What Are Categories in Uscreen?
Categories in Uscreen function like genres for your content, helping your customers easily identify the type of content available on your catalog page. Categories should be broad, similar to how movies are organized into genres like comedy, documentaries, or popular picks. This allows you to group several related videos under a single category, making it easier for viewers to navigate your content.
Key Points About Categories:
Purpose: Categories help organize your content into broad groups, making it easier for viewers to browse and find the type of content they want.
Examples: If you run a fitness channel, you might organize your videos into categories such as "Cardio," "Lifting," or "Nutrition."
Necessity: For customers to view any of your videos, collections, or live events, they must be added to a category, as the catalog displays content organized by these categories.
Categories differ from collections, which are designed to group videos meant to be viewed together or in a specific order—like a 10-day yoga challenge or a step-by-step guide to bread-making. For more details on collections, check out our dedicated collections article.
How to Order Videos Within a Category
Once you have created a category and assigned videos or collections to it, you can sort the content to display in a specific order within the category. This is particularly useful if you have a series of videos that need to be viewed sequentially or if you want to highlight certain videos at the top of the category listing.
Steps to Order Videos:
Navigate to the Categories Section: In your Uscreen admin area, go to Content > Organize > Categories.
Edit the Category: Click Edit next to the category you wish to organize the video order of.
Sort Content: Go to the Sort Content tab. Here, you can simply drag and drop the videos to rearrange their order.
Save Changes: Click Save to apply the new order.
Example: If you are organizing a series of cooking tutorials, you might want the videos to appear in the order of "Basic Knife Skills" first, followed by "Preparing Ingredients," and then "Cooking Techniques."
How to Order Categories in the Catalog
The order in which categories appear on your catalog page can significantly influence user engagement by highlighting certain types of content more prominently. Uscreen allows you to set the order of categories by assigning them a position number. The closer the position number is to 1, the closer the category will appear at the top of the catalog page.
Steps to Order Categories:
Navigate to the Categories Section: In your Uscreen admin area, go to Content > Organize > Categories.
Select the Category to Edit: Click on the category you want to reorder.
Change the Position Number: In the Details section, adjust the Position field to reflect the new order you want. The lower the number, the higher up the category will appear.
Save Your Changes: Click Save to update the catalog order.
Note: If you have a Featured Category or if a user has a Favorites category, the category with position number 1 will appear right after these. Additionally, when a category is featured in the slider, it will not appear again in the catalog list to avoid redundancy. For instance, if "Cardio" is set as the Featured Category on a fitness site, it will be prominently displayed on the slider and will not be listed again elsewhere on the catalog page.
Best Practices for Organizing Your Content
Be Strategic: Organize categories based on user interest, content release schedules, or strategic goals to maximize visibility and engagement.
Keep it Intuitive: Use simple and clear category names that align with your content offerings to make navigation easier for users.
Review Regularly: Periodically review and update your categories and video order to ensure they remain relevant and aligned with your evolving content strategy.