One of the perks of a content management system (CMS) is having all of your assets at the ready, there to be used however you need to use them.
But for most, it's not just your assets you need to leverage in your content. What if there's a YouTube video that you want to include, or a stock image that you want to use as a lead image?
Let's break down what that process looks like:
- If you need a stock image for a lead, you first have to context switch to a site outside of the CMS, like Getty Images. Once you've navigated to their site, you'll use their search to find an image. Once you find the perfect image, you'll download that image, context switch back to the CMS, and upload it.
- It's the same process for a YouTube video, but even more involved since you'll need a way to download the video before uploading it to the CMS for use in your content. That will involve an entirely different software program.
Both of these processes come with a bunch of mouse clicks and keystrokes. But editors don’t have to do this when using Brightspot thanks to Brightspot’s ability to search third-party libraries in the same way an editor would search Brightspot for their home-grown images, the act of which is described as an integrated search (or sometimes, federated search)
Integrated search lets you search external libraries, like Getty Images or YouTube, from inside the CMS—which is to say, in the same interface you're already using. With integrated search enabled, you simply click into Brightspot's search bar in the header, tell the CMS which library you intend to use, and then search as you would for any other in-house asset.
Once you input your search term, Brightspot returns a list of search results from the designated external library, and you may select (in bulk, if desired) the assets you want to import into the system.
The processes described above become much simpler without that context switch. And simpler, in this case means faster—faster discovery, faster load into your actual asset and faster turnaround of content.
Of course, it's not just Getty Images and YouTube that Brightspot supports. You'll also be able to search through Giphy, Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, AP Images, Vimeo, Dropbox, Box, Google Drive and Slack.
Take notice of the last few above. Integrated search with Dropbox, Box, Google Drive and Slack means that we're not just talking about benefiting your content—we're also talking about improving your internal operations.
Imagine being able to share company resources without, again, having to switch contexts. Employee handbooks, service level agreements, benefits forms—all searchable from the CMS you're presumably using to create the interface your employees use to access these things.
The best part about all of this is that the sky is the limit. Brightspot's integrated search supports the external libraries mentioned above... for now. One of Brightspot's pillars is being integration-ready, which means it's a quick and uncomplicated process to add more. Brightspot developers are always looking into new services to support, with many being added on an ongoing basis; however, being integration-ready means that your developers will have an easy time developing your own integrations if one isn't currently supported.
That being the case, Brightspot is a manicured platform ready not just now with current integrated search capabilities, but ready in the future to easily support the next-gen external library that comes around. When thinking of CMS options to support your business, consider Brightspot, the world-class platform to boost your digital strategy.
