From Web Content Management Systems to Engagement Platforms

The expectations of people online have evolved quickly and dramatically. Nowadays, they want sleek designs and personalized content, tailored to the device they use. Most importantly, they expect to be able to engage with a brand in a one-on-one relationship. How can you manage these engagement requirements when legacy Web Content Management Systems (WCMS) do not support the Social Enterprise content lifecycles?

WCMS were designed to allow collaboration, content authoring and content publishing. But at the time of the Social Enterprise, there is no such thing as a central system (sometimes referred as “single source of truth”) for creating, authoring and publishing content. Content is created at any level of the organization, outside of the predefined routes. Reality check for Information System specialists: that perfect workflow sitting on top of your CMS that you designed for content creation from inception to publication just won’t happen! 

The four keys of a Social CMS

The most appropriate response to managing content, applications and user experience in the Social Enterprise realm is called Social CMS. A Social CMS is a platform that manages the online experience and the engagement of online visitors. Therefore a Social CMS is not limited to Content Management for Social channels.

Here are the four key elements that make Social CMS a great option:

1.  Engagement: a Social CMS is a user engagement platform. Previously, online channels were simply “transactional,” providing content that visitors would consume. A User Engagement Platform allows you to manage interactions and conversations, personalized and in context, across all channels.  It is not just about web pages anymore.

2.  Communal/Social content: a Social CMS is the cornerstone of a collaborative content creation process. It is decentralized in a way that allows subject-matter experts at all levels within the organization to contribute, while before they were not part of the process.  All of a sudden, any employee has a voice and can publish great content to multiple channels.

3.  Cross-platform: a Social CMS is capable of publishing across devices, channels and tools. It links Social and Business applications with content; and most importantly -- it does this in context. This is crucial because online users simply don’t do the same things on a phone or a laptop, on Facebook or a corporate website.

4.  Integrated: a Social CMS provide a seamless experience across devices, channels and tools, based on online visitors’ Social Profile. The Social CMS is capable to deliver a personalized experience based on the visitors' interests and their past interactions with the brand.

Social CMS: The only metric that counts!

How many metrics are you considering when evaluating your online channels? The answer for most of us is probably: too many! Quality of service, conversions, number of defects, content relevancy, hits per month, etc. All are perfectly good metrics to track but what is the only metric that really counts in the Social CMS world? My answer is: content engagement. This is the number of online interactions the visitors have with your brand (Facebook likes, webpage views, forms submitted, mobile app activations, etc.), divided by the number of content updates going through the Social CMS (new YouTube video, updated webpage, Twitter post, etc.). 

                Content Engagement = Online interactions / Social CMS updates

The greater the number, the more effective your Social CMS! Because, at the end of the day, aren’t trying to get the maximum traction for the minimum effort? 

Jean-Baptiste Minchelli
Senior Product Manager – Web Content Management
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/minchelli