Taking care of your metadata is the most critical thing you can do. It is the difference between a buyer discovering and purchasing your content vs. your item appearing on the 10th page. If you feel unsure about the best practices around metadata, check out our Master Your Metadata post.
Add seasonal tags to your work to take advantage of periodic trends. These tags will help surface your relevant content in front of the right buyers. To find inspiration and to think about keywords, see our guide on Keywords and Concepts to find the right ones for your work.
Types of events to consider
Seasonal events – A seasonal event is a recurring event that takes place at approximately the same time. Examples include Halloween, 4th of July, Juneteenth, National Cherry Blossom Festival, Superbowl, Met Ball, Oscars, World Cup, or recurring customs, such as Back to School.
- Examples of tags you can use related to kids playing on a playground:
kindergarten, preschool, school, summer break, back to school, scholars, pupils, classmates, free time, leisure, family time, education, virtual classroom, distance learning, start of school, start of term, semester, etc.
Current Events – Current events live for a certain period and are highly searched because people talk about them for example, Coronavirus, the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, etc.
- Examples of tags you can use for healthcare related content:
COVID, Covid-19, COVID19, Coronavirus, pandemics, Respirators, FFP2, social distancing,…
On the News Events – These events are trending on the news currently, such as economics, cryptocurrencies, and political topics.
- Examples of tags you can use for news related content:
Midterms, Politics, Elections, The Congress, Go Vote, but also concrete keywords and special keywords from us, from social media, etc. Midterms2022, US Midterms, USElections2022, Primaries 2022 etc.
Extra Pro Tip: Always remember to update the year for recurring events like EURO, Midterm elections, Presidential elections, Olympics, etc.
Midterms 2018 > Midterms 2022
Location, date, and event are essential, especially when editing editorial footage. While editing the description, titles, and keywords, don’t forget these details.
Example:
- Title: Vote Center, Indiana, May 3, 2022 – People In Queue, Voting, Primaries, Midterms
- Description: Acton UMC Vote Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA (May 3, 2022), A queue of people holding ballots in front of the local polling station.
- Keywords: Midterms, Midterms 2022, US Primaries, May Primaries, Primaries Indiana, Midterms Indiana, Indianapolis, People, Crowd, Ballot, Queue, Elections, Voting, US Congress, Senate, House of Representatives, Go Vote, Politics, Politicians, Democrats, Republicans, Polling, Polling Station, Precinct, etc.
When to add current tags to your media?
Utilize Your Pond5 Guide to the Year and Data and Trends for insights on when it’s best to enrich your content with additional tags.
The ideal timing for adding new tags is essential. Our buyers plan their campaigns months in advance, so you should plan at least two months before the event, holiday, or season.
For example, if you have a video of people playing football, add the relevant keywords referring to the finals three months ahead of the event. Also, think of different keywords for different countries – both football and soccer should be there!
Example: A generic close up video of a football player may have different tags throughout the whole year:
The first set of keywords might refer to a local league – Premier League, United Kingdom, Uk Premier League Soccer Association, The Football Association, The FA
Another set of keywords may refer to an upcoming World Cup – 2022 World Cup, FIFA 2022, FIFA Qatar, Now is All, 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, etc.
You can consider specific keywords for UEFA EURO, Champion League, etc.
Soccer Player Makes A Kick by haizon.
Think of concepts
The way you look at your work isn’t always the way your potential buyer sees it. Always think of both sides of the story and prepare your metadata for everyone!
Example: If you have a shot of roasted bacon, you can use words like
crispy, yummy, delicious, BBQ, burger, etc.,
but also unhealthy, fat, junk food, obesity, civilization disease, high blood pressure, cancer, etc.
How To Add Keywords?
Follow the steps below or visit Your Pond5 Guide to Keywords for a more in-depth guide. Add as many descriptive keywords as possible up to a limit of 50 for each upload.
- Navigate to your My Uploads section by clicking on your avatar and selecting Uploads from the dropdown menu.
- Search for the file you want to edit. For a better understanding of your dashboard, check out this guide.
- Click on the number on the right in the “TAGS” column.
- Add your tags, and once you are finished, click on “Submit”.
- Reload the page – you should be able to see the new number of tags.
And that’s it! See? You can always enhance your previously uploaded batches of content so use the advantage of adding new tags and start increasing the sale potential of your existing uploads.