--- title: "User engagement and asset lifecycle" date: "2026-07-09T10:31:50+00:00" summary: "Optimize your DAM user engagement and asset lifecycle with best practices for uploads, tagging, rights management, and distribution." image: type: "page" url: "/acquia-dam/user-engagement-and-asset-lifecycle" id: "725c35aa-39b0-4f20-9897-4e66d5ac494c" --- This page provides information about best practices that you can use to optimize your DAM user engagement and asset lifecycle strategy. Customize the DAM ----------------- Use the following methods to customize the DAM: * [Brand your DAM](/acquia-dam/can-i-brand-my-site "Can I brand my site?") with a DAM logo, browser favicon, [vanity url](/acquia-dam/what-url-options-are-available-my-acquia-dam-site "What URL options are available for my Acquia DAM site?"), and a branded login page and DAM dashboard. * [Name your DAM](https://www.acquia.com/blog/tips-for-naming-your-digital-asset-management-system). Customer DAM names range from the classics like Brand Hub and Media Bank to Fisheye and DECK. To make the DAM a fun place to visit, start with a name that rallies your users. * [Design your DAM dashboard](https://www.acquia.com/blog/design-your-dam-dashboard) to deliver personalized experiences for users in various roles to help users find 70-80% of the assets that they need in one click. * [Create Insights reports](/acquia-dam/what-filters-can-i-apply-insights-reports "What filters can I apply in Insights reports?") filtered by User Role to analyze the top search terms, assets downloaded, and assets viewed for users within various roles. * Use the data from the Insights report to anticipate the assets that users in various roles most commonly search for and use. You can then [create dashboard messages](/acquia-dam/how-do-i-create-dashboard-messages "How do I create dashboard messages?") to provide links for saved searches or portals that contain those assets and display them for specific roles. * Ask team leaders to provide a list of the most important assets for their teams. * Create a dashboard message that links to a DAM Policies and Procedures document, User Guide, or Governance document. * Create programs to [increase user adoption](https://www.acquia.com/blog/increase-dam-user-adoption). * Use the DAM dashboard, messaging apps, and other creative campaigns to inform users about the (re)launch of your DAM. * Create a DAM training program that employs a training portal, a new employee introduction to DAM, and an annual departmental enablement schedule. Teach users how to navigate the DAM. * Acquia Academy offers general DAM enablement.  * Access the Acquia DAM knowledge base from the [Acquia Copilot](/acquia-dam/what-acquia-copilot-what-can-it-be-used "What is Acquia Copilot? What can it be used for?") feature that is built into your DAM or from the [Acquia DAM documentation site](/acquia-dam/overview "Overview"). * Focus your enablement on how to use your search structure, dashboard, and asset download and share configurations. * Create a feedback loop through regular user surveys and quarterly meetings. Include your DAM super users. Asset lifecycle --------------- Plan asset lifecycles with the in-app functionality in DAM. This section provides information about the lifecycle of DAM assets. ### Upload assets For instructions on how to provide asset upload procedures, follow these recommendations: 1. Identify the DAM’s asset contributors and their assigned upload permissions to those roles. For more information, visit [User audit, roles, and asset security](/acquia-dam/user-audit-roles-and-asset-security "User audit, roles, and asset security"). 2. [Create upload profiles](/acquia-dam/how-do-i-create-upload-profiles "How do I create upload profiles?") that users can easily identify and that apply asset security, such as Asset Groups. When you create upload profiles, consider the following configurations: * Set release and expiration dates for assets that are uploaded through the profile. Think about the assets for which the profile will be used.  * Are they final assets ready for immediate release and distribution? * Are they embargoed assets or work-in-progress files that should not be released until a later date? * Do they have copyright or license restrictions that require specific expiration timelines?  3. Determine how uploads of duplicate assets should be managed. * Should they be directed to the [Conflicted Asset](/acquia-dam/what-are-conflicted-assets "What are conflicted assets?") queue and managed from the Admin dashboard? * Should they be uploaded through some profiles automatically, or should the system create new versions of existing assets? 4. Make a decision on how metadata will be handled. * Will assets that are uploaded through an upload profile share consistent metadata?  * Add default metadata to those upload profiles, to automate the metadata tagging effort. This will improve your user’s upload experience and create more efficient metadata tagging. For more information, visit [How do I create pre-populated free text metadata fields in upload profiles?](/acquia-dam/how-do-i-create-pre-populated-free-text-metadata-fields-upload-profiles "How do I create pre-populated free text metadata fields in upload profiles?") ### Tag and enhance assets The most time-consuming and important administrative task is usually when you add and edit metadata and update asset groups. The following features make it easier to find assets: 1. [Create Paths](/acquia-dam/how-do-i-add-path "How do I add a path?") notifications that automatically alert users that there are new assets ready for their review. 2. [Create auto-import mappings](/node/66766) to capture IPTC, XMP, and Exif data of your assets. 3. [Adopt a consistent file naming structure](/acquia-dam/filename-metadata-field-mapping-integration "Filename to metadata field mapping integration") that parses metadata from asset filenames. The filename-to-metadata function is included in all DAM subscriptions. 4. Enable and adopt the [keyword tags](/acquia-dam/how-do-i-use-keyword-tags "How do I use keyword tags?"), [AI tags](/acquia-dam/how-use-ai-tags-acquia-dam "How to Use AI Tags in Acquia DAM?"), [facial recognition](/acquia-dam/how-does-facial-recognition-work-acquia-dam "How does facial recognition work in Acquia DAM?"), and [video transcription](/acquia-dam/how-do-i-create-video-transcripts "How do I create video transcripts?") features that are built into your DAM. ### Curate, convert, and distribute assets The following methods help you direct your users to the assets they need.  1. Create [dashboard messages](/acquia-dam/how-do-i-create-dashboard-messages "How do I create dashboard messages?") to lead users to the assets they need. For more information, visit [How do I perform an advanced search?](/node/68216) 2. Create [global collections](/acquia-dam/how-do-i-search-global-collections "How do I search for global collections?") that direct users to new products, campaigns, and branded assets. 3. Use [conversion formats](/acquia-dam/what-are-conversion-formats "What are conversion formats?") such as specific file sizes, DPIs, color spaces, and file formats. Use your Roles configurations to apply permissions to use specific conversion formats. For more information, contact [Acquia Support](/service-offerings/support "Support"). 4. Develop an asset distribution strategy for various user groups, for example, categories for regional users, collections and [collaborative collections](/acquia-dam/what-are-collaborative-collections "What are collaborative collections?") for small teams, portals for external agencies and media kits, and integrations to sales enablement, e-Commerce, and CMS systems. ### Analyze, reuse, and archive assets Use Insights analytics combined with [Google Analytics](/acquia-dam/how-do-i-access-google-analytics "How do I access Google Analytics?") to do the following:  * Measure the performance of your assets and your campaigns.  * Identify your top-performing assets for reuse.  * Refine low-performing assets or remove those asset types from future production.  * Archive expired assets. Use this phase of the asset lifecycle to adjust your content creation, organization, and distribution strategies. ### Rights management A critical component of DAM and asset security is the ability to carefully manage licensed, copyrighted content. Use the following processes and features that are included in your DAM subscription. Also, consider specialized digital rights management (DRM) software, integrated with your DAM, for when assets require stricter or more complex rights management. * Create metadata fields that capture usage rights and restrictions. * Create upload profiles to be used specifically when users upload rights-protected assets. Use release and expiration dates to apply active dates and default metadata to capture usage data. * Create Paths notifications to alert admins and superusers when assets are scheduled to expire. * Turn on the DAM’s [Intended Use](/acquia-dam/how-do-i-collect-intended-use "How do I collect intended use?") feature (**Admin** \> **Features** \> **Analyze**) and configure intended use values. This requires users to report how they will use any rights-managed assets that they have access to. * Add a detailed [End-User License Agreement (EULA)](/acquia-dam/can-eulas-be-used-my-site "Can EULAs be used on my site?"), approved by your legal partners, to the DAM’s login and download experiences. * Contact Acquia Support to request the addition of your rights management metadata values to asset thumbnail views. This can increase the prominence of asset usage rights. For more information, visit [Can I see more details about assets in thumbnails?](/node/68096). Asset thumbnail text is currently available only in the DAM’s legacy search results view. Look for the addition of thumbnail text to the modern search experience in the future. * Add a dashboard message built around a saved search of assets that are scheduled to expire in the next n days. * Consider if the DAM’s [in-app watermarks](/acquia-dam/can-watermarks-be-applied-assets "Can watermarks be applied to assets?") feature can be used to enhance protection of rights-managed assets. * Explore the Acquia Integration possibilities. The complexity of your DRM policies and requirements may exceed what is available in the DAM. Evaluate Acquia solutions that specialize in complex DRM, and integrate those solutions with Acquia DAM. Fadel and Digimarc are trusted Acquia partners who excel in DRM. Ask your Acquia account team for more information about how to integrate DRM software with your DAM.  Advanced asset lifecycle maturity --------------------------------- This section provides advanced information on how to handle asset lifecycle maturity. Solutions that Acquia provides to help you include the following: * Acquia offers native and partner integrations with nearly 80 project management, creative, CMS, file sharing, and analytics solutions. For more information, visit [Acquia Exchange: Integrations and Connectors](https://www.acquia.com/integrations?product=30776).  * Acquia DAM’s open REST API is included in all DAM subscriptions. It is used to create more custom integrations. For more information, visit [API FAQs](/acquia-dam/api-faqs "API FAQs"). * Acquia offers consulting on best practices for importing and exporting data to and from Acquia DAM as your developers apply Acquia’s acclaimed API documentation, webhooks, and SDKs to enhance your content and data workflows through integration. For more information, visit the following articles: * [Acquia DAM API v2](/acquia-dam/api-v2 "API v2") * [Developing for Acquia DAM using the Acquia DAM Typescript SDK](/acquia-dam/developing-acquia-dam-using-acquia-dam-typescript-sdk "Developing for Acquia DAM using the Acquia DAM Typescript SDK") For steps on how to assess your asset lifecycle, do the following: 1. Create a list of all systems that touch your assets and data across the content supply chain. 2. Plot those systems on an asset lifecycle map.  3. Identify the DAM integrations that will create the most value for your organization and the integrations that will require the least amount of time to launch. Acquia can help you develop a plan for building a more efficient, automated asset lifecycle. For more information, contact your Acquia account team.