For the last several years, I’ve served on the Board of Directors for the Dallas / Fort Worth Chapter of the American Marketing Association. Starting in Membership, I got a taste for how organizations of scale use digitally duct-taped technology stacks to patch themselves through. I’ll spare you the case study examples of what can go wrong in not-for-profit and all-volunteer scenarios, but suffice it to say that list segmentation, user engagement classes and lead generation capture are among the top three struggles. Organizations can benefit from this case study on how to integrate microservice applications into an existing stack using a CMS API.
Using a CMS API is a great solution for layering for many reasons: Your data / content is available via API endpoint, meaning you can set up your own custom domains to reflect your organization or you have the ability to link content through the Navigation present on your existing application. Think of the microservice app as a pop-up store made available via API endpoint — set it up when you’re ready to conduct business, slap a custom domain on it and cash in. When you’re done, set the bucket of content to “Draft” or simply Delete your bucket and spin up a new bucket for a new ‘layering project’.
Today I will be showing you how I built a simple landing page as a “seasonal promotion” to not only serve as stepping stone to other digital properties, but also to capture email addresses as interested leads to be contacted for sponsorship opportunities. The email capture landing page that I will be using is a content-ready web application from Cosmic JS. It features beautiful full page rotating background images, social links and an email capture field. You can get your landing page set up and capturing leads in just a few minutes.
I used Cosmic JS for this example app. Cosmic JS is an API-first CMS that makes managing and building websites and applications faster and more intuitive. By decoupling content from code, Cosmic JS empowers developer flexibility while ensuring content editors can plan and deploy content as it best suits them. We’ll be using Cosmic JS to install our example app, deploy and make content updates moving forward from the cloud-based Content Management Platform.
If you haven’t already, get started by Signing Up for Cosmic JS. I was able to build my lead generating landing page simply by installing the Application from the App Page below.
Email Capture App PageEmail Capture App DemoEmail Capture App Codebase on GitHub
**Follow these simple four steps to get your landing page set up:**1. Create a New Bucket2. Install the Email Capture Landing Page Application3. Deploy to Web4. Edit Objects
Typically in my blogs I am showing readers how to easily build a certain type of application in 4 steps or less, but this blog example is different. The purpose for this blog is to demonstrate that an organization whose main website uses a legacy installed content management system can still layer microservice applications in and around its main website to perform certain tasks. Below are screenshots of three webpages that all correspond to DFW AMA.
The first is the main website, built on WordPress and mired in plugins / security updates / crappy WISYWIG editors and the like. The second is a submissions microsite set up for our annual Marketer of the Year Awards. The third is the lead generating landing page (built using Cosmic JS) that I set up to not only capture email addresses as leads, but also serves as an attractive “bridge” to DFW AMA’s social channels, Marketer of the Year Submissions microsite as well as DFW AMA’s Calendar of Events.
Installed Content Management System
Navigate to the DFW AMA Website.
Awards Gala Microsite
Navigate to the DFW AMA Submissions Microsite.
Lead Generating Landing Page
Navigate to the DFW AMA Lead Generating Landing Page.
Forgive my examples pictured above for being incohesive in terms of brand standards, but DFW AMA is currently undergoing a rebrand since AMA’s Global Support Center rolled out new brand standards guidelines at its Summit in 2016. The point being made is that all three web applications pictured above have different URLs, look different and perform different functions, all while being integrated to the same MailChimp lead generation account. Layering in microservice web applications makes more sense when the backends all correspond to the main database(s) for data mining, extraction and follow up. Utilizing a CMS API like Cosmic JS is a great way to have utter control over an application while still weaving it into the larger technology stack for an organization.
It’s as easy as signing up, creating a new bucket, installing your web application, editing objects and deploying. I get a confirmation email to access my web application and also see my options for bucket upgrades like custom domains, one-click SSL, webhooks and localization.
Cosmic JS is an API-first cloud-based content management platform that makes it easy to manage applications and content. If you have questions about the Cosmic JS API, please reach out to the founders on Twitter or Slack.
Carson Gibbons is the Co-Founder & CMO of Cosmic JS, an API-first Cloud-based Content Management Platform that decouples content from code, allowing devs to build slick apps and websites in any programming language they want.