April 2020 Summaries

As a developer and filmmaker, creating effective video content is crucial to educate, promote, and inspire others. The process of filmmaking can be broken down into three stages: pre-production, production, and post-production. In pre-production, it's essential to plan out as much as possible to save time during shooting and editing. Developers should consider storytelling structures such as screen demos, explainer videos, case studies, narrative videos, and other formats that work best for their project or audience. The length of the video should be kept in mind, with most engaging videos being under two minutes long. A script and storyboard are also crucial tools to help organize and visualize the content. During production, careful consideration should be given to camera settings, lighting, audio, and equipment choices. In post-production, transcribing and logging footage, gathering media assets, and editing can help uncover the best "takes" and soundbytes. The goal is to create a seamless video experience that flows well without jarring transitions or effects.

Content management platforms like Contentful are expanding their capabilities to support content localization, allowing businesses to manage multiple languages easily and engage with new markets. This involves adding languages as simple as social media services, configuring locale settings, and prioritizing translation efforts. Businesses must evaluate their products and services for demand, develop a content strategy, and consider translation services, which can be combined with date and numerical formatting, currency, and measurement units. Content translation is often less expensive than creating original content, but quality is crucial, and businesses should choose between translation agencies, freelancers, or machine translation, weighing costs and expertise against the need for human review.

To approach globalization and content management effectively, businesses can utilize software like Contentful, which offers a simple way to add languages or locales to their websites and applications through APIs that support great social media services. This allows for the easy integration of multiple languages, enabling organizations to expand into new markets and engage with diverse audiences. By evaluating product demand, developing a content strategy, and leveraging translation services, businesses can create localized content that caters to different cultural tastes and preferences, ultimately driving international business development and growth. However, it's essential to balance the benefits of localization with the need for quality control, using tools like custom roles and permissions, API integrations, and human translators to ensure accurate and effective content management.

At DFDS, they embarked on a digital transformation in 2017, replacing their traditional CMS with Contentful, which enabled them to automate content creation and management at scale. They initially struggled with manual processes for localized URLs, but were able to automate this process using the Contentful Content Management API (CMA), significantly reducing time and error rate. The company also used CMA to automate translation workflows, importing over 50,000 entries from third-party vendors in just 24 hours of execution time. By leveraging CMA, DFDS was able to improve their content's time-to-market, reduce errors, and increase the number of iterations with their content editors, ultimately achieving significant benefits from their digital transformation efforts.

The COVID Tracking Project is a volunteer-driven initiative that aims to provide accurate and reliable data on the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, filling a gap left by limited data sources. The project was built using a static site with Contentful, Netlify, and Gatsby, allowing for easy updates and verification of data from various sources. Despite initial plans to be a temporary solution, the team now considers it a long-term effort, leveraging tools like Contentful and GatsbyJS to manage and update their site efficiently. The project's success relies on the contributions of hundreds of volunteers, who collect and verify data manually, often updating the site multiple times per week. With its growth and critical service, the COVID Tracking Project continues to provide valuable information during this pandemic.

CMS onboarding services help enterprises build the right foundation for their content platform, accelerating time to value and reducing risk by partnering with Contentful's solution services team to apply best practices in architecture, content strategy, and content model. The team offers customizable support and service options, including onboarding programs, workshops, extended in-person engagement, certifications, access to the Contentful Learning Center, and a comprehensive self-service help center. A new onboarding program is designed around three key pillars: project planning, delivery model, and content model, with solution architects helping design how Contentful fits into existing digital estates and solution delivery managers delivering projects while customer solution managers provide proactive support for growth and success over time.

The Contentful Certified Professional Exam is a timed, multiple-choice test designed to gauge the test-taker's expertise of the platform, covering topics such as content-as-infrastructure approach, SDKs, delivery architectures, roles and permissions, developer workflows, and web app capabilities. The exam aims to demonstrate familiarity with a certain software and show that the individual, their company, and community are on the same page. To prepare for the test, one can use Contentful's provided resources, including a study guide and self-paced courses, which offer educational materials in an engaging way, covering key technical concepts and best practices. The exam is not just about passing a test, but also about sharing expertise with the greater community.

As a tool for continuous experimentation and improvement, Optimizely helps teams iterate and learn across the entire user journey to find the most successful way to deliver an engaging digital experience. The Optimizely app allows Contentful users to conduct A/B testing directly through the web app without needing developer assistance. This platform enables engineering, product, and marketing teams to ship high-quality code and digital experiences faster with data-backed evidence. It also empowers marketers to target messaging, personalize campaigns, and drive growth by testing what their audience finds valuable and increasing conversion and retention rates. The integration reduces manual work required and allows content writers, editors, and marketers to run experiments on their own without developer help, enabling teams to quickly improve digital experiences for the benefit of end users.