Organizing Files and Using Name Conventions in Lead Gen & CRM

Learn best practices for organizing files and use name conventions to become organized and easily manage your data.

Organization Practices

Organization is an absolute necessity in keeping files manageable. Though it is best to start organizing your files and content when you first start using Lead Gen & CRM, there is never a bad time to start tidying up. Constant Contact recommends the following:

Folders

Folders are the main organizational system within Lead Gen & CRM. When selecting an item to sort into a folder, you are prompted to either create a new folder or select an existing folder. Folders are used with the following application features:
 

Tags

Tags are used to apply searchable and organizational metadata to something in Lead Gen & CRM. Tags are used with the following application features:
 

Categories

Categories are used differently throughout Lead Gen & CRM. Consider the following uses of categories:
 

Organization does not end with moving files into folders. Organizing and standardizing practices for naming files, campaigns, and the like does much the same for how you organize content outside of Lead Gen & CRM.
 

Naming Conventions

Naming conventions are words, phrases, or abbreviations that are made standard to stand in as a name for something. Naming conventions and their individual standards depend upon who develops, maintains, and uses them. This is because each and every agency and client have different needs. 

Development

When developing your own internal naming conventions, consider the following:

• Be sure to document everything. Even if the conventions change over time, having a master list of conventions and standards allow you to refer to them at a moment's notice. Keeping this documentation updated is also important, as new conventions may be necessary. 
   
• Naming conventions must be easy to understand for you, your users, and your audience. If the naming convention is overly technical, a confusing term, or randomly associated with what it is supposed to represent, it will be more trouble than it is worth. Keeping things simple is best.
   
• Naming conventions should be as short as possible, while also being as specific as possible. There may be times when a long term is necessary, but, in general, keep naming conventions to a short phrase or abbreviation. The conventions should also directly reference what it is that they represent.
   
• Naming conventions are only successful if used consistently. The naming convention is useless if it is either never used or used with multiple variations. It is important to keep to one naming convention for a term and to keep using it.
   
• Naming conventions must also be able to handle special cases where exceptions to the rule must be made. There may be times when a naming convention needs to have new items attached to it or otherwise may need to apply to other content. The naming convention must be flexible enough to accommodate variations, such as FB-P and FB-M for Facebook posts and messages. These should be few and far between, however, to keep confusion and clutter to a minimum.
   
• Naming conventions should be searchable and sortable. Naming conventions are what will appear when searching metadata and moving files. Having them appear as results when searching helps to find specific content.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations are key to creating short and specific names. Abbreviations can turn a long phrase into a short term that is much easier to remember. Some examples of abbreviations for Lead Gen & CRM content and marketing terminology include, but are not limited to:
 

These are examples. You may want to use your own abbreviations for various items, content, and terminology that pertain to your business specifically. When creating abbreviations, keep them short, simple, and easy-to-remember.
 

Content Metadata

Metadata is data that describes other data. Metadata can also be used as terminology that describes your information. When organizing content, first identify all parameters that can be used to identify an item. Separate two pieces of content from each other and decide which are optional. Depending on the case, identifiers can be:

• Content types
• Campaigns
• Events, items, or activities in a campaign
• Dates or a date range
• Language
• Version control

Start first with the most general information. From there, begin to determine specifics and how content will display its information. Consider the following image as an example:

IG Banner City Triathlon 6-25 ENG V1-3

Banner Image | City Triathlon Campaign |
Triathlon | June 25 | English | v1.3

When broken down into its base parts, the content abides by the following structure:

Content Type | Campaign | Focus | Date | Language | Version

There is a meaning to the metadata structure. It is broken down as follows:
 

Saving metadata in this kind of structure allows for many different ways of retrieving the file when searching or indexing. While your individual structure can vary and detail different aspects of something, keeping to a similar informational hierarchy will keep things standardized.
 

Putting It All Together

When using metadata, it is important to keep the structure straightforward and simple enough for general searches. There are many ways to go about doing so—and you many not need to use all of the available metadata formatting. Consider the following metadata conventions:
 

Automations

• AG TFU EM Drip 2018 V01
  Action Group | Drip Campaign | Email | 2018 | Version One
  The first version (V01) of an action group (AG) that was used for an initial email (EM) drip campaign made in 2018.
   
• VW FB Winter 2018 MFU MQL V03
  Visual Workflow | Facebook Campaign | Nurturing Open Leads | Winter 2018 | Version Three
  The third version (V03) of a visual workflow (VW) to nurture (MFU) open leads (MQL) in a Facebook (FB) paid ad campaign during the winter of 2018.
   
• VW User Notice FM Demo Req
  Visual Workflow | Demonstration Request | Form 
  A visual workflow (VW) alerting Lead Gen & CRM users of leads generated from a Demonstration Request form (FM).
   

Campaigns

• SM FB General
  Social Media | Facebook | Posts 
  A campaign for general social media (SM) posts to Facebook (FB).
   
• SM FB AD Winter 11/2018–3/2019
  Social Media | Facebook | Advertisement | November 2018–March 2019 
  A winter social media (SM) campaign for a paid Facebook (FB) advertisement (AD) running from November 2018 to March 2019.
   
• TS KY SHRM 10/2018 BC/List
  Trade Show | Kentucky | Cards and Lists | October 2018 
  A campaign for the leads added from either business cards and/or the list of attendees provided by the organizers of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) trade show (TS) in Kentucky (KY) in October 2018.
   

Emails

• EM TFU Drip 1, EM TFU Drip 2, EM TFU Drip 3
  Email | Drip Campaign | Lead Generation 
  The three drip emails (EM) for Top of Funnel (TFU) leads.
   
• EM FB Responder
  Email | Facebook | Auto-Responder
  The email (EM) responder when a lead is added to the Facebook (FB) general campaign.
   

Files

• WP SEO Forecasts 2019 B2C PDF ENG Final
  White Paper | Forecast | .PDF File | 2019 | English | Final Version
  The final version of a .PDF file of a white paper (WP) about forecasts for 2019 regarding search engine optimization (SEO) written for business-to-customer (B2C) communication. Written in English (ENG).
   
• LP TW TY ENG 2018-10-5
  Landing Page | Twitter | Thank You Page | October 2018 | English
  A thank You (TY) landing page (LP) for Twitter click-throughs made on October 5, 2018. Written in English (ENG).
   
• IG CTA More Information FM PNG
  Image File | Call-to-Action | Form 
  A .PNG image (IG) for a call-to-action (CTA) button that brings you to a Find Out More Information form (FM).
   
• IG Logos PNG ZIP
  Image File | Company | .ZIP File
  A .ZIP file of your company’s logos in .PNG format.

Questions?