What About the DAM (Digital Asset Management) Analytics?
by: Ben Nguyen
Introduction
Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems are used by organizations to manage and organize their digital assets such as images, videos, audio files, and documents. However, simply storing and organizing these assets is not enough to fully maximize their potential. In order to gain valuable insights and make informed decisions, it is crucial to have a deep understanding of the usage, performance, and trends of these assets. This is where analytics comes in. By leveraging analytics tools and techniques, organizations can extract meaningful insights from their DAM data, such as user engagement, asset popularity, and asset performance. These insights can help organizations make informed decisions about their digital assets and ultimately drive better business outcomes. Therefore, analytics is essential for maximizing the value of digital assets managed through a DAM system. For the purpose of this blog, the members of the Creative Data Solutions Initiative (CDSI) group within Salt Flats LLC’s Insights & Analytics team dove into a specific analytical process to show how analytics can impact business decisions around digital assets.
Task and Methodology
The CDSI team recently took a client's digital asset management dataset and ran several business-facing analyses using Python. The client's DAM system contained a significant amount of data on their digital assets, including usage and channels of download. Our task was to analyze this data to provide insights and recommendations to the client on how to optimize their digital asset management strategy. By leveraging the power of Python and DAM analytics, we were able to help the client better understand their digital assets and make data-driven decisions to improve their overall digital asset management strategy.
Example Analytics
Here are two examples of a high-level use case for using digital asset management (DAM) systems analytics:
Asset Performance by Audience Region: Enables organizations to gain insights into how various audience segments are interacting with their digital assets. Monitoring asset usage and engagement based on demographics/geography can help organizations identify which assets are resonating most with specific segments and tailor content accordingly.
Understanding Asset Demand: Understand how an organization’s digital assets are being used across different channels and platforms. By tracking asset downloads, views, shares, and other engagement metrics, organizations can gain insights into which assets are most effective in reaching their target audience.
Asset Performance by Audience Region
To get a better understanding of audience segmentation an analyst will want to understand which regions are downloading assets the most frequently. To do so, we grouped the data based on region and summed the frequency of downloads. Results are displayed in the code snippet below:
By far, we see that the APAC region has downloaded far more assets than any other region. However, interestingly, the EMEA region has an almost identical number of asset downloads as link sharing. Knowing which regions download more assets can provide several of the following insights:
Understanding content demand: insights can be gained into which types of content are in higher demand by region. For example, if more food-related images are being downloaded, it could indicate that there is a higher demand for food-related content in a specific region.
Optimizing content distribution: optimizing content distribution strategies to ensure that content is more readily available for regions with high downloads to reduce wait time for downloads and improve user experience.
Identifying potential target markets: higher downloads in a specific region can indicate a target market. By analyzing the types of assets that are being downloaded, organizations can tailor their marketing strategies to cater to the preferences of that region.
Measuring ROI (return on investment): organizations can measure ROI of their content marketing efforts by tracking downloads by region. The cost of creating and distributing the content versus the downloads and engagement in a specific region can help to determine if it is worth the investment.
Overall, analyzing which regions download more assets from DAM data can help you understand your audience better, optimize your content distribution strategies, and make data-driven decisions to improve your content marketing efforts.
Understanding Asset Demand
Once again, by grouping by the title and adding the sum of the frequency of downloads we can see which files were downloaded the most. Below is the code snippet that displays the top 10 most downloaded assets:
From this, we notice that there is one asset being downloaded 340 times with the next greatest being downloaded 116 times.
Here are some reasons why assets can be downloaded more than others in a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system:
Popularity: Some assets may be more popular than others, leading to higher download rates. For example, a company's logo or a popular product image may be downloaded more frequently than less popular assets.
Use case: Assets that are used more frequently in marketing materials, advertising campaigns, or other content creation may be downloaded more frequently.
Age: Assets that are newer may be downloaded more frequently as they are more relevant and current.
Availability: Assets that are readily available and easily accessible may be downloaded more frequently. If an asset is difficult to find or access, it may not be downloaded as often.
Quality: Assets that are of higher quality, such as high-resolution images or videos, may be downloaded more frequently as they are more visually appealing and useful for various applications.
Content-Type: Certain types of assets may be more popular or useful for particular purposes. For instance, if a company sells fashion products, images of models wearing clothing would be downloaded more than other product shots.
Seasonal relevance: Some assets may be relevant only during specific times of the year. For instance, images of holiday decorations may be downloaded more frequently during the winter holiday season.
These are just some of the reasons why certain assets may be downloaded more than others in a DAM system. The factors that drive asset downloads can be complex and vary depending on the specific needs and goals of the organization.
A deeper dive is required to get an understanding as to why this asset is being used significantly more than others. To do so we queried for the file: ASSET_1.psb
This file was downloaded by one user 338 times which should raise questions for us as analysts. The analysis will direct the analyst into asking their users the correct questions to better understand how and why assets are being used. To uncover the underlying factors for the high download frequency the user can be asked the following questions:
Can you provide context on the purpose of the asset being downloaded more than others?
Is this asset used in a particular marketing or advertising campaign?
Are there any other assets that are similar to the popular asset, and if so, how do they differ in terms of content, format, or audience?
Have there been any recent events or changes that may have affected the popularity of this asset, such as a new product launch or a change in marketing strategy?
Have there been any efforts to promote this asset over others, such as through social media or email campaigns?
Have there been any changes to the user interface or search functionality of the DAM system that may have affected how users discover and download assets?
Are there any seasonal or cyclical factors that may be influencing the popularity of this asset over time?
Asking questions about the popularity of certain assets, as well as their purpose, format, and audience, can help clients identify which assets are most effective for their marketing and advertising campaigns. By understanding the factors that contribute to the popularity of an asset, clients can create and promote similar assets, target specific audiences more effectively, and improve their overall digital marketing strategy.
Conclusion
By improving the performance of their digital assets and optimizing their digital asset management strategy, clients can achieve their business objectives. Whether the goal is to increase brand awareness, generate more leads, or drive sales, a well-designed and well-executed digital asset management strategy can help clients achieve their goals and drive business growth and success. Overall, asking the right questions and performing DAM analytics can help clients save time and resources, improve their digital asset management strategy, and ultimately achieve their business goals and objectives. By leveraging the power of data-driven insights, clients can make informed decisions that drive business growth and success. If you would like help deriving insights from your DAM please contact us to learn more.