Video asset management is a software that helps organize and manage video assets so that everyone involved – from creative teams to marketers and other stakeholders – can easily access, and use whatever asset they need.
Keep on reading to discover not only how video asset management can help you deliver better video projects, but also how you can use it to shorten delivery time while increasing the quality.
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It Happens With Almost Every Video Project, Doesn’t It?
You and the team give everything to create amazing videos. You slowly and painstakingly develop an idea. You spend so much time filming it. You edit it and then re-edit it again and again and again until your video is perfect…
And then you run into stupid problems when trying to distribute it to teams to use in their marketing campaigns.Â
- You upload videos to your server only to hear from the content creation team that try as they might, they can’t find it anywhere.Â
- Another team manages to retrieve an older version of the file somehow (and that’s even though you didn’t know the file was even there!)
- And other stakeholders complain that it takes them far too long to figure out where the video library is in the first place.
The result?Â
You spend unnecessary time helping others locate and retrieve the right video file, or try to prevent wrong assets from getting published, instead of creating more amazing video content.Â
Well, that’s where video asset management comes into play.Â
With such software, you can quickly overcome these challenges, and add another powerful resource to your stack.
Here’s how.
What Is Video Asset Management?
The term – video asset management – refers to software packages that allow you to store, organize, manage, and distribute video assets. The goal of a video asset management (we also call it VAM, for short) strategy is to ensure that everyone who needs to use video assets can:
- Access whatever assets they need easily
- Do it whenever they need to
But what makes VAM unique is the ability not only to offer central storage of video assets but also to help you organize and manage them.Â
A typical VAM solution offers the option to store videos (and other rich media) in folders, assign tags and metadata, specify naming conventions, and more to make each asset easy to find, and then, distribute and share videos with other platforms that you use to deliver campaigns.Â
It often looks like this.
But what is a video asset?
I mentioned this term – video asset – several times already, and I think it’s worth explaining what I mean by it.Â
When we speak of video assets, we refer to files in various video formats – MP4, MOV, or AVI – that your company creates with the goal of driving brand awareness, sales, product experience, customer experience, and more.Â
What’s the difference between VAM and DAM, or MAM?
I guess you might have heard the two other terms already – digital asset management, and media asset management.Â
They all seem quite similar, don’t they? That said, there are several differences between each of these system’s capabilities. What’s more, these differences would affect which of them is the best option for you.Â
Now, we’ve defined what video asset management is already. So, let’s see how it compares with two other types of asset management software – DAM and MAM.
DAM stands for digital asset management. Digital asset management systems facilitate storing all types of digital assets – from photos, design files, brand collateral, documents, to rich content like video and audio files. DAM tools also provide collaboration and online proofing capabilities, in turn, helping teams streamline almost all aspects of a typical content production process.Â
The term – MAM – on the other hand, relates to software designed to store only digital files, with a focus on video and audio.Â
MAM tools help video and audio production teams to process and manage a high volume of rich media files. However, these tools, typically, lack the ability to store and manage other assets like PDFs, documents and other text files, plus, they lack any collaboration capabilities.
Each of these tools provide you with various video asset management capabilities. However, only DAM software allows you to manage all assets, regardless of file format or type.Â
Who Needs Video Asset Management?
The simplest answer is that VAM is an ideal solution practically for anyone who deals with large volumes of video assets.Â
However, video asset management systems are particular useful if:
- You’re a content creator producing videos regularly, then you need a system to allow you to collaborate with others on your content. With VAM, you can upload videos, give relevant stakeholders access to them, let them review and comment on your work, and get a signoff.Â
- You’re marketer using those clips to power their social media and other campaigns will need constant and easy access to all relevant assets.Â
- You work in customer success and often need to share instructional videos with clients. Naturally, you will want to be able to find the clip you need fast.Â
- Your sales team is using video as part of outreach and sales pitches will need a way to organize their video library.Â
Why Should You Invest in Dedicated Software to Manage Video Assets?
I admit it – If you don’t create large volumes of video assets, then, most likely, storing them on a simple cloud-based system or even a shared hard drive will work just fine.Â
However, if your organization regularly creates video files, then, you need a VAM solution.Â
There are several reasons why:
- Video asset management software will allow you to easily store and retrieve video files from anywhere. It doesn’t matter where the team that needs a particular video is, with a solid VAM solution, they will be able to find and download it easily.Â
- A VAM system will also allow you to do certain edits on video assets remotely.Â
- VAM software will help you create systems, set up naming conventions, and use metatags and tagging systems to organize video collection.Â
- All this, in turn, will help you increase video production, and make your content creators more efficient at their jobs.Â
- Finally, with a dedicated VAM software, you will be able to better measure the performance of your video content. You’ll also have complete control over who has access to what files, and when.Â
What to Look For in a Video Asset Management Solution?
Several factors determine whether a particular VAM system is for you:
Capacity. Most enterprise-level VAM tools will offer unlimited storage. Smaller storage solutions, however, may limit the amount of space you can use to store assets.Â
Integrations. The software you choose should integrate with your existing tool stack easily. You might need to share or distribute those assets directly into those tools, after all.Â
File organization. Your VAM should allow you to organize assets into a system that works for you. In practical terms, this means offering capabilities to create folders, use metadata, tags, and naming conventions to organize files.Â
Advanced search capabilities. A solid VAM system should let you find everything you need quickly. Rather than spending time figuring out how to search for something, you should be able to define the asset you need, and see it appear on your screen.
Versioning. In most projects, you’ll share different versions of files with others. A solid VAM solution will allow you to store different versions of the file, review change history, and manage comments. All this will result in a smaller risk that another team would use a wrong version of a video.Â
Advanced security and user access management. Your VAM should allow you to specify and monitor who has access to what. You should always know that only the right people can access the right data and assets.
How Celum Helps You Manage Visual Assets and Increase Content Production
CELUM (disclaimer: this is our tool) is one of the leading digital asset management platforms that also includes the most advanced video asset management capabilities.Â
In fact, CELUM brings together project management, asset management, agile task management, a full content hub, online proofing, and more to help companies like yours deliver video and other content projects faster and more efficiently.Â
CELUM offers all the functionality to get everyone involved in video projects on the same page and boost teamwork and collaboration:Â
- Complete video asset management. From the ability to ingest massive amounts of video assets (and other file formats) with one click, to powerful options to store and organize those assets, and more, CELUM offers a complete VAM solution for the most demanding businesses.Â
- Advanced file management. With CELUM’s shared workrooms, you can efficiently store and organize your team’s work too. You can also link files directly to specific tasks to improve productivity further.
- Advanced collaboration tools. In CELUM, all stakeholders – from in-house creative teams to external vendors – can collaborate and get things done easily. With CELUM, you can set advanced roles and responsibilities and use Robots to automate many tedious management tasks.Â
- Proofing workflows. The platform also features robust templating capabilities allowing you to create workflows for different project types. This way, you can ensure consistency and quality for every project you need to complete.Â
- Revision history. CELUM gives you access to a complete revisions history to compare different versions of files and monitor how projects evolve.Â
How much does CELUM cost: CELUM offers a 30 day trial for up to 10 users. Larger teams can avail of paid plans starting at €14.90 per month.Â
