Further thoughts on portable company images

I've previously covered the subject of making company assets on the web more portable. By this I mean allowing your images, audio, video and text to be posted to external sharing locations and then subsequently incorporated into your own site.

As well as generally making your assets available to a wider potential audience, you will see what others think of them (e.g. via their popularity, tags assigned and comments made) and potentially save bandwidth in the process.

However, you should also consider that making your assets portable could improve your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) efforts:
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/03/30/using-images-in-seo/

Portable content - more considerations

Although I've previously covered making your company content and assets portable, based on recent feedback, I thought I'd provide some additional information about how to do this.

1. Put your corporate videos up on YouTube
This allows you to still embed the video clips you want into your own site, saves you expensive bandwidth and instantly makes your company video available to a new selection of people. Caveat: All YouTube users will be able to comment on your video, so be prepared to engage in any accompanying dialogue your video creates

2. Put your company photos up on Flickr (Note: Other photo sharing sites are available)
Aside from the potential bandwidth-saving achieved from delivering high quality images to your users from an alternative host, there are other benefits to placing any company photos on one the popular image sharing websites:

• These sites provide easy integration with other Web2.0 sites (e.g. Blogging tools, etc.)
• By using proper descriptions and tagging your photos, you make your official photos easier to be searched for and used
• Links from your photos and profile back to your company website could improve your Search Engine Optimisation efforts

Caveat: Users to these sites, like video sites, will be able to comment on your content. Expect the level of conversation you need to participate in to increase.

3. Extend your audio coverage
Assuming you already provide downloadable audio files such as interviews on your site (hopefully in the ubiquitous MP3 format) then you can easily raise your content's profile further.

• Add an RSS feed and allow subscription via podcasting software
• Syndicate your podcasts via a large/popular podcasting syndication network

Caveat: This whole subject can by quite complex, so it is probably best that I cover this topic in more detail subsequently.

Ways to make content more portable

Distributing your media across the web can be a beneficial way of providing your users and extended target audience with the assets that you want to provide them with (more examples of use and mis-use here)

The immediate and instant delivery of your content and media to numerous people across the web is not the stuff of the future or something so cutting edge that it requries a bespoke multi-million pound Media Distribution System.... it can be achieved easily over time, as part of your corporate site's evolution and just used combinations of several known & standard technologies & practices already out there.

So... what are they?

Content/Media Management System:
Including:categorisation (tagging & meta info), reformatting, versioning, workflow, etc. to manage the content you want to 'push'

Admin function:
This manages the permissions / rights / subscription / personalisation process

Syndication:
RSS is by far the most preferred method of distribution and updating content. Other methods of syndication can be used but RSS is now becoming a common standard for pulling content thanks to podcasts and widget technology gaining widespread usage.

Widgets :
These can be used and are just self-contained HTML components that deliver text and media. There are several standards for these and also some bespoke work may be required to fit it into some frameworks / templates. However, sometimes just the media is sent or referring URL is called.

Hosting:
It is also important that this service has an adaptive hosting facility that that can react to large fluctuations in demand across a potential global footprint, especially if streaming of audio or video is required.

Make your content portable!

Think about all those assets that you produce and would like a bigger/better audience for:

• Your company introduction video that you have spent a fortune on
• The company press release that you would like circulated to a larger number
• A set of product images that you paid a professional photographer to take

Please realise that all sorts of users will:

• Copy, lampoon or just ridicule that video (e.g. Chevy Tahoe)
• Mis-quote your press release
• Alter your photos from your website (or make their own)

However, although this is a challenge for brand managers to track, let alone 'police'... it is also a significant opportunity. By selecting ways of making your content more portable, quotable and re-purpose-able... you provide assets for your influcencers to use and hopefully keep coming back for more.

Just remember that they will use your content whether you like it or not. Its therefore better if they use it with your permission and on your terms isn't it?