Transform Your Workflow: Harnessing the Power of Modular Content
Building content efficiently can be a daunting task; but fear not, concepts like modular content are tools used in the world of digital marketing that help make the process manageable for digital marketers and content strategists.
Modular content refers to the breaking down of larger pieces of content and content ideas into smaller, more digestible blocks. These modules are designed to be reusable, stackable, and interchangeable. This allows marketers and strategists to assemble them in various combinations, creating new content quickly and efficiently. The concept of modular content is rooted in the idea of component-based design and development, where content is structured in a modular fashion to facilitate flexibility and consistency across communication platforms. Organizing content into units allows creators to easily update, repurpose, and distribute content across websites, social media, email campaigns, apps, and other digital channels without reinventing the content wheel from scratch.
The ‘WHY’ behind Modular Content
As stated before, modular content’s purpose is to help curate content that can then be repurposed and mix and match depending on the audience and the channel. However, there are a few other reasons why this type of content production is needed - and beneficial - in the long run. The first is personalization. Personalizing content to match your audience saves time, period. When content is personalized it can be repurposed, making content tailoring for specific segments faster, which leads to optimal audience feedback. The second thing to consider is brand security and compliance. Many industries have set regulations for content approval and brand alignment. Modular content helps mitigate any chances of non-compliance. Petra Tant, VP, of product management shared these words at a MarTech conference around modular content:
“Modular content lessens the burden of regulatory or brand noncompliance by enabling the [repurposing] of already approved content and providing guidelines on how to reuse content.”
Tools You Need
Building modular content can sound intimidating but it starts with four basic materials:
Graphics
Images
Video
Text
If focused time is allocated each quarter (or monthly) for content creation, aka physically taking the time to capture all images and videos, planning out a copy, and building graphics, the modular content will create itself. Ideally, you want to begin planning these things out in great detail before recording them. Using a digital asset management system (DAM) is critical! A DAM is a solution that provides a systematic approach to efficiently storing, organizing, tagging, managing, retrieving, and distributing an organization's digital assets. The workflow for DAMs includes:
Creation
Management
Distribution
Archival
Retrieval
The International Business Machines Corporation, or IBM site states:
“The digital asset is a key component of the DAM process. It is any file type of value that is owned by an enterprise or individual, comes in a digital format, is searchable via metadata, and includes access and usage rights”.
Digital Assets are used for, but not limited to:
Website Domains
Documents
Images
Audio
Graphics
Presentations
Video
Animation
These platforms allow content creators to define reusable templates, content models, and metadata schemas to ensure consistency and streamline content production workflows.
Modular content presents a multitude of advantages, encompassing enhanced efficiency, scalability, adaptability, and consistency. This makes it an invaluable strategy for organizations aiming to optimize their content workflows and provide captivating experiences to their audiences across diverse digital platforms.
