Online media publishers are turning to tag management systems (TMS) to better handle the challenges they face with managing multiple vendor tags (JavaScript snippets) across their high-volume, content-rich networks. Media clients such as The Sun (UK), The Wall Street Journal, NHL and others are turning to Tealium to take control of their web site tags, and increase the velocity of their digital marketing. So what are some factors that media sites need to consider when choosing a tag management vendor? Here are five:
- Multi-Platform Tagging—Consumers increasingly live in a multi-device world of mobile phones, tablets and laptops. In addition, online and mobile video consumption continues to soar. Because news organizations deliver their content via all these mediums, they need a TMS solution that can handle multi-platform tagging. This greatly increases the speed and effectiveness of measuring and maximizing their online solutions across any channel. For example, deploying Tealium on a mobile app means the marketer never has to recertify their app through Apple or Google again, even if they want to adjust their mobile analytics or deploy a new advertising solution.
- Scalability—Media web sites typically get more traffic than any other web site, including e-commerce, with visitors consuming new content on a regular basis. With such heavy traffic, media sites need a tag management solution that delivers massive scalability. Some tag management systems are more scalable than others. Look for a next generation TMS that eliminates the use of an application server to get the logic on which tags to load on which pages. A pure client-side model is widely recognized to be much more scalable. For the differences in technology, download our white paper on different TMS methodologies.
- Ability to Handle Traffic Spikes—The traffic peaks on a media site are as unpredictable as the news itself. A big story can break at any time. E-commerce sites, on the other hand, generally have a good idea of their peak traffic flows – for example, the holidays, Mother’s Day, etc. Because of the unpredictable nature of news, media sites need a tag management solution that can scale up and down at a moment’s notice. Reliability and scalability are key to handling large, complex news sites.
- Global Coverage—Media sites typically have a global footprint, much more than any other type of web site. People are often interested in reading the news in other countries. This compares to e-commerce sites, where most people only shop on sites within their own country. Media sites need a solution that has global coverage, that can serve tags from anywhere in the world. Tealium’s tag delivery network leverages over 30,000 servers worldwide, using reliable robust content delivery networks. Other solutions that rely on application servers to deliver tags can’t scale globally to the same degree.
- Marketing-Friendly Solution—Measurement and analytics is ultimately a marketing function, but up to now, tagging has been handled by IT staff based on the fact that tagging requires JavaScript knowledge. With minute-to-minute changes in content and the vast amounts of analytics data that is collected, it’s imperative that the marketing team retains real-time control over their tags and data to make the best decisions for their business. Tealium enables the marketing team to manage all of their vendor tags by themselves without having to rely on IT assistance.
From multi-platforms to high traffic, media sites have unique challenges that require a versatile and scalable enterprise tag management solution. Use these five criteria as you look for a TMS. For more information, please visit www.tealium.com or visit the resources site. If you are attending the Online News Association Conference, please visit our table to learn more.
