Widen is a Digital Asset Management Software (DAM) with which Sitecore Connector marketers can combine the capability of a DAM system with a Content Management System (CMS). DAM has the capability of delivering personalized and automated content. It also provides integrated embedded codes to marketers to integrate images with the content.

With embedded code, the content editor quickly inserts the latest content like logo and banners on the digital pages within the Sitecore Experience Editor.

Growing media library requires a central hub from where teams can search the assets and organize the files. Widen helps in managing the central hub of the media library.

Widen follows the COPE strategy, i.e., Create Once, Publish Everywhere. We can analyse the performance of the content by tracking asset view and downloads. Widen provides the centralized location for content lifecycle for faster delivery of content which improves the time to market.

What is DAM?

DAM is a way of administering, distributing, and organizing media files. A DAM Software helps brands to develop a library of photos, videos, graphics, PDFs, and templates; sharable and ready to deploy.

DAM originated in 1990 with digitalization of marketing. An explosion of media files made it difficult to manage them in individual computers or shared folders. For the marketing team, it took a lot of effort just to find the content of the product launches and campaigns. DAM experts studied the information management techniques used by librarians and used the same technique to media files.

Widen is used by brands for-

• Centralization of media files in a single platform
• Automation of metadata tagging and content distribution
• Collaboration among teams on content creation, review, and approval
• Sharing assets among teams through self-service portals
• Analysing content performance and usage
• Integrating MarTech tools into a single content-centric stack

1. Graphic designers use Widen enterprise DAM solution as a central repository for their files. They use workflows where they can share the initial proofs for review/ approvals. And after the final version is created, they can be shared further.
2. Marketers utilize DAM to manage the media files & search for the content by keyword, convert media files, publish, and share them. Widen also provides analytics about assets performance.
3. IT professionals use Widen to integrate marketing technologies as it provides a lot of APIs.

What are the benefits of DAM?

Simply put, it saves time at every step of the content lifecycle. The user can find, tag, clip, embed, convert, share, or publish assets.

It provides secure access to the content, thus protecting the brand from unauthorized access. Once approved, the latest version of files will reach its users.

A DAM also removes bottlenecks by enabling search and browsing of brand assets on their own, avoiding unnecessary emailing of files.

It provides analytics on searches, downloads, views, usage, and engagement.

For Sitecore developers to integrate Widen images with Sitecore, the approach is to use embedded codes from Widen.

When Sitecore displays an image on a Sitecore page/ carousel, the image coming from the Sitecore media library, the data type of the field will be an image.

For Widen integration with Sitecore, now the image data type will be changed to Rich Text and the Image Widen now will have the embedded codes.

Code to retrieve the image source and other attributes.

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String strSrc =ssrc.Replace("&", "&");

string imageSrc = Regex.Match(strSrc, "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase).Groups[1].Value;

string imageAlt = Regex.Match(strSrc, "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase).Groups[1].Value;

string imageTitle = Regex.Match(strSrc, "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase).Groups[1].Value;

string imageHeight = Regex.Match(strSrc, "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase).Groups[1].Value;

string imageWidth = Regex.Match(strSrc, "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase).Groups[1].Value;

Happy Coding ☺

Sanjay Chauhan Technical Lead

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