What’s one thing everyone can agree on? We all love saving time and money. Using an effective metadata strategy, software or system allows you to save both your time and your money, counterintuitively. It may not seem glaringly obvious, but over the long run, you’ll really start to shave off some major time and effort spent digging up files.
Seriously, imagine how long it has taken you to find that specific file your client was looking for. If you have a company, multiply that amount of time by the number of employees. The point is — without an organized way to store your data and files, you’re eating up your two most valuable resources: time and money. Having an effective way to store and retrieve files is key in maximizing efficiency. If you haven’t heard of metadata for digital asset management, right now is a great time to learn more about it if you want to save big!
The Importance of Metadata
Metadata isn’t a new concept. In fact, if you work online or use a computer for your job you’ve probably heard of the term before. Essentially, metadata is a collection of all the ways to describe a particular file. For example, if you look at photos on your phone and go to “information” on a picture, it will tell you the:
- Date and time
- Resolution
- File size
- Megapixels
- And other important pieces of information
For a business, this process is crucial as well. Think of metadata as a giant Excel spreadsheet. If you’re recording information on clients, you’ll probably want to know how much they have spent, how many items they have purchased, how long it took them to make that purchase, etc. But that’s just one way to use metadata; its use and value are truly unlimited. You could also choose to store information on the work you have submitted to your clients as a freelancer and organize it by project type, store and file pages and information from your website, and other tasks using metadata.
One example of a great metadata system in Google Photos. On google photos, facial recognition is used so that you are able to pull up pictures of yourself, family, friends and loved ones. On top of that, you’re able to type in specific words like “Space Needle” and it will connect you with all of the photos you have of the Space Needle in your gallery. It also records when and where photos were taken and uses “memories” to remind users of those moments on a yearly basis. That’s one example of a good metadata program; there are many others out there that can help you manage your digital assets effortlessly, too.
Metadata for Digital Asset Management (DAM) allows you to pull up files and record information in a complete and concise way. A smooth system to store and retrieve your metadata for DAM is crucial in maximizing your business’s efficiency and being more productive overall.
Metadata for DAM Saves You Time and Future Headaches
Metadata can feel like a tedious task for so many computer users. People want to save their file and go — they don’t want to worry about filling in the extra details to make their file easier to find. And that’s understandable.
Maintaining and organizing metadata by one’s self is quite challenging and can be a major headache. That’s why having a metadata for DAM system in place that makes sense and is user-friendly is so important. When your entire team, or even just yourself, is all on one page and uses a consistent way to mark and organize files, folders and other pieces of information, it makes for smooth sailing in the future. Metadata for DAM is all about ensuring future work is organized and prepared strategically.
Why You Need Metadata for Digital Asset Management
Metadata for DAM is crucial in ensuring the success of your business. Storing files and information may seem like an easy task, but without accurate and detailed metadata, you’ll be hard-pressed to find your files and documents again. More importantly, clients and web browsers will be unable to find your work, too, without proper metadata.
Taking that simple step of adding certain keywords and tags to your files, or using a program that automatically classifies and categorizes online content allows you to accurately categorize past work and allows clients to find you on the web, too. Metadata for DAM makes your day easier for tomorrow, today.
Do you use metadata? Let us know all about your metadata strategy in the comments below.