Digital signage comes with several complex movable parts – for example, the display, media player, software, video codecs and of course, a content management system. This is one of the reasons why new users of digital signage find the system overwhelming. However, it is important to understand that ultimately, the main purpose of digital signage is:
To deliver the right content to the right audience.
If you get this statement right, there is nothing to fear in making the investment. Experts in the industry recommend two clever solutions to deliver cutting edge content for your digital display.
Step 1 – Figure out your audience
Big scale online advertisers such as Google and Facebook have already got to know their audiences on a very deep level. Therefore digital signage users, particularly those investing in outdoor signage, must make use of the available tools to identify their audiences. These tools include:
- Artificial Intelligence
- Computer Vision
- Mobile device-based solutions
- Bluetooth and beacons
With beacons for example, the display can listen out for a connection to different devices passing by. This tool allows for vendors to obtain an idea of the number of people passing by the display, how many people actually pay attention to it and other such information.
With computer vision technology, the display can obtain demographic information – such as gender, age and emotional status – about audiences looking at it.
Step 2 – Match content to the audience
Now that you have figured out your audience, you need to make sure the content is relevant to the audience.
In this context, experts comment that there is no point figuring out your audience if you cannot send personalized content to your display fast enough to make it relevant to the person standing in front of the display.
One strategy for doing this is to have built in triggers within the digital signage system. These triggers can identify the audience at any given time, and accordingly play content targeted to that group. In order for the system to successfully do this, end users should pre cache a whole lot of content into the content management system. Aggressive pre caching is a recommended technique so that content can be immediately served on the display.
Other things to consider
When trying to come up with solutions for delivering top notch content and maintaining perfect content quality, may things can go wrong. Therefore it is very important to have a good plan to ensure content quality is maintained. This can be done by hiring in-house staff to be responsible for the content, or outsourcing it to a trusted vendor who can easily create content at various skill levels.
Another point to keep in mind is to make sure your audience does not get eerie with advertisements targeted at them. If the content is targeted too tightly, it will creep people out. Knowing that a digital display knows exactly who you are – a blonde haired, 24 year old girl, wearing blue pullovers and black framed spectacles for example is creepy indeed!
Once again, experts’ advice that this can be avoided by focusing on delivering a personal experience for the customer and guiding them towards something more valuable.
