Digital signage is commonplace in modern business, and it's getting more sophisticated too. Fast-food chains, for example, have digital signage content running behind the counters and in drive-thru’s (McDonald's, Wendy’s, Starbucks) while customers order on large touchscreens on the self-service kiosks placed in dining areas.
These interactive displays provide colorful menus, nutrition facts, and fast ordering options.
Nielsen research found that 80% of brands are now using digital signage, which reportedly increased sales by 33%. There’s no better time than now to begin utilizing a digital signage solution. This guide will help you discover the best methods of selecting, installing, and managing your digital signage content.
Types of Digital Signage
Today’s digital signage comes in all shapes and sizes. Point-of-sale (POS) terminals and cash registers often come with small digital screens on the customer-facing side of checkout. These are common in mass retailers like Target and Walmart.
Standard tablets, smartphones, flat-screen televisions, and computer monitors can also be used for digital signage displays. Many screen manufacturers like Samsung, LG, and Planar are making larger screen sizes more affordable, with higher resolutions than ever before and more features than ever. This growth has contributed to why we find digital signage everywhere, including large outdoor displays like the Las Vegas Strip and New York’s Times Square. Digital signage is even being implemented on every day items like copiers and multi-function printers with interactive touch screens.
Digital signage is more than a screen, though. There’s software running in the background to serve digital signage content and monitor resources and engagement in real-time, along with hardware to drive that content. Let’s see how it works.
How Does Digital Signage Work?
At its core, digital signage consists of four elements: hardware, software, content, and strategy. While the displays used for digital signage are easily found on the consumer market, well designed software solutions are harder to find.
Software as a Service (SaaS) is becoming the norm in many businesses, and ImageNet’s digital signage solution, powered by Wallboard Displays, is no exception. The turn-key, cloud-based platform is not only easy to use, it’s feature rich and powerful. The Wallboard platform acts as a central control room for all of your content displayed across an array of different devices.
Most digital signage setups go beyond a single screen, and the required functionalities vary wildly. Unless you’re able to manage all of your screens from a single web browser, no matter their location and the content you publish to them, things can get complicated.
Various market spaces, such as retail, require campaign and discount management, with real-time inventory analysis, pricing, stock information, and even barcode scanning for customers and employees alike. Restaurants, from fast food joints to high-end eateries, use digital signage for on-screen ordering that’s highly customizable with upsells, cross-sells, and other capabilities.
Supply chain and contact center environments need the ability to display data in an easy to understand manner so employees and management can see up-to-the minute performance metrics. From tracking statistics on productivity, performance, or safety to providing intraday data to manage their operation and influence employee behavior, digital displays are a powerful tool to have in place.
That’s just the start of what a high-tech content management suite (CMS) can do.
Creating and Managing Digital Signage Content
Content management software is where a content plan is executed across all displays. With a CMS like the Wallboard platform, each device is mapped out according to location and function (i.e. entertaining patients in a waiting room or informing shoppers of sales).
From the easy-to-use browser based dashboard, Wallboard users can select from a variety of pre-built templates to upload pictures, videos, text, and other content. Similar to a smartphone or tablet, digital signage can include widgets for stock tickers, live weather updates, and other interactive elements pulling from multiple data sources.
Businesses use the software to create directories and information kiosks. Wallboard integrates with cameras and sensors to show live feeds and other personalized content. In the event of an emergency, Wallboard can even turn into a dynamic evacuation system that helps everyone find a safe exit.
Because of its interactive nature, digital signage content can be hyper-personalized. Interactive video walls, live social media integration, and even personalized playlists can be programmed into digital signage content for both the business and consumers.
Finding the Right Digital Signage Solution For You
ImageNet has deep resources to help companies of all sizes with our easy-to-deploy signage platform. In addition to the Wallboard CMS, we include a vast template library, provide expert technical support, and a comprehensive user training.
Whether you’re looking for ways to promote new product releases, announce upcoming events, or even educate and train employees, digital signage provides a versatile avenue for that communication. ImageNet can also help you with content creation. If you don’t have the time, or the graphic design skills to create compelling content, we'll do it for you with our monthly, subscription-based service, Content Plus. From pre-built templates to custom content tailor-made to your exact specifications, our content platform helps you propel your communications forward.
Elevate your company’s marketing efforts and internal communications with state-of-the-art digital signage to increase engagement with interactive visual content.
Learn how to leverage modern technology by contacting an ImageNet consultant today to learn more about our digital signage & content management solutions.