comes to video, for the most part, they are playing catch up and simply trying to cover the bases.

Filippo Catalano @plippo of @Nestle broke down the digital world into easily digestible bites.  He didn’t try to blind anyone with promises and future speak.  He also didn’t talk too much about video.  He did, however, say that Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are increasing important in the world of digital asset management as they are two of the building blocks for brands creating deeper engagement with their consumers.  These are two of the latest examples of video technologies that are challenging asset management platforms to up their game when it comes to managing video.

7 things you need to know when managing video

In order to better understand how to manage video, I have borrowed from his talk as well as others and applied what I think are the best take-aways to create a list of 7 things that you need to know when managing video:

1. There is “semantic confusion” about who can manage your video assets best. What does that mean?  It means there are a number of marketers out there who say their asset management packages can manage your video effectively but the reality is that they don’t have the technology or the skillset to get the job done properly.  The general rule of thumb is that if they are not video specialists then they are not right for you if you want to grow your video capabilities.
2. Video content is moving to the centre of the digitally transformed enterprise. And when I say video content, I don’t mean the digitising of corporate videos to put on your homepage. I mean creating video content that is dynamic and created regularly as part of a normal workflow. Video that can be transcoded into multiple formats on the fly using the latest technologies and made available on multiple platforms – be they broadcast, web or social.
3. Like all assets, you need to have an intuitive way to run approvals and reviews around video. That means creating a messaging interface that allows for annotations that people actually use.  It means a collaboration tool that effectively manages video as easily and efficiently as you would any other asset regardless of size or complexity.
4. Think about a “zero UI” approach. Does the platform have the ability to translate voice to text and is that text then searchable? Can it then be dynamically incorporated as subtitles if needed?  All the technology is there – question is whether you want or need it.
5. Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality are making content matter more. New technologies are changing the way big brands work with video and are doing business.  The latest industry buzz is that every Fortune 500 company is becoming a broadcaster.  So what does that mean for Fortune 2,000 companies and beyond?  The technology exists today for anyone to become a broadcaster.  It’s only a matter of scale and target audience that are holding some back.
6. The value chain is broken. More needs to be done to track and analyse the value that video is creating for brand broadcasters. It used to be easy for TV broadcasters because there was a single set of statistics.  That’s all fundamentally changed, but the rule of thumb here is to look at what you are doing with your other brand assets and apply the same analysis.
7. Sometimes the content receivers can also be your best content creators. I worked with @UEFA a few years back and some of the Nordic FAs were working with fans to create videos that mixed the best of their national team with the best their grassroots had to offer. The results were compelling videos that developed a new audience and ultimately a new market.

The great thing is that the way technology is developed today, you don’t need to swap out your system to avail of the latest technologies.  You should be able to integrate what you have with what you need through simple integrations.  And that all ultimately means that you don’t need to settle for second best when it comes to managing your video content.