Choosing Digital Signage Software

Choosing Digital Signage Software
The best digital signage software will enable a business to communicate better with and influence the behavior of its target audience. While the specifics of such a communication strategy will be unique to each business, there are a few core software features that need to be in place for the strategy to be successfully implemented and executed.

Dynamic content is the backbone of your digital signage project. Far from simply entertaining your audience, it will influence behavior to engage, socialize, sell or educate. Essentially, dynamic content adds value to the spatial experience.

The best digital signage software will have native content apps and widgets for easily displaying and updating dynamic content. It will also have open doors for custom content e.g. easy integration with dynamic APIs for custom content. Such content centric software is what makes digital signage a powerful customer engagement tool.

Social media platforms are rich sources of free, user-generated and highly engaging content.  Signage software should include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google Plus and Pinterest apps to live feeds on digital signage screens and video walls. Advanced software will include a social wall app to display a curated collage of your Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds, essentially showcasing all posts about your business.

Did you know that viewers retain 90% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text? Also, 51% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI, and 59% agree that if both text and video are available on the same topic, they are more likely to choose video. This makes videos a must have for any digital signage software.

An emergency and CAP alerts app expands digital signage to an emergency messaging solution. Custom alerts can be prepared in advance and saved in the software to be automatically displayed when a trigger is activated. They include alerts for tornadoes, fires, gas leaks, active shooters and more. The app also displays CAP alerts from national and local sources. The app allows the signage to keep your audience informed about emergencies and safety instructions. They also add a visual component to the current emergency messaging systems.

An RSS or MRSS app will enable brands to display news on their screens. News is universally popular and will draw eyes to the screen where your audience will see your other important  messages and announcements.

A key differentiator of digital signage from static signage is the ability to automate content delivery. The goal is to display the right message, to the right audience, at the right time.

Signage software should provide for comprehensive scheduling where multiple schedules can be created for different screens or groups of screens. The schedules should be granular with the ability to schedule down to the second and as far ahead as needed.