Topics and Topic Manager Reference Guide

• Filtering - Reducing options in News Feed for instance
• Indexing - For smart Search purposes
• Navigation - Linking through to Topic-grouped content
• Personalisation - Presenting Users with content selected via their Interest Preferences

You need to start by having SEO, Category Perspectives and Personalization policies for your site - main Topic / Keyword Subject Areas with specified sub-categories. These are then usually manually assigned on a Topic List - to build up a Site Taxonomy (a simple organisation-chart-type hierarchy). The process is quite straightforward - all you do is select Key Nodes on the hierarchy - the top subject areas first (Topic Parent), and then on subsequent entries you select the relevant ’Parent’ node on the hierarchy. NOTE that for User Interests on Demographic Profile, you select the Parent Category which contains the different Interest Topics underneath it. Thus it is right for you to get the hierarchy correct vis-a-vis Topic groupings. For ease of use, a Topic can have more than one Parent - i.e. can have alternative uses within the same Taxonomy.

Most Affino Sites will need their own unique Topic List / Topic Hierarchy - which is often best done manually, although an import option is available. The following 6 steps guide you through the Topic set-up process and some of the key applications of Topics.

Once you hit [+Add], you need to consider the following fields:

• Title: Enter Name of said Keyword List / Taxonomy
• Description: Enter description for your own reference purposes
• Language: Enter Meta Language category of Taxonomy; e.g. English
• Publisher: Enter company that owns / is responsible for publishing rights of content, e.g. © Affino
• Source: If the List is external, enter Source Reference for origin of list
• Language: Select Affino system Language for Topics
• [_] Auto Categorise: Enable auto-indexing of content, so that when any Content is entered Affino attempts to match it automatically to selected Keyword List

NOTE: Topic Hierarchy needs to be very carefully considered for ’Auto Categorise’ otherwise you will end up with some very peculiar associations - particularly tricky in English - owing to multiple meanings of several words - always be mindful of context and suitability

You have 2 options here, either you use:

Topic Import: Import CSV file of Topic Hierarchy - The CSV should have the following columns: Topic, ParentTopic, RelatedTopic, UseUseFor, CustomLink, Color. If no Parent Topic is present for an entry then it will be treated as a top-level entry.

OR - You manually add Topics on Topic Manager - you enter Topic Manager by clicking on [manage] Manage Topic option on Topic List (view mode).

You then get taken to a screen similar to the one pictured above.

You will see a 2 column panel - the column on the left has:

[Hierarchy] [A-Z] [Search] - flip between listing and view modes

The right hand column consist of 3 panel rows:

• Broader / Narrower Categories: Which hierarchical Topics are immediately above and below Selected Topic; Broader = Above, Narrower = Below
• Related Categories: Topic Categories which are very similar, although not identical
• Use / Use For: Identical Topic Categories to Preferred Topic; e.g. Preferred Term might be ’Careers’, this will then be used for Jobs, Positions, Vacancies, Employment etc.

When you [+Add] Topic, you get presented with a screen which has the following options:

• Topic: Enter Topic Term / Name
• Parent Topic(s): Enter Parent Topic Term / Name - i.e. the Category this one should appear under, if this is top level, it obviously requires no ’Parent’
• Related Topic(s): Enter any Related Topic Terms / Categories here - i.e. similar categories or 'cousins'
• Use / User For: Enter any Secondary level Term, for which the main Topic above is the Preferred choice - e.g. Career vs Jobs, Position etc.
• Custom Link: A Link reference used only for Custom Integrations = usually leave blank
• Color: Enter hexachrome value for colour-coded Seminar Index; occasionally used on custom templates too

Once you set up your Topic List it just needs to be enabled / selected on the relevant Zone/s (You can only have one Topic List / Taxonomy per Zone - but you can have the same on across several Zones):

• Zone: Select relevant Topic List in ’Taxonomy’ drop-down under ’Meta Data’ settings on Zone

You will now no doubt want to apply your new Topic Listing onto your existing content. To effect this, you go to ’Index Content’:

Select Zone(s) to be indexed using the assigned taxonomy:

(o) All Zones
(o) Indicated Zone

You have 2 self-explantory action buttons:

[Index] and [Remove Indexing]

NOTES - once initialised the first time, if you have ’Auto Categorise’ selected on the Topic List, all new content added will automatically be assigned against the Topic List, and relevant Terms matched based on like text in content.

You can additionally manually assign and update Topics / Keywords as you wish. Be sure that you enter system-wide Topics into the Topic Manager List, as even though you can assign ad hoc Keywords, these are not Preferred or Topic status Keywords, those can only be entered on the Topic Manager - and only Topics convey Personalisation and proper smart filtering and navigation.

Channels used to have a different interface for Entering Topics / Keywords - now the mechanism is identical for all elements, as detailed above:

Use ’Keywords’ entry field - you start typing your Term and a drop-down menu will instantly appear with options based on your input. You simply select the relevant Existing Topic / Keyword or else assign a new one freeform style - Topics will always appear in bold (versus freeform Keywords). Alternatively you can hit the [select] option above the entry field - which takes you to a selection screen featuring up to the 500 most popular entered Topics and Keywords.

There is yet another option here, which is to use Article Profiles and Article Attributes to list out specific Topics and make them tick-box selectable on the Article Entry / Edit form.

Topics are often used as Interest Categories on the ’Demographic Profile’ (Registration Page 2). In view mode on the Demographic Profile screen, scroll to the base of the form where you see ’X Form Fields’. Here you select ’Topic’ type when adding custom Form Field, then you can select any Parent Category Topic whose underlying categories you wish to make available as Category Selections by Users. For instance on Affino we have used Top level Category ’Affino’ under which are - Content Management, eCommerce, eCommunity, eMedia and ePromotions which registrants select as Interest Options.

The majority of the Content / Media Highlights Design Elements have Topic Filters on them, these include Article and Media Listings.

Topic Filter Settings obviously filter on Topic enabled Keywords either assigned on the Channel of the selected Content or else by manual selection; settings are as follows:

(o) All Content
(o) Channel Topics
(o) Selected Topics - [select]

As part of Campaigns, Topics can be assigned per 'Target Channel/Item Topics' or 'Target User's Interests' (Interests / Personalisation)

Getting started

1. Grouping

Firstly, you will need to group your topics into the 6 categories listed below.

Note There will be a lot of overlap between some of the topics in each column since you may assign the same topic to content as you would do a commercial topic you wish to sell against for example.

Topics are words (or tags) which are used to:

1. Perform site navigation
2. Assign to Editorial content
3. Be presented as 'Interests' for new Registrants or Existing Users to select when completing forms
4. Commercial targeting (such as Ad Sales, Sponsored content)
5. Automatic assignment of Users to Contact lists for Sales/Marketing opportunities
6. CRM for Account and Contact (team only visible) segmentation

2. You can download a sample Taxonomy for reference.

3. Refer to the guidelines below when completing the template.

Topic

The first set of topics in this column should be the Parent Topics or Themes for the site. We recommend having approximately ten (although some have up to 20 primary topics), keep the naming convention simple and avoid long-winded wording with characters such as '/'.

The remaining topics will be those you have grouped together above.

Site Navigation

Can often be the Themes or Parent Topics assigned in Column A above.

These topics are those displayed for primary navigating and content filtering.

Content

These topics apply to editorial content and also for content filtering. It's important not to have too many content topics particlularly at launch, otherwise you may end up having to produce more content to support the topics displayed to make them more meaningful.

Interests (Registration)

Displayed to the User when registering or updating their profile, should be applied across the board and must always include all the Commercial topics since these are the primary drivers for the areas that people are signing up to.

Commercial (Ad Sales, native ads)

Commercial - only the Topics that you are selling against. Specifically targeting those users who are in the interest graph You will need to have a certain volume of content, mailers and Events linked to the Commercial Topics.

CRM only

Assigned to Client Accounts and internally for Contacts - internal topics to profile and segment your Clients. This is a separate topic list to the Main Site Taxonomy. Mainly used for account and contact segmentation, to generate contact lists for Sales Leads and Marketing Campaigns.

Contact Lists

Specific list of people who have attended events, shown an interest particular events, downloaded a document, viewed a consultant's profile etc. By assigning these topics to contacts you can quickly generate contact lists to generate leads and create opportunities.

4. Set up your Topic lists.

Follow the procedure outlined in this guide (steps 1-6 above).

• There is often confusion between freeform Keywords and structured Topics - Topics in effect are Keywords with bells on - i.e. a variety of additional smart functionality
• Most common issue is people seeing random assignment of Keyword / Topics to articles - this is without exception due to the 'Auto Categorise' setting being ticked on the relevant Topic List
• Some complain that Topic Lists aren't working at all, most likely scenario here is that Topic List has not been assigned as Taxonomy on Zone