How to Properly Pack for a Clean Content Migration

On the dev side of website builds and refreshes, content migration is almost always an element that catches teams by surprise with its complexities. Whether it’s a new CMS that a client wants to switch over to, or a consolidation of several sites’ content into one, content migration needs to be properly planned for from the beginning of a project for teams to succeed in reaching their goals.

First, let’s talk about when and why to migrate.

Content migrations are typically needed when significant changes are being made to a site – perhaps due to a move to a new CMS, a platform upgrade, or major organizational shifts.

• Moving to a New CMS: Perhaps the most common catalyst, there are several reasons a business may need to move content to a new CMS. For instance, the existing CMS may no longer be supported, posing security and functionality risks. Alternatively, a business may look to cut costs by switching to a new CMS that offers potential savings. And in the other most common scenario, new stakeholders may introduce requirements that the current CMS cannot accommodate.
   
• Upgrades to Existing Platforms: Perhaps your team doesn’t need a whole new CMS, but needs to upgrade to a new version of the current CMS. Such an upgrade can necessitate a simultaneous content migration if the new version has substantial architectural changes that require content to be adapted. In addition to this, a platform upgrade might involve risks, and migrating content to a separate, stable environment before the upgrade can mitigate these risks.
   
• Reorganizing Between Instances: A final common scenario is the consolidation of content from multiple websites into a single, unified platform. This can often be driven by content sprawl and creep resulting from poor content governance, or by M&A activity, wherein multiple companies have merged and must combine their content into a single web presence.

A quick word on content migration vs. content transformation…

Okay, so you’ve got good reason to migrate your content – but wait! Before diving into a full-scale migration, you’ll want to verify if migration is truly the best approach. For instance, migration isn't always the fastest solution. You should assess the complexity of the content and the target platform. If the content requires significant transformation, other approaches might be more efficient.

Sometimes, what looks like a job for a migration actually calls for a transformation. Instead of strictly moving content, you might want to adapt and reshape it for the new environment. In such cases, using the existing content and its surrounding system as a template and reference can be more effective than a direct migration.

The Two Best Methods for Migrating Content

If you've determined that content migration is the best solution for your brand, the next step is to choose the optimal approach for your situation. There are two primary methods for content migration:

(1) Manual content migration: Essentially “copying and pasting” content from the old system to the new one, manual migration is a hands-on process where content is reviewed, reformatted, and entered directly into the new CMS.

Manual content migration steps: 

• After a content audit to determine what content should be kept, edited, or removed, teams then create mapping documents or spreadsheets to outline how legacy content aligns with the new platform’s structure and design.
• Once parts of the new site are stable and content-entry ready, content editors begin reformatting, and rewriting content according to the mapped structure.
• Throughout the migration, review workflows should be in place to catch formatting errors, broken links, or display issues. After each migration phase, teams conduct QA cycles and address any issues before go-live. 
   

(2) Programmatic content migration: In this approach, the dev team uses scripts or tools to automate the migration process.

Programmatic content migration steps: 

• Programmatic migration requires a significant amount of upfront work, and typically requires the majority of the new destination platform to be in a near-final, content entry-ready state before a team can begin its planning.
• This will help cover your expectations for how new content will look and feel as your team moves forward using the new system, as well as ensuring your previous content does not feel out of place.
• Once you’ve built out and tested your system, then dev can partner with UX, Strategy, and BA to begin mapping existing content & assets to their closest counterparts in your new system. This can be as straightforward as saying, “legacy component A now becomes Component B,” but it can quickly become much more complex if you determine that the fields of “legacy component A” require breaking out into multiple components and fields. This is best done through spreadsheet mapping exercises.

The decision between manual and programmatic migration depends largely on:

• Timing: How quickly does the migration need to be completed? If you need it done quickly OR you have a high volume of pages (100s or 1000s), then you should invest in a programmatic approach.
   
• Cost & Complexity: What is the budget for the migration project? If it’s more important to you to save on budget AND you have a small number of pages (<200) or there is a high degree of custom transformation needed, then a manual approach will be the better approach.

Other Considerations 

Lastly, proper setup and alignment of the destination platform are critical for a successful website migration. Think of your digital content as building blocks that make up a website. If you have a square, a circle, and a diamond in your old system, then your new system also needs to accommodate these shapes. Otherwise, you risk losing or misplacing content.

Furthermore, if a diamond needs to become a star, you need to plan and build a transformation that maps the content to the proper new format. This might involve custom scripts or manual adjustments.

The biggest ingredient for success with content migration is to plan ahead. If you have a digital project you are breaking ground on and need to think through what sort of migration is right for your situation, reach out to us and we can arrange time for you to talk with Chase and Nick!
 

Genuine is a digital experience agency with an independent spirit and the global scale of an IPG company. For 20 years, we’ve created marketing campaigns, website redesigns, lead nurture CRM’s, social content, microsites, and everything else digital for clients in almost every B2B and B2C category there is.