AEM - Adobe Experience Cloud
👉 Overview
👀 What ?
Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) is a comprehensive content management solution for building websites, mobile apps, and forms. It is a part of the Adobe Experience Cloud, which is a suite of solutions for online marketing and web analytics.
🧐 Why ?
In an increasingly digital world, businesses need to create seamless and personalized experiences for their customers across multiple channels. AEM helps to address this need by providing a centralized platform where marketers can create, manage, and deliver content and assets. The importance of AEM for businesses lies in its ability to streamline and simplify the management of web content and assets, allowing for faster delivery of digital experiences.
⛏️ How ?
To use AEM, you would start by creating a digital asset in the platform, such as a webpage or a form. You can then use the various tools within AEM to edit your asset, add interactive elements, and personalize the content based on your audience's preferences. Once your asset is ready, you can use AEM's publishing tools to distribute it across multiple channels. Additionally, AEM integrates with other Adobe Experience Cloud solutions, allowing for a comprehensive view of your digital marketing efforts.
⏳ When ?
AEM was first introduced by Adobe in 2010. Since then, it has been adopted by businesses across various industries to enhance their digital marketing efforts.
⚙️ Technical Explanations
Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) is a robust content management solution that is part of Adobe's Experience Cloud suite. It serves as a central hub for creating, managing, and delivering digital content, providing businesses with a streamlined approach to their digital marketing efforts.
AEM is built on a Java content repository, a system used for storing content in a tree-like structure, where data is organized as nodes and properties. This system adheres to the Content Repository for Java Technology API (JCR), an industry standard for content repositories. This standardization facilitates interoperability between systems and allows for the efficient management of content.
The platform also utilizes Apache Sling, a web application framework designed for RESTful web-applications. This framework uses an extensible content tree, which provides flexibility in managing and delivering content.
One of the significant features of AEM is its rich AJAX-enabled user interface. AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) allows for the creation of fast and dynamic web pages, where parts of a web page can be updated without reloading the entire page. This leads to a more responsive and interactive user experience.
In addition, AEM is capable of integrating with other standard IT technologies, which adds to its versatility. This means it can be incorporated seamlessly into an existing IT infrastructure, allowing for a more comprehensive view of digital marketing strategies.
Since its introduction in 2010, AEM has been adopted by businesses across various industries. Its ability to deliver personalized and seamless experiences across multiple channels makes it a valuable tool in today's digital world.
Let's take an example of how to build a website using Adobe Experience Manager (AEM).
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Create a new page: In AEM, you start by creating a new web page. To do this, you go to the AEM Sites console and click on "Create" > "Page". You would then select the appropriate template for your page.
Navigate to AEM Sites > Create > Page > Select Template -
Add content: Once your page is created, you can add content to it. AEM provides a drag-and-drop interface for this. You would go to the page editor, select a component from the side panel (such as a text box or an image), and drag it to the desired location on your page.
Navigate to Page Editor > Select Component > Drag and Drop to Page -
Personalize content: AEM allows you to personalize content based on the audience. This is done using the ContextHub tool in AEM. You would create a segment (such as "New Visitors" or "Returning Customers"), and then create an experience targeting activity that delivers specific content to users in that segment.
Navigate to ContextHub > Create Segment > Create Experience Targeting Activity -
Publish content: Once your content is ready, you can use AEM's publishing features to make it live. You would go to the page properties, click on the "Live Copy" tab, and then click on "Create Live Copy" to publish your page.
Navigate to Page Properties > Live Copy > Create Live Copy -
Analyze performance: After your page is live, you can use AEM's analytics features to track its performance. This could include number of page views, time spent on the page, and other engagement metrics.
Navigate to Analytics > Select Metrics > View Report
This is a simplified example, but it gives you an idea of how you might use AEM to manage your web content. As you become more familiar with the platform, you can take advantage of its more advanced features to further enhance your digital marketing efforts.