After writing my last blog post, “Considerations to Stay Competitive in Creative Content Marketing,” I learned just how overwhelming analyzing and distinguishing which method of the vast number of available content marketing platforms to utilize can be. The decision of selecting the platform or platforms needs to be thoughtful and requires critical thinking around which method will drive meaningful results and derive results that will ultimately satisfy a company’s business and communication objectives.
CMS, or content management systems, is an intriguing topic. TechTarget defines CMS as a “system used to manage the content of a website,” offering that “the features of a CMS system vary, but most include Web-based publishing, format management, revision control, and indexing, search, and retrieval.”
My mind was swamped with a laundry list of questions. First, how should marketing teams approach such a long list of content management platforms? In what way can companies organize the procedures for content creation and distribution? What are the best CMS programs out there for my business and industry? Are these “best” programs easy to manage and practical for my projects and content? Lastly, what best practices should a company implement in order to get the most from these programs?
After doing some research, I pulled together a list of the four CMS programs that repeatedly occurred throughout my searches. The first two are best suited for website development and the third and fourth programs expand on the sectors of digital publishing and digital asset management (DAM). Below I have outlined these programs with some suggested practices for employing.
- WordPress. Top ranked on nearly every article I researched, WordPress enables companies to create websites, blogs and mobile applications. An extremely helpful article, on wpmudev breaks down the best practices for managing WordPress in order to successfully engage with your target audience and maintain a level of organization around marketing content. As the Communique employee who assists in managing our company blog, I give WordPress double thumbs up. Not only is it easy to navigate, the features allow for great ease in organization and managing scheduling.
- Joomla! Similar to WordPress, Joomla! is often used in website development and enables companies to easily manage user accounts, media, content, article copy, menus and overall design. IT World released an article interviewing Mitch Pirtle, the co-founder of Joomla! where he shares eight tips and best practices from the developers of Joomla!
- WebDAM. Aside from helping companies manage their in-bound marketing efforts and increasing brand impact, WedDAM has an extremely helpful “Resource” section on their website that provides companies with guided direction and powerful examples in digital asset management, brand management, and even shares creative inspiration to exploit WebDAM’s full potential.
- WoodWing. The tagline says it all: “Create. Manage. Publish.” WoodWing’s software functions as a multichannel publishing system, a digital asset management guide, provides support in digital content production and supports brand management. The solution helps companies produce and organize content for websites, mobile apps, social media channels and more.
These programs not only help marketing teams streamline the publishing processes, they aid with the production of content. Implementing these CMS solutions reduces the cost and time required for developing creative content. Depending on the marketing platforms and strategies selected for sharing creative content, these four and many other content management systems will come to the rescue in assuring that all creative content marketing efforts are smooth and implemented most efficiently.
Huge shout out to these informative articles for the inspiration and providing me with a crash course on CMS: 10 Most Popular Content Management Systems Online, Top Content Management Software (CMS), Content management systems: A business buyer’s guide and Top 10 Most Usable Content Management Systems.