How to make the most of digital signage and social media

How to make the most of digital signage and social media

Digital signage and social media are two relatively new tools in marketing and advertising, and they can both bring powerful benefits in their own right. And when used in conjunction, they’re almost unstoppable. They can enhance engagement, amplify messaging, and drive better results for your campaigns – and that’s just the start! Social media is particularly effective when combined with indoor video displays and LED video walls.

And with more than 40 years of experience with digital screens here at Scanlite, we’ve been around long enough to see these technologies evolve, and the benefits along with them. That means we’re the perfect people to help you combine the two, and make the most of your digital screens. So if you’re just getting started, here’s a quick insight into how digital signage solutions are effectively deployed alongside social media – and crucially, how this integration can elevate your marketing campaigns to new heights.

The rise of digital signage and social media

As we’ve already touched on above, digital signage has come a long way from simple static displays to dynamic, interactive screens capable of delivering rich multimedia content. Advances in technology have made digital signage more versatile and cost-effective, which means that today, you can deploy sophisticated solutions that capture attention and engage audiences in various environments, from retail spaces to public transport hubs.

Simultaneously, social media has transformed how businesses communicate with their audiences. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn offer unprecedented opportunities for interaction, which means today it’s possible to reach vast audiences and engage with them in real-time – an ability unimaginable even a few short decades ago. The ability to share content, run targeted ads, and track engagement metrics has made social media an indispensable tool for modern marketing strategies.

How digital signage complements social media and its benefits

Digital signage and social media can overlap in a variety of interesting ways, and each s its own potent set of benefits. Here are just a couple of the most crucial ones.

Real-time social media feeds

Incorporating live social media feeds into digital signage displays brings social media content to physical spaces. For example, displaying a real-time Twitter feed or Instagram posts related to a campaign encourages immediate audience participation and interaction. This dynamic content not only engages viewers but also provides a sense of real-time connection, enhancing the overall campaign’s effectiveness. This integration drives spontaneous engagement and keeps the content fresh and relevant, making your campaign more appealing and impactful. Increased foot traffic to physical locations often results as audiences are drawn in by live updates and content.

(In case you’re wondering, we’ve already talked quite a bit about this in our post about how to build brand awareness.)

Promoting social media engagement

Digital signage can effectively drive social media activity by showcasing hashtags, encouraging users to follow your brand accounts, or promoting social media contests. For instance, a digital sign might display a unique hashtag and prompt viewers to use it, which can lead to increased social media engagement and expanded campaign reach.

This cross-promotion boosts the visibility of your social media initiatives and strengthens their impact. The added benefit is that it can create a ripple effect, where increased social media activity leads to greater brand awareness and a stronger online community. Amplifying the campaign’s reach helps in building a loyal and engaged audience.

Cross-channel promotions

One highly effective tactic developed in recent years is to use digital signage to highlight your social media campaigns, and vice versa. For example, a digital sign in a shopping centre might advertise a special offer available exclusively through your social media account, while social media posts could direct users to a nearby store featuring a digital signage display.

This integration ensures consistent messaging and amplifies the reach of both channels. The benefit here is that it creates a seamless experience for your audience, bridging the gap between online and offline interactions. And of course, the most effective campaigns are ones that ensure marketing messages are reinforced across different touchpoints.

User-generated content

Displaying user-generated content, such as customer photos, reviews, or testimonials, on digital signage screens adds authenticity to your messaging. This approach showcases real customer experiences and encourages other customers to share their content, further enhancing your social media presence. This is excellent for building trust and fostering a sense of community, as audiences see genuine interactions and feedback from their peers.

Best practices for a successful integration

So those are all the key strengths of digital signage and social media. The most important question now is of course: how can you make the most of it for your own campaigns? Well, here are a couple of places we’d suggest starting!

Maintain consistency

Ensure that messaging and branding are consistent across digital signage and social media platforms. This includes using the same visual elements, such as colours, fonts, and logos, as well as aligning the tone and style of your content. Consistency helps to reinforce your brand’s identity and ensures that your message is clear and recognisable, regardless of where it appears. Maintaining a cohesive look and feel across both channels is instrumental for creating a unified brand experience, effectively enhancing audience recognition and trust.

Monitor and adjust

As any experienced marketing manager knows, these sorts of techniques aren’t just “fire and forget”. Regularly track the performance of your integrated campaigns using analytics tools and feedback mechanisms. This involves monitoring key metrics such as engagement rates, click-through rates, and overall campaign reach. Analysing these metrics allows you to identify what is working well and what areas need improvement. And of course, ongoing evaluation enables you to make data-driven adjustments to optimise both digital signage and social media strategies, ensuring that your campaigns remain effective and relevant.

Engage with the audience

Ultimately, some of the most effective campaigns are all about the human connection, and amongst all the technology it can sometimes be easy to lose sight of that! So, do what you can to encourage audience interaction by displaying user-generated content and actively responding to social media engagement. Engaging with your audience in this way creates a more interactive experience, and it can go a long way to strengthening the relationship between your brand and its customers.

Leverage analytics

We’ve touched on this above with our section on monitoring and adjusting, but analytics tools are such useful instruments in themselves that they’re worthy of exploring in a bit more detail! So, make sure to use them to evaluate the success of both digital signage and social media campaigns. You’ll want to analyse performance data from both channels to gain insights into audience behaviour, content effectiveness, and overall campaign impact. This data-driven approach helps you understand what strategies are most successful and provides a basis for refining your approach.

Those are just a couple of the most universal advantages – you may well be able to discover and enjoy even more that are specific to your business! That’s where we can help here at Scanlite – whatever you’ve got in mind for your LED advertising displays, we can help you make that vision a reality with an extensive range of digital signage solutions.

We know this technology inside out, and exactly how it can be used to achieve your goals as a business. To find out how we can help you, feel free to give us a call today on 01253 302723, or email us on sales@scanlite.co.uk.