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PathFactory

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Uses

PathFactory (PF) is leveraged as our content library & content distribution system. The global content and Digital Marketing Programs teams are primarily responsible for all the of the content within the PathFactory. Marketing program managers work with other teams in marketing to organize and curate assets into tracks that are then disseminated for use in Marketo, about.gitlab.com, and other campaign-related channels.

Team Rules of Engagement User Roles
Marketing Operations Manage, quality assurance, user management, system integrations, training Admin
Marketing Program Managers Add content, create and edit content tracks for use in campaigns Author
Content Marketing Upload new content Author
Field Marketing View content performance Reporter
Account Based Marketing View content performance Author
Customer Reference Programs Upload new case studies and customer content Author
Developer Evangelism Upload new technical content for use in campaigns Author
Sales Development Representative (SDR) PathFactory for Sales Sales user (PathFactory for Sales only)
All Remote Upload new all remote content, create and edit content tracks for use in all-remote campaigns Author

Access

The Marketing Operations team is responsible for managing access requests & provisioning the appropriate level of access for each role/function. PathFactory is not provisioned as a baseline entitlement. If you or your team require access, please open a Single Person Access Request issue and provide business reason why access is needed. For certain permissions or roles, you may be required to go through training before access is provisioned.

User Roles

There are three levels of access - Admin, Author, Reporter - which are granted based on the persons' role and team function within GitLab. All access levels have the ability to view the analtyics page within the tool.

Training

Issue templates

Marketing Operations

Digital Marketing

What is PathFactory?

PathFactory vs. Marketo

☝️ PathFactory ≠ Email Nurture. PathFactory is a tool that - instead of driving to a single asset - drives to a related-content experience.

Nurture is a channel to bring an individual to the content. Just like ads, social, website, etc. drive to CTAs, PathFactory link is the CTA - a powerful CTA because it can lead the individual down a "choose your own adventure" path of consumption which we track.

What are the differing goals of PathFactory and Marketo?

Can records be in Marketo nurture and PathFactory nurture at the same time? If not, is 1 prioritized over the other?

Yes, the PathFactory track acts as a supplement to the existing Marketo nurture instead of a replacement. It allows us to provide related content in a seamless way for the end-user (better than simply providing a PDF link and to improve "binging" of content).

PathFactory vs. CMS vs. DAM

PathFactory is not a single source of truth (SSoT) for all GitLab content, but rather content that has been activated in a marketing campaign.

Content Management System (CMS) - A content management system is a software application that can be used to manage the creation and modification of digital content.

Digital Asset Management (DAM) - Digital asset management (DAM) is a system that stores, shares and organizes digital assets in a central location.

PathFactory - Content experience software used to allow buyers to binge-consume content, remove friction, and create more qualified leads, faster.

Changelog

Periodically, significant changes are made or added to PathFactory and processes that affect overall data and reporting. As such we have a changelog. Everyone with Author access that is making significant changes in PathFactory should add their changes to the changelog with a linked issue and/or relevant PathFactory links.

Scenarios for adding to the changelog:

  1. Creation or launch of a new content track and where it will be used
  2. Creation or launch of a new website promoter
  3. Additions or changes to a form strategy within a [LIVE] content track
  4. Additions or changes to assets within a [LIVE] content track
  5. Expiration of an asset from the content library
  6. Change of a custom URL slug for an asset or content track and why
  7. Change of promote settings within a [LIVE] content track and why

Instructions

  1. Open the PathFactory changelog doc.
  2. Add the date you made the change if it doesn't already exist.
  3. Add a bullet with your GitLab username and document the changes you made, making sure to include links to issues or relevant PathFactory links.

Request a content track

PathFactory is primarily a demand generation tool that allows leads and prospects to self-nurture with content that is bundled in a personalized experience. As a result, marketing program managers are the DRIs for creating content tracks for use in campaigns, event marketing, and email nurture streams. If you would like to request a content track, please open an issue in the digital marketing programs repository using the PathFactory request issue template and assign it to your designated MPM. If you require a content track outside of this use case, please use the Generic PathFactory request issue template in the marketing operations project and provide a detailed business case.

Content library

Before uploading content:

  1. Follow the blog style guide.
  2. Use the search to determine if it’s already been added. If you try to add an asset that's already in the library, the system will tell you it already exists.
  3. Ensure you have the most valuable version of the asset (blog post vs. case study or PDF).
  4. Ensure you have the most recent version of the asset.

How to upload content

  1. Click Add Content in the top right of the content library.
  2. Choose how you will upload the asset (Website URL, file upload, or CSV).
    • For a Website URL, copy/paste the URL. For multiple URLs, paste one per line.
    • For a file upload, select this option and either drag and drop the file onto the file upload window or select it from your computer. Files can be up to 100MB.
    • If you want to bulk upload multiple assets using the CSV option, create an issue in the Marketing Operations project and assign @sdaily.
  3. Enter the title of the asset under Public Configurations. Ensure that the title is free of SEO meta information such as | GitLab.
  4. Provide a clear and concise description of the content if one does not exist.
  5. Select the content type from the dropdown.
  6. Leave the engagement score at a default of 20 seconds with a score of 1.
  7. Copy and paste the public title into the internal title field.
  8. Funnel stage and estimated cost is set automatically based on the content type you chose earlier. Please leave these auto-generated tags as is and do not force change. If you require a change to how content type is tied to funnel stage and estimated cost, please open an issue and assign @sdaily.
  9. Set the language of the asset.
  10. Select the Business Unit of the asset based on use and sales region.
  11. Set the expiry date of the asset if one exists.
  12. Leave External ID blank.
  13. Select the content topics on the right-hand side that categorize the asset. Follow the content tag map below when tagging content with topics.

After adding the asset to the library:

  1. Select the asset you just added to the library. A preview of the content will appear on the right-hand side of the content library. Scroll down the window pane under source URL and locate Custom URL slug.
  2. Update the custom URL slug to be descriptive of the content with no stop words (and, the, etc.).
    1. Please Note: DO NOT change a custom URL slug that is part of a [LIVE] content track. You can see whether an asset is part of a live content track by clicking on it in the content library and scrolling to the bottom of the preview pane. This action can affect any links to this item that have been previously shared and break the asset consumption tracking via listening campaign.
    2. If a URL slug needs to be modified, please open an issue, assign to @sdaily.
  3. We force https:// to content tracks by default. As a result, all assets must use https:// in the link to work in the content track properly. If you upload content that is not secure, it will not show a lock icon next to the URL and it will not work in a secure content track. Please manually add https:// if it is not already there.
  4. If you need to replace an asset source but keep the same link, you can do so from the content library. Select the asset from the content library, then from the preview pane on the left under Source URL, click the pencil/edit icon, then either paste the new URL for the asset or upload the new file.

Bulk upload

You can bulk upload multiple assets to the content library via a CSV file.

  1. Make a copy of this CSV template for your upload.
  2. Provide all the information in the template for your new assets and save as a CSV.
  3. Create an issue and tag @sdaily to review the template and upload to PathFactory.

Analyst reports

Expiry dates will not automatically deactive content after expiration. You must manually deactivate the content if it’s past the expiry date. To expire an analyst report from PathFactory, open an issue in the digital marketing programs project using the Gated-Content-Expiration-Analysts-MPM issue template.

Asset thumbnails

For assets that don't pull in a relevant thumbnail image, you can choose to upload a thumbnail image that closely matches the topic of the asset. The design team has made topical thumbnail images available for upload to PathFactory. The thumbnail images are available in either an orange or dark purple background for the following topics:

To use a thumbnail image, visit the web design repository where they are stored, choose the png folder, choose your preferred background color, then select the .png that most closely matches the topic of the asset in PathFactory you're uploading the image to. Use the list of topics above to determine the best topic fit.

Adding a thumbnail for an existing asset in the content library:

  1. Select your asset from the content library.
  2. When the preview pane appears on the right, hover over the image and click the edit icon.
  3. Under the thumbnail images tab, click to upload the thumbnail image you just downloaded. All images are already properly sized for PathFactory.

Adding a thumbnail for newly uploaded content:

  1. Follow the regular process for uploading new content to the library.
  2. Directly under Public Configurations, you'll find the thumbnail for the asset. Hover over the image and click the edit icon.
  3. Under the thumbnail images tab, click to upload the thumbnail image you just downloaded. All images are already properly sized for PathFactory.

Content tracks

Before creating a new content track, decide what type of content track (target vs. recommend) you want to create. Use the criteria below to decide the best option:

Best practices

Target track

Recommended track

Create a content track

  1. When you're ready, select Campaign Tools in the top navigation bar and select the content track type you want to create (target or recommend).
  2. Click the "Create track" button in the top right.
  3. Name your content track. Be descriptive about the topic or campaign that your track will be used for. If you're unsure, review the names of other content tracks to get an idea. The content track name is for internal use only and will not be shown to visitors. Each content track has to have a unique name. You cannot use duplicate names for content tracks.
  4. Choose to clone an existing content track, which will copy all assets from that content track into yours, or simply start from scratch.
  5. Choose the folder where your content track will live. Follow the current folder hierarchy for organization which is currently set up by team. If none of the folders accurately represent your content track, ping @sdaily to create a new folder in the structure.
  6. Tag your content track with labels that will tell everyone accessing the content track which channels it will be used on (internal use only). If you will be launching on a channel that doesn't exist from the picklist, ping @sdaily to add a track label for your channel.
  7. Click "Create Track".
  8. On the left panel, change the custom URL slug to be descriptive of the track with no stop words (and, the, etc.) - ex. ci-aware
  9. Add assets to your track by clicking the "Add content" button at the top right. A window will pop up with the content library. Use the sorting options at the top to quickly add content by topic, type, funnel stage, etc. PathFactory content tracks are meant to encourage content binging (visitors reading more than 1 asset to accelerate them in the pipeline by helping them self educate faster in one visit). So as best practice, have more than 1 asset in a track.

Configuring content track settings

Track settings
  1. Set the custom URL slug for the content track. Follow the instructions for creating a custom URL slug for an asset. Important: All content tracks should be set up with custom URL slugs to prevent any future changes to the track from breaking the link and thus the user experience. If you change the custom URL slug after a PathFactory link has been implemeneted, those links have to be updated wherever they were used (ads, emails, website, etc.).
  2. Ensure that the Search Engine Directive is set to No Index, No Follow.
  3. Set the appearance for the track. If you require a new appearance, create an issue in the Marketing Operations project and assign @sdaily.
  4. Set the language for the track.
  5. Leave Links & Sharing set to default.
  6. Leave External ID set to default.
  7. Turn on the Cookie Consent before providing the approved content track link for live use.
Promoters

This is where you will choose how your content track displays to the visitor. Note the different functionality of each below. Before going live, you can test each promoter to find the one that works best for the goals of your PathFactory experience.

Form strategy

Form strategy is used on content tracks to collect data from unknown visitors and should only be used when a track entry point is not from a webform or landing page (i.e. direct link from digital ad or web promoter). Not all content tracks will or should have form strategy turned on. The forms used in PathFactory are directly tied to currently existing Marketo forms. If the form strategy is implemented, please ensure Show to Known Visitors is left unchecked. For help with PathFactory forms and workflows, please create an issue in the Marketing Operations project and assign @sdaily.

Please Note: We have listening campaigns in Marketo set up to capture consumption of content that would have been gated had PathFactory not been implemented. The listeners also incorporate PathFactory activity into the MQL scoring model. This means that you do not need to add form strategy to a content track if entry point is from a landing page and there are listening campaigns set up for assets in your track that would normally be gated. Please create an issue in the Marketing Operations repo and assign @sdaily to set up a listening campaign for an asset.

Adding form strategy to a content track
  1. In the content track settings sidebar (left), toggle "Forms Strategy" to On.
  2. Click View Form Strategy located below the Add Content button.
  3. Determine whether the form strategy will be applied to individual assets or the entire track. For individual assets, you'll choose Content Rules; for form strategy on the entire content track, you'll choose Track Rule.

Form strategy for individual assets:

  1. Click Add Rule in the Content Rules row.
  2. Select the General Form (2074) LIVE form unless otherwise required according to campaign needs.
  3. Under Display Behavior, click the dropdown and choose the assets where you want the form to show. (Please Note: only assets that you have added to the content track will show in the dropdown. If you want the form to show on an asset that is not in the track, you will need to add it first.)
  4. Select the amount of seconds you want to delay before the form shows on the asset. Ten seconds is the default selection.
  5. Select additional options for the form behavior. If you will be using the content track or individual asset links in an email, you are working with a known audience and therefore should only select Show to unknown users. This prevents forms being shown to users who are already known in Marketo. However, if you are using the form on the web or other channels, you'll want to select Show to unknown users only.
  6. Leave If submitted, allow form to show again turned off.
  7. You can allow visitors to dismiss the forms if it is not crucial to its use to have them submit their info. This decision ultimately lies with the directly responsible MPM.
  8. The option Keep promoters active when form is shown is also up to the directly responsible MPM. For example, if the Flow promoter is used on a content track, they will still be able to see the sidebar of avialable content while the form is shown to them. If this option is turned off, the visitor will not be able to click on any content in the sidebar until they fill out the form.

Form strategy for content tracks:

  1. Click Add Rule in the Track Rule row.
  2. Select the General Form (2074) LIVE form unless otherwise required according to campaign needs.
  3. Under Display Behavior you can choose to serve the form based on the number of content assets viewed or the total time spent on the track. This decision lies with the directly responsible MPM.
  4. All other options for content track rules are the same for individual assets (see above).
  1. Click through the experience to ensure assets, CTAs, and forms load properly and that promoters are working as intended.
  2. Remove any extraneous ? (there should only be one immediately after the end of the URL).
  3. Watch for extra & when appending UTMs.
  4. Ping @sdaily to test and ensure the experience is working as intended.

When a track is LIVE (in use):

  1. Change the target track title in use to [LIVE] Name of track.

When a track has been archived (no longer in use):

  1. Change the target track title that's no longer in use to [ARCHIVED] Name of track.

Adjustments to live content tracks

PathFactory forms

The forms used in PathFactory are hardcoded Marketo form script. They are added to PathFactory using the Marketo script, but they should also include the PathFactory capture tags, Google Tag Manager script to capture form fills in Google Analytics and track form submission back to Marketo, and custom parameters to capture additional information behind the form fill. If a new form is created, the PathFactory capture tag, Google Tag Manager script, and custom paramters must be hardcoded in the script. To request a new form, please open an issue using the pathfactory_request.md issue template in the marketing operations project and assign it to @sdaily.

  1. Use the Get Share URL feature next to the title of the track. Share links are to be used in locations such as the website whereas Email tracking links are only for use in email. Note: If it’s in email, it’s a known audience so don’t gate any assets in the track. Only use share links on the web and those tracks can have gated assets within PathFactory.
  2. If you want a particular asset to show first, that asset should be located in the first position of the target track.
  1. To use a recommended track link, click on any of the assets in the track and copy the link from the asset window on the right. The asset you choose to share the link will be shown to the user first.
  1. First check and see if there is a question mark ? already existing in the PF link. Typically there is one. The only time it won't have a ? is when you set a custom URL.
  2. If there is a question mark ?, first add an ampersand & at the end of the PF link, followed by the UTMs.
    • For example:
    • PF Link: https://learn.gitlab.com/c/10-strategies-to-red?x=53kuPb
    • PF Link with UTMs: https://learn.gitlab.com/c/10-strategies-to-red?x=53kuPb&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=test
  3. If there is no question mark ?, first add a question mark ? at the end of the PF link, followed by the UTMs.
    • PF Link: https://learn.gitlab.com/c/10-strategies-to-red
    • PF Link with UTMs: https://learn.gitlab.com/c/10-strategies-to-red?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=test

Marketo links

  1. For a PF Marketo link, it will typically already include a question mark "?". To add UTMs, first add an ampersand & at the end of the PF link, followed by the UTMs.
    • Example: https://learn.gitlab.com/c/devops-explained-git?x=GVFK3F&lb_email={{lead.Email Address}}&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=test
  2. Remove any extraneous ? (there should only be one immediately after the end of the URL).
  3. Watch for extra &.
  4. Ping @sdaily to review the link before implementation for quality assurance purposes.

PathFactory links behind a form fill on a landing page

  1. When using a PathFactory link as the redirect behind a form fill on a landing page, the link format should be as follows:

https://learn.gitlab.com/c/gcn-dev-sec-ops-how-?x=XOIXTl&lb_email=

Using a content track with a custom URL

  1. If your content track has a custom URL, you will notice the ? in a different location than with content tracks that don't have a custom URL.
    • With no custom URL: https://learn.gitlab.com/c/gcn-dev-sec-ops-how-?x=XOIXTl&lb_email= (x=XOIXTl = content track ID)
    • With custom URL: https://learn.gitlab.com/cicd/cloud-ci-tools-matur?lb_email={{lead.Email Address}}

Custom query strings

PathFactory’s custom query string manager allows you to manage and append query strings when sharing a link to a content track or explore page.

  1. Select Organization Settings in the dropdown menu in the top right corner.
  2. Select the Custom Query Strings tab.
  3. Create your custom query. When you save the new query string, it will be available whenever you access a content track in PathFactory and click the Share button or icon.

Note: Do not delete or edit the default query string for Marketo as that query string is an important way to integrate with PathFactory.

Explore pages

Explore pages allow your visitors to quickly view all content assets in a content track. Each explore page you create is built on top of an existing target or recommend content track.

Use cases

Explore pages can act as replacements for traditional landing pages or simple microsites.

Create an explore page

Before you make an explore page ensure that you have already built a content track (target or recommended) that you will use as the base.

  1. Select Explore from the left navigation.
  2. Click on the Create Explore Page button.
  3. Enter a name for your explore page and select a content track to use as your base. You can either create an entirely new explore page built on an existing target or recommend content track, or clone an existing explore page.
  4. Select which folder the explore page will live in, then click Create Explore Page. Please follow the hierarchy of folders by dept. from the content tracks.
  5. The colors, fonts, imagery, and layout of your explore page can be customized in Appearances. Select your desired appearance from the left navigation in your explore page under Page Settings.
  6. Under Page Settings, ensure that the Search Engine Directive is set to No Index, No Follow.
  7. Choose your desired layout under Layout Settings.
  8. Choose your desired content settings under Content Settings.
  9. Ensure that the gated content in your content track has a listening campaign.
  10. Be sure to test your explore page fully. Tag @sdaily for review.

Explore Page FAQs

Why can’t I change the background color behind my cover image?

The cover background color only shows when the cover image is set to "Fixed Width." Because of this, the color selection square is only available when "Fixed Width" has been selected.

I don’t want this header on my Explore page, how do I get rid of it?

The header is applied to an Explore experience from the base content track you chose for the explore page. If you don’t want the header on your explore page, go to the base content track and turn the header off.

I don’t like the order that my content is arranged on the Explore page; how do I move my content around?

All changes to the content in an explore page has to be done in the base content track that the explore page is built from. This includes the order of your content, so if you want to reorder your content you have to do so in the base content track.

Can I create a custom hero for a header on my page?

Yes! You can add a custom hero image by navigating to Appearances Configuration and selecting the appearance you would like to modify. Then click on the Explore tab and select cover image for Hero layout and upoad your custom image under Hero Image. Make sure you click save on both the explore image upload and then again to save the appearance edits you have made (recommended size for a hero image is 1600x500).

Appearances

Appearances allow you to control the look and feel of your content tracks. By creating different appearance groups you are able to quickly and easily apply different colors, fonts, and logos to content tracks without having to configure them each time you build a new track. Appearance settings allow you to control how your promoters look, select favicons for your tracks, and configure the appearance of your cookie consent messaging.

You are able to change the appearance of the following components of a content track:

  1. Promoters
  2. Cookie Consent and Cookie Message
  3. Favicon
  4. Header

Video walkthrough of appearances (Nook login required)

Create a new appearance group

  1. Click the gear icon at the top right of the page. Select Appearances from the drop-down menu.
  2. Click Add Appearance.
  3. Name the appearance group.
  4. Select the color of the text and the primary color by clicking on the colored boxes.
  5. Change the font of the text by selecting from the drop-down menu. Click the B button to bold the text. Click on the A buttons to change the text size.
  6. When you are done making changes click Add Appearance.
  7. Once you’ve created your Appearance groups, you can apply this styling to any of your content tracks. Simply select the appearance group from the drop-down menu under Experience Settings.

Content topics

Unsure what content topics align with your asset? Use the table below as a guideline to tag content you upload to PathFactory accordingly.

Topic Use Example
Agile delivery Content that relates to the agile delivery process decision framework which emphasizes incremental and iterative planning. What is an Agile mindset?
Agile management    
Agile software development Content that relates to the agile software development methodology which emphasizes cross-functional collaboration, continual improvement, and early delivery How to use GitLab for Agile software development
Application modernization Content that relates to the process of converting, refactoring, re-writing, or porting legacy systems to more modern programming and infrastructure. Content on this topic may cover cost/benefit of updating legacy systems, process, system, and culture changes, and toolstack comparisons. 3 Strategies for implementing a microservices architecture
Application monitoring and visibility    
Application security Content that covers the production and delivery of secure software, security techniques and capabilities, and trends in the application security field. 5 Security testing principles every developer should know
Automation Content that relates to using technology to automate tasks. Likely use cases are how automation impacts productivity and workflows, feature highlights & tutorials, and case studies. How IT automation impacts developer productivity
AWS Content that relates Amazon Web Services. Likely use cases are case studies where the customer uses GitLab + AWS and integration information & tutorials. How to set up multi-account AWS SAM deployments with GitLab CI/CD
Azure Content that talks specifically about Microsoft Azure. Likely uses cases are tutorials on using GitLab + Azure cloud or competitive content. Competitive analysis page for Azure DevOps
CI/CD Content that covers continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment. This content is likely to be more technical, explaining tools, methods for implementation, tutorials, and technical use cases. A quick guide to CI/CD pipelines
Cloud computing Content that relates to the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data. Likely uses cases are content discussing various cloud models (public, private, hybrid, and multicloud), integrations, and tutorials. Some customer case studies may be tagged with this label if the case study is primarily about GitLab enabling their cloud computing model. Top 5 cloud trends of 2018: What has happened and what’s next
Cloud native Content that relates container-based environments. Specifically, technologies are used to develop applications built with services packaged in containers, deployed as microservices and managed on elastic infrastructure through agile DevOps processes and continuous delivery workflows. A Cloud Native Transformation
Containers Content that relates to using, running, maintaining, and building for containers. Running Containerized Applications on Modern Serverless Platforms
Continuous delivery Content that covers methods and tools for delivering or updating software in smaller increments, resulting in a better end-user experience. Both technical and strategic content may be found. Securing the journey to Continuous Delivery
Continuous integration    
Data science    
DevOps Content that relates to DevOps methods, process, culture, and tooling. Keys to DevOps success with Gene Kim  
DevSecOps Content that relates specifically to integrating and automating security into the software development lifecycle. Content that relates to cybersecurity should be tagged security and not devsecops. A seismic shift in application security
Digital transformation Content that covers the process, methods, and strategy of integrating technology into all aspects of business. This content also includes strategies, tools, and tactics for furthering innovation, building new efficiencies, and delivering higher value faster. The cloud adoption roadmap
Git Content that relates to implementing and using the distributed version contronl system, Git. Moving to Git
GitOps    
GKE Content that is specifically about Google Kubernetes engine and Google Cloud Platform. Likely use cases are integrations, tutorials, and case studies Demo: Deploy to GKE from GitLab
Incident management    
Information technology management Content that relates to the monitoring and administration of IT systems, including hardware, software, and networks. (Definition adapted from IBM) Content may be either technical or strategic. Shifting from on-prem to cloud
Jenkins Content that is specifically about Jenkins. Likely uses cases are integrations, competitive, comparisons, and case studies. 3 Teams left Jenkins: Here's why
Kubernetes Content that relates to implementing and using kubernetes. Likely use cases are cost/benefits, tutorials, and use cases. Kubernetes and the future of cloud native: We chat with Kelsey Hightower
Microservices Content that covers the practice of breaking out application components individually as services for the purpose of running applications at scale with greater flexibility. 3 Strategies for implementing a microservices architecture
Multicloud Content that relates to how enterprises use multiple cloud providers to meet different technical or business requirements. What does Kubernetes have to do with it?
Open source Content that covers open source projects, partnershipship initiatives, and community contributions. What to consider with an open source business model
Portfolio management    
Remote development team management    
Remote work Content that covers remote work, including best practices, stories, and advice. The case for all-remote companies
Repository management    
SCM Content that relates to source code management, Git, GitLab Flow, and version control. GitLab Workflow: An Overview
Security Content that relates to cybersecurity and application security practices. When technology outpaces security compliance
Severless computing Content that relates to the ability to deploy functions on any infrastructure managed through a single UI. Announcing GitLab Serverless
Simplify DevOps    
Single application Content that covers the methods and benefits of using a single application throughout the software development lifecycle, including increased efficiency and transparency. Customer story: Driving better developer and customer experiences with a single application
Software development Content that covers software development methodologies, cycle time, and development techniques. How to use GitLab for Agile software development
Software development philosophies    
Software development process    
Software engineering    
Toolchain Content that relates to toolchain and stack management. How to manage your toolchain before it manages you
Version control and collaboration    
VSM Content that relates to the topic of value stream mapping and management. Topics that fall under this tag may include cycle time, cycle analytics, and software delivery strategies and metrics. The Forrester Value Stream Management Report
Workflow Content that relates to understanding and implementing workflows throughout the software development lifecycle. Likely uses are content that explains a particular workflow or how to set up a workflow in GitLab. For example: how a workflow might change when a level of automation is introduced. Planning for success

Content types

Unsure what content types align with your asset? Use the table below as a guideline to tag content you upload to PathFactory accordingly.

Type Use Example
Analyst report Third-party content licensed from an analyst firm Gartner Magic Quadrant for ARO
Assessment Content with the primary purpose of providing a self-assessment, quiz, or maturity model.  
Case study Web articles that focus on the stories and opinions of GitLab customers. Goldman Sachs improves from 1 build every two weeks to over a thousand per day
Data sheet A document providing the specifications of GitLab the product or feature/feature set. GitLab data sheet
Demo A live-action video recording demonstrating how to do or use a technical product. GitLab Security & Compliance Capabilities Demo
eBook An eBook presents educational information that helps the reader gain a comprehensive understanding of a subject. eBooks are casual in tone and are most often an awareness-stage asset. Modernize your CI/CD
Infographic A visual asset used to represent information or data.  
Presentation Video recording or slides of a live talk. Multicloudcon Keynote: The Multicloud Maturity Model
Pricing A document that details pricing for GitLab products. (GitLab pricing)[https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/]
Product article    
Research report An informational report which uses a specific research metholody to validate findings. 2019 Global Developer Survey: DevSecOps
Solution article    
Technical blog post    
Testimonials A formal statement from a customer or user regarding GitLab's value.  
Thought leadership blog post    
Topic article    
Video A scripted, edited, & post-produced video. Videos can be promotional, educational, and/or animated. GitLab Infomercial
Webcast A live broadcast & recording that includes a presenter, slides, and a live audience. Cloud Native Transformation with Ask Media Group
Whitepaper Whitepapers are data-driven, persuasive, and opinionated reports that address a specific problem for a niche audience. A whitepaper presents new research, addresses a specific problem, and argues in favor of a specific solution. Whitepapers are academic and authoritative in tone. Whitepapers are most often introduced in the consideration or decision making stage to prove or validate a concept or solution. A seismic shift in application security

PathFactory tracking

PathFactory analytics

All roles and permissions have access to reporting functionality in PathFactory. Feel free to peruse Path Analytics or view insights in the content library and content tracks. If you would like a scheduled report or have a different PathFactory data request, create an issue in the Marketing Operations repo and assign @sdaily. All of the below links lead to PathFactory's knowledgebase, The Nook. The Nook requires a separate password from PathFactory but you should use the same email address used to login to PathFactory.

Target track analytics

  1. Analytics for a Specific Target Track
  2. Analytics for All Target Tracks
  1. Analytics for a Specific Recommend Track
  2. Analytics for All Recommend Tracks

Explore page analytics

  1. Explore Page Analytics

ABM analytics

  1. Understanding Account Based Analytics
  2. Understanding Route Analytics

Website promoter analytics

  1. Website Promoter Analytics

Defining visitor activities

  1. Understanding Visitor Activities

Path analytics

  1. Introducing: Path Analytics
  2. Path Analytics: Overview Dashboard
  3. Path Analytics: Visitors
  4. Path Analytics: Accounts
  5. Path Analytics: Content
  6. Path Analytics FAQ
  7. Using and Sharing Path Analytics Reports
  8. Types of Path Analytics Reports
  9. Path Analytics Reports FAQ

Using account-based analytics

  1. Using Account Based Analytics

Listening Campaigns

In Marketo, we have programs built to "listen" for PathFactory (PF) activity & content consumption allowing us to track behaviour without having to physically gate all the assets which disrupts the user experience.

The PF<>Marketo listening programs are built to triggered based on the slug associated to each of asset. Very Important: Do NOT to change the slug in PF without notifying Ops prior to making the change. Each listening campaign has a Salesforce (SFDC) campaign associated to it tracking consumption and applying Bizible touchpoints.

The naming convention for each of the listeners is specific to the asset type & is used as a trigger to the appropriate scoring campaign within Marketo at this time these listening campaigns have no impact on PathFactory engagement scores. The same naming convention is used for both Marketo & Salesforce campaigns.

Asset Type Naming Convention
Analyst report PF - Analyst report -
Assessment PF - Assessment -
Datasheet PF - Datasheet -
Demo PF - Demo -
eBook PF - eBook -
Research report PF - Research report -
Webcast PF - Webcast -
Whitepaper PF - Whitepaper -

Set up a new listening campaign

This process is for new assets in PathFactory that have not already been distributed from a content track. For any retroactive listening campaigns for assets that have already been distributed from a content track, please create an issue in the marketing operations project and assign it to @sdaily.

Create Program in Marketo and sync to Salesforce

  1. Navigate to the PathFactory Listening Template - TEMPLATE - PF - Asset Type - Name of Asset (located under Active Marketing Programs > Gated Content > Pathfactory Listening)
  2. Right-click and clone the template (see picture below) - name it according to the naming convention (example: PF - Webcast - [campaign_name]. The campaign name should match the parent campaign for the gated asset for easy searchability.)
  3. Move program under the correct folder based on type and the quarter.
  4. When the Program Summary loads, next to "Salesforce Campaign Sync" click not set
  5. From the dropdown, select Create New (this will create the synced campaign in Salesforce)

Update Marketo Smart Campaign

  1. Expand the Marketo program and select PF - Listening (Triggered).
  2. In the Smart List, add the URL slug you created in the PathFactory content library for your asset within the brackets [ ].
  3. In the Smart List, add the URL of your landing page to the "not filled out form" filter to make sure you don't create a second touchpoint (a duplicate of the form fill action) upon form fill of your asset.
  4. Navigate to the Schedule tab and click Activate.

image

Update the Newly Created Campaign in Salesforce

  1. Navigate to the newly created campaign (same name as you created above in Marketo) - shortcut to PF Listening Campaigns list

image

  1. Check that the Active checkbox is checked.
  2. Change the Parent Campaign to be the gated asset or on-demand webcast to create a 1:1 relationship.
  3. Under Bizible attribution, select Include only "Responded" Campaign Members next to Enable Bizible Touchpoints.
  4. Mark the Status as In Progress.
  5. Click Save.

Assets needing a listening campaign should following the above naming conventions. If an asset type is not represented in a Marketo listening campaign folder, please create an issue in the marketing operations project and assign it to @sdaily.

Important: Please make sure all gated content in your content track is included in your form strategy and has a listening campaign. If you are using one of the gated content assets in your content track as the form fill behind a landing page, you need to set up an exclusion in the workflow (example).

Salesforce Campaign Type

For the PathFactory listening campaigns there is a corresponding Salesforce Campaign Type to be used. The Campaign Member Status simply tracks if the content was consumed. This Salesforce Campaign Type should be used for nothing else. For greater details, see the Business Ops Resources - Campaign details.

PathFactory SFDC Panel

In Salesforce (SFDC) there is a PathFactory section on both the LEAD and CONTACT layout that provides information about Pathfactory content consumption.

  1. These fields are all session based - this is by design from PathFactory and the field values overwrite with new data for every session.
  2. A piece of content is considered "consumed", by default, when it has been viewed for 20 seconds minimum.
    • This can be modified per asset.
    • At this time all assets have been set up the same. If that changes, this page will be updated with details.
  3. A PF "session" is a single content consumption period.
  4. A "session" closes after 30 minutes of inactivity or at 11:59pm (instance set timezone - SFDC is set to Pacific time).
  5. If a person consumes more than one content track in a single session all of the assets/tracks viewed will be displayed in the fields cumulatively.

PF Panel Fields

Field Name Purpose
PathFactory Experience Name The PathFactory track name - more details
PathFactory Assets Viewed Cumulative number of assets viewed. This is not associated to time consumed! See Content Count for difference
PathFactory Asset Type A tag to help categorize types of content (whitepaper, video, eBook, etc)
PathFactory Funnel State Each asset is tagged with stage of funnel most applicable to asset - Top of Funnel, Middle of Funnel or Bottom of Funnel
PathFactory External ID A non-unique ID that can be added to tracks &/or assets, which can be leveraged to organize content and configure it in Marketing Automation Platform (i.e Marketo)
PathFactory Engagement Score Each asset in content library can be assigned an engagement score; this score is passed from PF to SFDC and used to determine meaningful engagement with content.
PathFactory Engagement Time Cumulative time a person spends consuming assets in session.
PathFactory Content Count Cumulative count of assets consumed. Example: if person consumes 2 whitepapers, 1 video and blog post for minimum of 20 seconds each in a single session this field would show 4.
PathFactory Content List Cumulative list of each assets content id/slug for each asset consumed.
PathFactory Topic List Assets are tagged by topic. This is manually set & aligns with the tracking content list.

PathFactory for Sales

PathFactory for Sales is an extension of PathFactory within Salesforce that gives the sales development and sales teams a direct view into content and lead insights, and allow them to select content tracks to send to prospects.

Training

Saved searches

PathFactory for Sales enables you to quickly search your accounts in Salesforce to locate accounts with specific attributes. You can save these search parameters to easily repeat the search in the future.

There are 2 types of Account Searches:

  1. Shared searches: Configured by any user with a PathFactory administrator login, and are available to all users
  2. My searches: Only visible to the user who created the search

How to create: Shared Search (PF admins only)

Shared Searches can be seen by all users, but can only be created by PathFactory administrator users.

  1. Open the PathFactory for Sales app/tab in Salesforce.
  2. Click on Settings.
  3. Enter your administrator login details. Credentials are stored in the MktgOps Admin 1Pass vault.
  4. Click New Search.
  5. Configure all desired filters, ensure the Shared Searches box is selected, and click Save.

How to create: My Search

  1. Open the PathFactory for Sales app/tab in Salesforce.
  2. Click New Search.
  3. Configure all desired filters and click Save.

Content activation

Use the Content Activation tab in the PathFactory for Sales app in Salesforce to share content asset links.

PathFactory for Sales

  1. Navigate to the PathFactory for Sales app/tab.
  2. Click on Content Activation.
  3. Under the Email Tracking drop down, select Outreach Email Template/Snippet.
  4. You can use the Filter by Track Labels or Filter by Content Topics to quickly find content you'd like to share. Use search for content and tracks using the search bar next to the filter fields. You can also look through the available content tracks located under the GitLab Content Tracks folder.
  5. From the Tracks pane, select the content track you want to view by clicking View Content Assets. You can use the sort functionality on this pane to search by Name or Time Spent.
  6. From the Content Assets pane, you can select the specific asset you'd like to share. You can choose to Preview the asset inside the content track and sort by Track Order or Time Spent.
  7. When you've selected the asset you want to share, click Copy Link. A dialogue box will pop up with the following information:

image

You can use this same process to share content from the lead, contact, account, and opportunity.

Important: You must use the Outreach option to share links to properly track activity and associate it back to the person you sent it to. If you don't follow this process, the person you send it to may or may not be served a form if they are unknown within PathFactory.

Outreach

FAQs

Why do some of my accounts, leads, and contacts have no PathFactory engagement data in Salesforce?

Sometimes campaigns are run on channels that target an unknown audience (social, display). Some visitors will be anonymous until they are identieifed by a cookie or form fill. To help mitigate this, apply UTM paramters to track the channels the content link track is used on.

I want to have better conversations with my prospects via Marketing-approved PathFactory Content and track their real engagement. How do I ensure that their content engagement appears within Salesforce?

The email must be sent via Marketo or Outreach.

Will anonymous visitors be displayed?

Yes, anonymous visitors will appear within an account’s engagement summary and will be marked as anonymous.

Are the dashboards visible to all Salesforce users?

All reports are visible to all users who have access to the account, opportunity, lead, or contact pages.

Can I export or download this data?

Engagement data is only available for download from within PathFactory Analytics, and not via Salesforce.

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