This is one of the most consistent questions we often hear from our clients here at Scanlite, and annoyingly, it doesn’t necessarily have a straightforward answer. The frequency with which you should change the content on your digital signage depends on a number of factors, from the demographics of your audience to the nature of your location – and of course, the goals of the content itself.
Ultimately, you’ll be the one best placed to make the final call on it. But if you’re still finalising your decision, here are a couple of things it’s often useful to bear in mind!
Know your audience
When you’re asking yourself ‘how often should I update my content’, one of the first questions you should ask immediately afterwards is: well, how often will my audience expect to be updated? How familiar will they be with your content already? How often will they be expecting new information on what you’re informing them about?
The demographics of your audience also matters. If your content is aimed at particularly young children for example, they’re likely to need a steady stream of fresh content to keep them entertained and engaged. The same goes for teenagers, who always want to be on the cutting edge of what their peers are talking about. On the other hand, some adult demographics (like new parents or elderly people) are likely to be less concerned with a steady, constant stream of new information, so you may find you won’t need to update your content quite as often.
Know your content
If your content focuses on specific events (like a music festival, for example), then your audience will probably expect the content to change fairly frequently, as new artists are announced and more minute details are finalised about the location of various stages etc. If you’re using your digital displays to promote products like insurance on the other hand, then your audience is more likely to expect that to remain relatively stable, so you can potentially go for longer without updating your content.
On the other hand, if you’re using your digital displays to highlight safety information (such as for internal company use at a warehouse or similar industrial environment), then this will also need to be more or less consistent for longer, unless you decide it needs updating to incorporate new technologies or emerging industry techniques.
Know your location
Closely tied to audience demographics is the actual location of your digital displays. Here’s one of the core questions it’s worth thinking about first: how many of the same people are you showing your content to on a daily basis? Are they likely to see it several times in a given timespan, or just once or twice when they’re passing by.
If your digital screens are a relatively small or targeted area with a daily audience of less than four figures (like an office building complex for example), you’ll likely need to change it more often than you would for content that’s being displayed in a large public transit centre (like a train station) or shopping centre. These latter types of locations tend to see a high volume of foot traffic, many of whom won’t be looking at your LED screens for more than a few moments, so you can afford to leave your message on those displays a little while longer, maximising the potential for solid engagement.
Closing thoughts
Of course, when you’re choosing the best time to update your content, it’s sometimes easy to overlook one of the most common deciding factors – and that’s essentially when you’ve got something new to say. When you’ve got a new promotion, product, or simply a new piece of information that you want your audience to see, then make sure not to wait too long to get it into the mix. (Although obviously, you’ll need to ensure that you’ve first done all the preliminary work to smoothly integrate them into your campaigns!)
It can always be helpful to ask yourself the following questions:
- What content will you have on your digital signage a week from now? Will it still be as relevant then as it is now?
- When you debut new content on your screens, roughly how long do you think its shelf life will be? How long do you think it will remain relevant for?
- Are there any special events approaching that may have an impact on your campaigns? (This can include Christmas, Easter, New Year or the summer holidays, but they can also encompass industry-specific events or happenings too.)
And if you need any guidance or specialist advice, don’t hesitate to ask our team here at Scanlite. With more than 40 years of experience to our name here at Scanlite, we know our digital displays inside out, including the many ways in which they can be used to achieve your goals as a business. Find out more about how we can help your business by giving us a call today on 01253 302723, or email us at sales@scanlite.co.uk. We’re always happy to help!
