Why You Should Ditch Your Digital Asset Management Software

The Old Solution

International brands and OEMs communicate every day with a large network of partnered retailers. Thoughtfully connecting with hundreds of retail locations is a logistically complicated task and sharing digital assets for social media consumption is no different. Driven by the need to share content with partners, brands usually turn to Digital Asset Management software or DAMs- dashboards that consolidate asset sharing in a centralized system where brands add and update multimedia content that retailers can share to their social media accounts. Commonly used for co-op marketing programs, DAMs are conceptually strong but don’t translate to practical application.

Retailers are occupied with running their businesses. And while many retailers can foresee the long-term benefits of co-op marketing, that doesn’t negate the cost of participating: their time. Identifying exactly how participation strains retailers can be difficult because they often don’t voice their complaints. It’s easier for them to simply stop participating. We can pinpoint roadblocks to retailers by examining where in the process they’re required to complete potentially difficult tasks.

  • Unreliable Adoption: Enrolling retail partners requires resources. Whether it’s creating educational content or providing technical support, brands have to dedicate time and labor to encourage retailer adoption. Committing resources doesn’t necessarily correlate to strong results and retailers aren’t guaranteed to participate.

  • Diminishing Returns: Continued interest in your co-op marketing efforts is finite. It’s common for participants to disengage in content collection efforts and eventually cease involvement. For example- retailers need login credentials to access a brand’s DAM. Users often forget passwords, get locked out, and don’t go through the steps required to recover their accounts. Even if they keep track of their credentials retailers may need to be reminded to access the DAM when it inevitably falls to the side of their primary responsibilities as business owners.

Manual Publishing: Giving retailers access to content only removes some of the burdens of participating in co-op marketing. They still need to customize the provided media in a way that appeals to their local customer base. Publishing can pose problems too. With multiple platforms to manage, technical literacy is a necessity. Retailers don’t always have the time or social media expertise to stay on top of a publishing schedule.

The New Solution

ThumbStopper is a content distribution solution built to address the common frustrations brands and retailers experience when using Digital Asset Management software with new features that prioritize accessibility:

  • Simplified Enrollment: Our team of social media professionals handles onboarding and retailer enrollment for the brand, deploying proven practices to educate and connect retailers and other brand partners possessing varying degrees of technical prowess.

  • Hands-Free Publishing: With ThumbStopper, brands can tag, segment, and distribute content to hundreds of thousands of social media and search engine destinations with no action required from the recipient’s social media account.

  • Customized to Succeed: ThumbStopper’s proprietary technology ensures that content fits the business, region, and local community it is being published in. Both brands and retailers are provided with tools to shape when, where, and what content is delivered.

So how does it work?

Brands collaborate with ThumbStopper to create educational materials that introduce the program to retailers in branded language that they will understand. The ThumbStopper team then reaches out to designated retailers to let them know that a brand they sell is launching a program to help retailers bolster their social presence and drive engagement. Our enrollment process ensures that retailers are presented with the opportunity to learn how the program will benefit them before the onboarding process begins.

Our customer success team handles onboarding and is dedicated to providing a seamless and informative experience. Due to our team’s ability to administer individual assistance, retailers don’t have to be tech-savvy to participate. And when they need guidance on navigating the social media landscape, our experts are always ready to help.

After retailers are enrolled, ThumbStopper enables brands to intelligently syndicate social media content to the appropriate retailers and social media platforms. Brands might promote in a particular region, exclude locations not carrying a certain product, shift content distribution based on seasonal purchase patterns, or dispense content according to retailer feedback on inventory.

But best of all, the program is completely hands-free for retailers. No more keeping track of login credentials or tedious processes to create their own posts. Once brands indicate which retail locations should receive specific content, it’s automatically scheduled to post on their pages. For retailers who don’t have time to manage social media accounts, it’s the perfect solution to reach their local customers with high-quality, multimedia content about the products they want to see.


Your brand is familiar with retailers who prefer to have more oversight in brand relations, whether that’s marketing initiatives or inventory decisions. Retailers who are already posting regularly to their social media accounts may want to have more input on what your brand publishes on their pages. ThumbStoppers’ granular controls support a balance between brand and retailer; brands can indicate priority posts that retailers cannot opt-out of and retailers can cancel posts they don’t think will resonate with a local audience. Ultimately, brands make the decisions that guarantee the most important content reaches the entire retailer network.

An International OEM Success Story

An international OEM that partnered with ThumbStopper saw its program goals exceeded in the pivotal adoption phase. The numbers speak for themselves: the brand anticipated 250 retailer enrollments in the first 90 days but actual enrollment in that time frame was 594 retailers. Bypassing the critical barrier of dealer adoption that prevents DAMs from being effective enabled the brand to immediately begin syndicating content. It resulted in an impressive 364% increase in organic reach within the first six months of launching the program.

DAMs are the industry standard for co-op marketing programs, but the evidence shows that it’s time to leave them in the past. ThumbStopper transforms content distribution for the modern brand to utilize automation that benefits them and their retailers.

To learn more about what ThumbStopper can do for your brand, book a demo.

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Key Points:

 

  • Companies should understand the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure their websites are accessible.
  • Brands that concentrate on accessibility on social media demonstrate care for their customers and build a positive brand reputation.
  • Brands should always consider inclusive design, such as plain, straightforward language, in their social media posts.

 

 

Accessibility may not be a term you usually associate with the internet and social media. You might picture wheelchair ramps, directional signs in braille, or sign language interpreters at live performances. The landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 dictates the legal necessity of these and similar accommodations in public spaces. As we’ve come to rely on the internet for everything from entertainment to buying groceries, it’s become clear that the internet is now also a public space. It must be accessible to everyone. And like other applications of ADA, businesses that do not comply are liable for damages caused by inaccessibility.

 

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are an international set of standards to provide instruction on meeting accessibility needs. It’s important for companies to understand how this applies to their websites, especially if they engage in e-commerce. In terms of social media, the requirements are less concrete. But prioritizing accessibility on your company’s social media is essential to your reputation, even if the legal requirements are uncertain. We’ll look at why it’s important to your customers, how it affects the perception of your brand, and how to make these changes efficiently.

Social Media for All

The cornerstone of accessibility is inclusive design: products or experiences that are accessible for everyone regardless of disability. The most important place where this shows up is on company websites where most users expect to also find links to the brand’s social media profiles. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of websites are not accessible, despite the fact that the application of ADA to the internet is over 20 years old. Making websites accessible is a complex process without the use of specialized software like Accessibe or EqualWeb.

Unlike websites, making sure your social media is accessible is a straightforward, ongoing process. Every social platform has been quick to release optional accessibility features. These features are important to many users even if they don’t rely on them to use social media.

Making your social presence accessible tells users that your brand cares about people, not just profits. It’s the same idea as the push for the representation of different body sizes in fashion or more expansive skin tone ranges in beauty products. Brands that meet the needs of underrepresented groups endear themselves to others as well. And while optimizing your brand website for accessibility might be a larger project you aren’t ready to tackle yet, starting with your social media pages is a great way to show customers that you’re listening to their concerns. 

 

Making Content Accessible

Shifting to accessible content means incorporating inclusive design into your creative process. The practice varies by type of media. For platforms that have graphics or videos with captions, it means not only adjusting each component but also being mindful of how they interact with each other.

For example, YouTube’s automatically generated closed captions and subtitles are often inaccurate. It's one of many examples where the caption generation software has issues picking up strong accents and mumbled words. This could be remedied with handcrafted video transcription services. If that’s not in the budget, the video creator could add their script or transcription to the video description.

None of the technology for accessibility is perfect yet. Teaching computers to digest complex information for human understanding is difficult, and the variations in disabilities further complicate it. The majority of adjustments creators need to make revolve around helping assistive technology better understand their content. Let’s look at how to make different kinds of content accessible. 

Text

  • Use plain language that’s easy to understand 
  • Avoid text in all caps
  • Capitalize the first letter of each word in a hashtag, like #SocialMediaMarketing, a practice called camel-case

Videos

  • Provide descriptive captions. Instead of just displaying the words people on-screen say, explain background noises and other sounds that are relevant to the scene.
  • Add your own subtitles or enable auto-subtitles on the video platform of your choice
  • Use captioning for live videos when possible

Graphics

Distribute Accessible Content

Many users find their new favorite brand through social media. When disabled people (who make up 26% of the population according to the CDC) can’t access your brand’s social posts, you miss the opportunity to connect with a demographic that’s eager to engage in online communities. On a hyper-local level, that kind of connection goes even further.

That’s why ThumbStopper exists to help brands distribute their social content to their retailer network. Retailers can connect with their local audience - with your accessible, branded content - in a more personal way. And since content goes to their page automatically once they sign up, retailers can effortlessly promote your brand online while focusing on running their business. 

Ready to see how ThumbStopper can help your brand improve its reach? Check out our brand reach calculator or book a demo.

 

 

accessibility
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[/et_pb_column]

Key Points:

 

  • Companies should understand the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure their websites are accessible.
  • Brands that concentrate on accessibility on social media demonstrate care for their customers and build a positive brand reputation.
  • Brands should always consider inclusive design, such as plain, straightforward language, in their social media posts.

 

 

Accessibility may not be a term you usually associate with the internet and social media. You might picture wheelchair ramps, directional signs in braille, or sign language interpreters at live performances. The landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 dictates the legal necessity of these and similar accommodations in public spaces. As we’ve come to rely on the internet for everything from entertainment to buying groceries, it’s become clear that the internet is now also a public space. It must be accessible to everyone. And like other applications of ADA, businesses that do not comply are liable for damages caused by inaccessibility.

 

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are an international set of standards to provide instruction on meeting accessibility needs. It’s important for companies to understand how this applies to their websites, especially if they engage in e-commerce. In terms of social media, the requirements are less concrete. But prioritizing accessibility on your company’s social media is essential to your reputation, even if the legal requirements are uncertain. We’ll look at why it’s important to your customers, how it affects the perception of your brand, and how to make these changes efficiently.

Social Media for All

The cornerstone of accessibility is inclusive design: products or experiences that are accessible for everyone regardless of disability. The most important place where this shows up is on company websites where most users expect to also find links to the brand’s social media profiles. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of websites are not accessible, despite the fact that the application of ADA to the internet is over 20 years old. Making websites accessible is a complex process without the use of specialized software like Accessibe or EqualWeb.

Unlike websites, making sure your social media is accessible is a straightforward, ongoing process. Every social platform has been quick to release optional accessibility features. These features are important to many users even if they don’t rely on them to use social media.

Making your social presence accessible tells users that your brand cares about people, not just profits. It’s the same idea as the push for the representation of different body sizes in fashion or more expansive skin tone ranges in beauty products. Brands that meet the needs of underrepresented groups endear themselves to others as well. And while optimizing your brand website for accessibility might be a larger project you aren’t ready to tackle yet, starting with your social media pages is a great way to show customers that you’re listening to their concerns. 

 

Making Content Accessible

Shifting to accessible content means incorporating inclusive design into your creative process. The practice varies by type of media. For platforms that have graphics or videos with captions, it means not only adjusting each component but also being mindful of how they interact with each other.

For example, YouTube’s automatically generated closed captions and subtitles are often inaccurate. It’s one of many examples where the caption generation software has issues picking up strong accents and mumbled words. This could be remedied with handcrafted video transcription services. If that’s not in the budget, the video creator could add their script or transcription to the video description.

None of the technology for accessibility is perfect yet. Teaching computers to digest complex information for human understanding is difficult, and the variations in disabilities further complicate it. The majority of adjustments creators need to make revolve around helping assistive technology better understand their content. Let’s look at how to make different kinds of content accessible. 

Text

  • Use plain language that’s easy to understand 
  • Avoid text in all caps
  • Capitalize the first letter of each word in a hashtag, like #SocialMediaMarketing, a practice called camel-case

Videos

  • Provide descriptive captions. Instead of just displaying the words people on-screen say, explain background noises and other sounds that are relevant to the scene.
  • Add your own subtitles or enable auto-subtitles on the video platform of your choice
  • Use captioning for live videos when possible

Graphics

Distribute Accessible Content

Many users find their new favorite brand through social media. When disabled people (who make up 26% of the population according to the CDC) can’t access your brand’s social posts, you miss the opportunity to connect with a demographic that’s eager to engage in online communities. On a hyper-local level, that kind of connection goes even further.

That’s why ThumbStopper exists to help brands distribute their social content to their retailer network. Retailers can connect with their local audience – with your accessible, branded content – in a more personal way. And since content goes to their page automatically once they sign up, retailers can effortlessly promote your brand online while focusing on running their business. 

Ready to see how ThumbStopper can help your brand improve its reach? Check out our brand reach calculator or book a demo.

 

 

accessibility
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