2023 Optimizely Content Marketing Platform release notes

  • Updated

December

Brand templates

Access templates from the task in the Add Content drop-down list; a more intuitive and easier way to create and customize templates (manage template permission required). See Create brand templates.

Progressive forms for work requests

All multi-page forms are consolidated into one form, creating a more seamless work request experience. Every other instance repeats values entered in a field record and uses the same field in the form. Changing a value for a field updates instances of the field on the form. When you click a field to change the value, the form jumps to the first use of the field. See Work requests.

October

Omnichannel authoring and delivery

Omnichannel authoring lets you create content once for multiple channels with an editing experience similar to Google or Microsoft. The editing experience also includes inline commenting, the magic of AI, channel-specific previews, and publishing. See Edit content with omnichannel authoring.

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Brand templates

Create on-brand assets in minutes. Designers can build templates in the native template builder in the library, locking specific elements so that users can edit only certain components. Templates ensure consistent branding, let non-design-savvy users create the content they need, and give time back to designers to develop materials. See Create brand templates.

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Place tasks on hold

Pause work and pick it back up when time permits. Marketers' priorities are constantly changing. Instead of bumping out the due date or archiving work when a task gets deprioritized, update the task's status to On Hold, then pick the work back up when time permits. See Place task on hold in Manage tasks.

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UX delights

Features that will improve your CMP experience:

  • Bulk tagging assets in the library – Apply tags to multiple assets simultaneously

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  • Nested folder search in Library – Search for assets within a specific folder.
  • Character count on rich text fields – Set and view character count limits on rich text fields.
  • Helper text for fields – Set helper text for fields in Settings to guide users in providing the appropriate information.

August

Reports on campaign performance

An administrator can use reports to make informed decisions.

  • Use the template report to understand template usage for process optimization.
  • Use the workflow report to justify the cost of the platform and keep the instance clean.

See Reports on campaign performance.

July

Archive assets

Mark assets as Archived to remove them from library search results. In the filter panel, filter for archived assets to find them, and mark them as Unarchived if you need them again.

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UX Delights

  • View Created Date column in List view – You can see the creation date for any task, campaign, event, or milestone. 
  • Filter Library assets by file format – Choose the file types you want to see—PDFs, text docs, spreadsheets, audio, or creative files — from the filter panel.

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  • Filter users by roles in Settings – View and audit CMP users to ensure you get the most out of your allotted user count.
  • View related activities for work requests – You can view the number of related activities associated with each request and click to view the list of activities. Additionally, CMP sends back only the library-saved assets to the Approved Assets section of the work request; draft versions are not visible to requestors.

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  • Add folders to collections – Organize assets by nesting folders into collections.
  • Select All in collections for bulk updating – Download or remove files within a collection without selecting each asset individually.
  • Apply actions to a batch of assets – Apply actions to multiple assets simultaneously. Send assets, add to favorites, collections, or campaigns, apply labels, or delete – in bulk.

June

Video renditions

Automatically generate videos in various formats.

Video is a must-have for today's content strategies, and each channel has its requirements for video file types. With Video Renditions (configured in Settings), you can automatically convert video assets into various file types (.mp4, .mov, and more). See Video renditions.

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Integrate into Microsoft Teams

Now available in the Microsoft Store.

Integrate Optimizely Content Marketing Platform (CMP) with Microsoft Teams to stay on top of your work with updates, reminders, @ mentions, and alerts sent directly to your Teams app. See Integrate CMP into Microsoft Teams.

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LinkrUI

LinkrUI lets you import assets directly from the Digital Asset Management (DAM) library into Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Excel. You can save the final product—document, presentation, or spreadsheet—to the DAM without leaving your Microsoft Office app. See Integrate LinkrUI for Microsoft Office.

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UX delights

Little updates that make your CMP experience, well, delightful.

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  • Select All in Collections for bulk updating – Download or remove files within a Collection without selecting each asset individually.
  • Filter Library assets by file format – Choose the file types you want to see from the filter panel: PDFs, text docs, spreadsheets, audio, or creative files.
  • Filter users by roles in Settings – Easily view and audit CMP users to ensure you get the most out of your allotted user count.
  • Make Fields Active or Inactive – Have greater governance of fields by making them Active or Inactive.

April

AI Content Generator

The following introductory paragraph was powered by the CMP's AI Content Generator and edited by a human.

As marketers, we know that a lot goes into successfully launching content. It's more than just ensuring articles get published, but also efficiently managing the content creation and collaboration process. Our latest releases include some great new features to help make your content processes more collaborative and efficient than ever before. Without further ado, let's jump in!

  • Generate AI content – Harness the time-saving power of AI! Generate short or long-form written content: provide the topic, word count, tone (formal or informal), and sentiment (neutral, positive, or negative), and AI will do the work for you. Do you need an image to accompany your text? Provide a prompt and choose from a batch of AI-generated images to find the perfect match.

Digital Asset Management

  • Microsoft 365 Office apps – Bring assets from Optimizely Digital Asset Management (DAM) into Microsoft Office applications. You can pull in assets from the DAM library without leaving Word, PowerPoint, or Excel, and you can save the final product to the DAM without leaving your  Microsoft Office app. 
  • Adobe Creative Cloud integration – Update assets without leaving Adobe Creative Cloud. Browse, open, and update library assets in your Adobe tools, including Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and After Effects. 
  • Add folders to collections – You can nest folders into collections to organize your assets. For example, you could have a brand collection folder that can store types of logos, another for branded images, another for branded templates, and so on.
  • Bulk actions – Send assets, add to favorites, collections, or campaigns, apply labels, or delete in bulk. 

Related Activities for Work Requests

  • Work Requests – You can view the number of Related Activities associated with each request. A side panel displays the list of related activities for that work request by clicking the number. Additionally, only the assets you select are saved in the library and sent to the Approved Assets section of the Work Request; draft versions are not visible to requestors.

March

Sending assets to the library by default for placeholder tasks

Like workflow library default settings, an administrator can set the default action for placeholders to send content to the library automatically. If the administrator turns off the action, you can avoid sending irrelevant content to the library.

Collapsible panel

When inside a task, you can collapse the right-hand panel (workflow, comments, attachments, and so on) to make room for more collaboration on brief, content, and so on. The panel is open by default to display important information (such as due dates, sharing, and so on).

Copy event

Select Copy from the options menu (...) to duplicate an event, modify the details of the copy, and click Save

You must have permission to access the event they want to copy.

Copy work request

Select Copy from the options menu (...) to duplicate a work request, modify the details of the copy, and click Submit

Copied work requests must retain the same template. You can change only the title and template inputs. You must have permission to access the request they want to copy.

Overdue steps filter

Use filter Task Status = Has overdue steps to find tasks with one or more overdue steps, regardless of whether the task is overdue.

The Task status filter is separate from Status, the same filter where you will find Task Status = Scheduled.

Deactivate and reactivate a workflow

From the Workflow settings, an administrator can deactivate (and reactivate) multi-step workflows. You will not affect current objects that use the deactivated workflow; it makes the workflow unavailable for use on new tasks.

Content tab list view

CMP added a list view to the detail and grid views in the task's content tab for teams with many pieces of content in a single task. Only select filters and columns are available on this view. Provide feedback if more are needed. This tab works best when the Workflow panel is collapsed.

Work request alert

When you are on the work request module, a banner displays at the top of the page when someone submits a new request (that you have access to). Click the banner to refresh the page and see the new alert.

Boolean search

You can use AND, OR, and Direct Match operators to find content in global, plan, and library searches.

  • AND operator connects search terms and returns results that include all terms.
  • OR operator returns results that include any terms.
  • Direct Match operator uses quotation marks (" " to return results that match the term in quotation marks (" ")
Boolean search operators are not available in the work request search bar.

Emoji reactions for comments

Emojis are available only on top-level comments. 

February

Board workflow view

Optimizely added a way to see tasks from the board view. It uses a specific workflow to provide an aggregate view of tasks and their current step, so you can:

  • See where work is getting blocked or where work may need to be updated
  • See the tasks that are using a specific workflow and the current step it is on
  • See steps within the workflow as individual columns
  • See tasks in their respective step column
  • Move steps forward or backward by dragging and dropping to another step column
  • Complete tasks by dragging a card to the Completed column

See Drag and drop to change owners in Board view planning.

Smart focal points for image renditions

Artificial intelligence (AI) automatically detects the important parts of an image to focus on the right section of the image before cropping. AI can eliminate time-consuming edits to image renditions (and the occasional – and unfortunate – cropped head).

See Image renditions.

Campaign milestone improvements

Optimizely added refinements to campaign planning so that you can:

  • Drag and drop the diamond to update milestone dates and respective corresponding task end dates in the timeline calendar
  • Add milestones on the list and timeline view within the row (just like a spreadsheet)
  • View milestones on a visual calendar

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See Manage campaign milestones.

Microsoft Teams integration

You can receive Optimizely Content Marketing Platform (CMP) notifications, deadline reminders, and alerts directly to your Teams app. 

Adobe Creative Cloud + CMP Library

Designers can browse, open, and update Library assets directly from Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and After Effects to make creative collaboration seamless for design teams. (Available at additional cost for users.)

User experience delights

Optimizely made the following refinements to the user experience:

  • List view on task Content tab – View a condensed, filterable, or sortable list of content in a task. 
  • Boolean search – Search bars now support AND, OR, and exact match using quotation marks (" ") to find the results you want more accurately.
  • Copy event – Running a series of similar events? Create one, then duplicate the event and adjust accordingly.
  • Filter for tasks with overdue steps – Find tasks with one or more overdue steps, even if the task due date has not lapsed (the task itself is not overdue).
  • Collapsible workflow panel – Make more room for collaboration! Collapse the right-hand panel to give more space to work in the brief, content tab, and so on.
  • Activation or deactivation of multi-step workflows – Deactivate workflows that are no longer in use without deleting them. Deactivate workflows only used at certain times of the year (such as seasonal kick-offs or events).
  • Alert users of new work requests – A banner displays at the top of the requests page when a new request comes in to reduce the chance of missing a request. Refresh the page to see the new request at the top of the list view.
  • Default Library settings for placeholder tasks – You can select whether content from placeholder tasks is automatically sent to the library from the workflow settings page (if placeholder tasks are activated).

January

UX delights

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  • Rearrange content in the Content tab – Drag and drop the order of content in the Content tab so the most important content is shown first.
  • Mark notifications as unread – Return to a notification by marking it as unread in the dropdown.
  • Copy Work Requests –Reuse work requests (and make changes if needed).
  • View Marketing Work Request Completed Date Column – See when someone completed the request.
  • Add priority to work requests – In Routing Rules, choose a priority level to apply automatically based on work request inputs. You can use this with or instead of routing to an assignee.
  • Upload InVision URL to Content tab – View the URL's content and collaborate in the CMP's comment section.

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  • Change title of URL-based content – Easily differentiate between URLs from the same site.
  • Save sorting views – In the Plan view, save a sorted view to find in the future.
  • Library options menu (…) updates – Share, move, edit, delete, and more from one menu.
  • React to comments with emojis – 👍👎💗

Generate your ideal image with artificial intelligence

Looking for the perfect image? Using AI, you can generate images based on a text prompt, such as Photorealistic person hiking in the mountains at sunrise.

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