By: Katelyn Foehner
Communications Manager, Big Buzz Idea Group

We are living in the ever-expanding visual age, which is why having a portfolio of digital assets for your organization is important for success. Whether those assets include a collection of images, or nothing more than a logo, there is still plenty to be done to make the most of what you have. Digital assets are valuable to your organization and much like financial assets, they should be managed and protected.

Here are three tips to help you build and maintain your organization’s digital assets.

Capture Every Moment. One – and probably the most important – tip to maintaining your photo and video libraries is to capture every moment. I know I may sound like your mom right now but capturing the different elements of your work is incredibly important in showcasing your organization in the best way possible. What better way to highlight your nonprofit than exhibiting who you are and what you do in pictures?

Take photographs of your staff, events, board retreats, etc. At Big Buzz, we take event photos of our team for #TeamTuesday to highlight our dedicated staff. For clients, we take photographs at each event which can be posted on social media to show the talented individuals behind the organizations. While these don’t need to be taken by a professional – anyone can snap a decent photo – I recommend checking out this blog post for taking quality shots if a professional photographer is not in your budget.

Organize Everything. You’ve finished taking all these great photos to start up your media catalog, now what to do with all of them? Organize, organize, organize! Photographs should be categorized by event and date and any other subcategory that might help your specific needs. Depending on your digital file structure, I recommend creating a separate folder for photos for each event, meeting, etc. Photographs that are used on social media platforms should also have their own file. This may seem like file overkill, but it will definitely help you stay organized in the long run. Keeping well-documented, clearly-labeled files for digital assets will make your search for photographs, logos or videos easier.

Always Keep a Back Up. Computer servers can crash without warning so it’s especially important to back up your photographs and videos. It can take a bit of time to build up your digital assets, and there is nothing worse than losing all your hard work in a matter of moments. I recommend websites such as Google Photos or Drop Box. Both are free and have high storage capacity. If you’re old school and don’t trust the iCloud, I suggest looking into an external hard drive for back-up. Regardless of the route you take, it’s critical to back up your photographs, videos and logos.

Creating and maintaining your digital asset library does not have to be a challenging task. While it may seem daunting, the first step is remembering to capture your nonprofit journey with photographs and videos when appropriate. You want to showcase what your organization has to offer and that starts with a plethora of digital assets. Start small and work your way to building and maintaining an indispensable portfolio of digital assets.