Content Management

Content management, or CM, is a set of processes and technologies that support the evolutionary life cycle of digital information. This digital information is often referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content. Digital content may take the form of text, such as documents, multimedia files, such as audio or video files, or any other file type which follows a content lifecycle which requires management.

The process of content management
Content management practices and goals vary with mission. News organisations, e-commerce websites, and educational institutions all use content management, but in different ways. This leads to differences in terminology and in the names and number of steps in the process. Typically, though, the digital content life cycle consists of 6 primary phases: create, update, publish, translate, archive and retrieve. For example, an instance of digital content is created by one or more authors. Over time that content may be edited. One or more individuals may provide some editorial oversight thereby approving the content for publication. Publishing may take many forms. Publishing may be the act of pushing content out to others, or simply granting digital access rights to certain content to a particular person or group of persons. Later that content may be superseded by another form of content and thus retired or removed from use.

Content management is an inherently collaborative process. It often consists of the following basic roles and responsibilities:

• Creator - responsible for creating and editing content.
• Editor - responsible for tuning the content message and the style of delivery, including translation and localisation.
• Publisher - responsible for releasing the content for use.
• Administrator - responsible for managing access permissions to folders and files, usually accomplished by assigning access rights to user groups or roles. Admins may also assist and support users in various ways.
• Consumer, viewer or guest- the person who reads or otherwise takes in content after it is published or shared.

A critical aspect of content management is the ability to manage versions of content as it evolves (see also version control). Authors and editors often need to restore older versions of edited products due to a process failure or an undesirable series of edits.

Another equally important aspect of content management involves the creation, maintenance, and application of review standards. Each member of the content creation and review process has a unique role and set of responsibilities in the development and/or publication of the content. Each review team member requires clear and concise review standards which must be maintained on an ongoing basis to ensure the long-term consistency and health of the knowledge base.

To keep your website fresh, exciting and interesting for repeat and new visitors you need to ensure that your content (articles, images, information) is up to date, correct and aesthetically pleasing. VG Media can implement a full functioning content management system in to any website. A content management allows you to create fresh, appealing articles or information to build and maintain visitor/ customer loyalty. Our team can talk you through the backend of the content management from archiving articles to create new content, editing submitted articles or deleting unwanted content. Adding newsfeeds and incorporating other active content to your CMS can have a great impact to your websites traffic. VG Media offer a service that lets you take control of your website.