Imagine this: The CEO of your company asks you to share photo and video content from a recent event across your brand’s social media channels. She wants you to share them today. Problem is, the videos and photos are currently saved on five different co-workers’ computers and mobile devices. 

You spend the next hour chasing down your colleagues to get the media files you need. Then, you spend another couple of hours sorting through the assets to see what content is available before spending even more time designing and scheduling the posts.

Before you know it, the day is over. You think to yourself, there must be a better way.

There is. If you had a social media asset management solution, all of these files would be in one central location to easily search for and access your content. (Doesn’t this sound better than spending your entire workday tracking people down and sifting through a mess of files?)

Let’s dig into social media asset management and what tools you can use to manage your social media files like a whiz.

What is social media asset management?

Social media asset management is a system, process, or tool to manage the photos, graphics, videos, and audio files your brand uses for social media. Whether you’re working alone or as part of a team, an effective social media asset management solution is vital to staying productive and consistent with your social media content.

Social media asset management makes it easy to store and organize the many media assets your company has captured and/or created. Using a tool like this allows you to quickly find the files you need for social media posts and campaigns.

Media asset management systems aren’t just about archiving, organizing, and accessing files, however. They also make team collaboration simple and effective with workflows for feedback, approvals, and updating file versions.

We live in a world heavily influenced by social media, and brands should be active on several platforms to stay top-of-mind with their audiences. A social media asset management system can help you connect and convert yours with ease.

3 tools you can use to manage social media assets

There are many different types of digital asset management software, but not all are built for various rich media assets you might need to manage for social media. 

Understanding the difference between the available asset management tools can simplify your decision about which tool should manage your social media assets.

1. Digital Asset Management (DAM)

DAM solutions allow design, marketing, and communications teams to manage media files and assets in a centralized location. While DAM systems are built to help you store, organize, access, and manage multimedia files, not all DAMs are created equal. For example, traditional DAMs are not always built to handle specific media files like large videos.

DAM has become a catch-all term to refer to any digital asset management system. It can cover various types of software solutions—everything from a simple digital file library to a full-scale content management system (CMS).

2. Video Asset Management (VAM)

Video asset management describes solutions that are designed to help you manage video content. Since these platforms are built specifically for video assets, they often feature sophisticated tools for sharing, distributing, and collaborating on large video files.

VAMs can be a great solution for companies that are dealing primarily or entirely with video assets. However, most companies have various multimedia they share on their social media accounts (e.g., images, GIFs, etc.) For this reason, video asset management systems aren’t always the best choice for a complete social media asset management solution.

3. Media Asset Management (MAM)

MAM tools focus on helping teams manage image and video assets specifically. MAM systems differ from DAMs in that they don’t encompass all digital assets, yet they set themselves apart from VAMs by going beyond just video files.

MAMs offer a centralized location to store, organize, access, and manage images, audio files, and video assets. With this in mind, MAM solutions are designed to handle a high volume of large media files. Broadcasters often use them as part of the video production workflow. 

What you need in a social media asset management solution

Let’s look at the different features you should look for in a social media asset management solution.

Powerful search

One essential function you’ll need in a digital asset management solution is a powerful search feature. Your whole team should be able to locate the files they need when they need them, whether for a campaign, pitch deck, or client project.

Many solutions offer search functionality similar to a search engine—you can type in keywords to find files in your media library. 

However, just a keyword may not be enough. Tools like Air take it a step further by offering built-in features like image recognition and smart tags, which gives your team a variety of options for finding the assets they're looking for quickly and on their own.

Easy collaboration

Having a centralized location to store all of your social media assets is great. Being able to actually collaborate with your team on these assets is even better! With the right asset management system, you can collect, review, and approve content in real-time without leaving your solution.

Collaboration isn’t just for your team either. Suppose you are working directly with clients on social media assets. In that case, you’ll need to make sure that the solution you choose allows you to collect content from clients, partners, and other people outside of your organization. 

(Hint: Air does this. You can have public boards to collect content from customers, partners, and freelancers.)

Approval workflows

Approval workflows are an important part of team collaboration. There are many moving pieces in design projects, and your team deserves an organized, easy-to-understand workspace. Choose a media asset management system that allows you to provide feedback on files and make clear what has been approved and is ready to go.

Enter version and access control. With version control, you’re able to make sure that the approved version of the file is the only one available to your team to use on social media. With access control, you can also make sure that the only people who have editing access are those who should have it. Design accidents, be gone!

Cloud-based access

In today’s digital (and often remote) workspaces, your team must be able to access your digital media from anywhere. Look for a cloud-based solution that your team can access from any device or location. 

Bonus points if your digital asset management solution also has a mobile app. With an app, you no longer have to transfer image, audio, or video files from your smartphone to your computer. Instead, publish them directly from your phone.

Say hello to Air

If you’re searching for a media asset management solution that makes it easy to organize, find, access, and collaborate on your social media assets, you’ve come to the right blog. Air was built for marketing, design, and social media teams with smart search, seamless collaboration, and a flexible structure that goes far beyond a traditional DAM, MAM, or VAM solution.

Gone are the days of air-dropping photos from your phone to your work computer. With Air, you can post and share to social media from anywhere using the mobile app for iOS and Android. With Air’s cloud-based access, your whole content library is at your fingertips wherever you are without taking up space on your device.

Air’s shared albums allow you to create boards where you can collect user-generated content from your customers in real-time. Moreover, approval flows make collaboration simple, allowing you to leave comments on media assets and approve content that’s ready to go, on the go.

Want to see how Air can transform your social media management? Take a tour of how our customers use Air as part of their social media planning process.