Metadata by definition is data about data. But that description doesn’t do it justice at all. Metadata gives structure and meaning to our digital worlds, creative assets, and DAM libraries. It helps us convey meaning to and define our creative journeys at any given moment in time. 

So let’s take a look at how metadata affects your image library and your creative environment. 

What is image metadata used for?

The start of metadata optimization lies in increased searchability in active projects. Finding assets quickly to speed up production. But it also lets you go beyond the boundaries of a single project so you can:

  • Connect existing assets to new projects and save on production time.  
  • Ensure that unused assets are connected to opportunities in the future. 
  • Enrich new assets with existing content to create new dynamics. 

But metadata can help creative teams achieve more than improved searchability. It can help unite teams across projects and throughout asset lifecycles. 

Through metadata, you can have each asset tell a story that captures its past, its present, and its future to:

  • Map historical data and track the lifecycle of assets from their creation. 
  • Document where assets are being used and where they fit into projects. 
  • Guide where and how assets can be connected to projects in the future.  

Simply put, metadata allows you to recreate the lifecycle of assets by ensuring that they never get lost in voluminous DAM libraries. 

What are the primary types of image metadata?

Metadata optimizes your digital asset library to ensure that your assets are always just a search away. It makes assets discoverable, accessible, and valuable through three main metadata types:

  • Descriptive metadata: Basic identification information such as title, creator, author, and keywords.
  • Structural metadata: Technical information regarding aspects such as format, dimension, and length.
  • Administrative metadata: The information that helps to manage an asset effectively on the business end. 

Together, these metadata types form a complete picture of an asset as well as its lifecycle. With the inclusion of XMP and CSV files, a detailed report of an asset’s lifecycle is at your fingertips at any given moment. 

Why is photo metadata so important? 

Your metadata can reflect the world. But because the world is always changing, updated metadata schemas can help your content remain relevant, helping you create more meaningful and engaging content. 

Metadata can capture changing business needs, user needs, and language changes (from new words and neologisms to changed meanings and differing regional uses). Updating metadata continuously ensures that your assets can be identified and discovered easily at any time by mirroring social and cultural changes. 

And as the world changes, so too do brands and businesses. By curating data that reflects every operational level and the latest brand objectives, you can empower teams to create content focused on the greater picture in mind at all times. 

How globaledit puts image metadata at the center of your business

Metadata requires diligence and takes time to do right. And it’s important to remember that the effectiveness of your DAM is entirely up to you. Metadata schemas and keywords should be updated regularly to ensure up-to-date licensing, tagging, and brand objectives stay relevant. 

globaledit simplifies asset appraisal and auditing while helping you enrich your assets with customizable schemas and pre-existing fields that you can populate right from the start. 

The same efficiency we bring to creative workflows, we bring to your metadata journey as well. globaledit allows you to automate your tagging to streamline your enrichment process, and export and enrich the journey across platforms. 

Metadata can boost productivity, underpin collaboration, and allow assets to make an impact throughout their lifecycles. But only if you’re doing it right. So let globaledit show you what your metadata is capable of.