Digital Signage Challenges and How to Solve Them

How a few common errors can be fixed to make your digital signage look professional.

Digital content has become much more than an advertising tool. But the struggle to create, format, post and keep content relevant can be difficult.  

Common digital signage challenges and (more importantly) how to solve them:  

Stale content or content that is infrequently updated 

An effective way to stop stale content is to schedule content in advance. This way, if a contributor is out of office or unable to update content, there is a backlog of content that’s set to post. Stale content can also be alleviated by adding dynamic or automated content to help fill in the gaps. Sources like social media feeds, infotainment or even messaging from your chosen collaboration platform like MS Teams or Webex can all help with new and relevant content.   

Additionally, organizations can brainstorm content that can be updated on a regular basis or keep a list of ideas for content that they can pull from. For example, every month, associate work anniversaries or birthdays can be updated and posted. Or perhaps, every time someone is onboarded or retires, there can be a message created for that. Any upcoming organization event can have a corresponding signage announcement. Content can become whatever you make of it.  

Content that is repeated, irrelevant or appears too often 

Managing how, when and where content is seen can be difficult. Content needs to be differentiated so that the same messages don’t appear all at once, on all screens and so content can be shown in specified areas. For example, as lobby signage tends to be external facing, HR announcements with associate birthdays isn’t relevant to visiting clients. Instead  show more marketing and promotional content to reinforce brand to an outside visitor or content that is targeted to a specific visitor that day in order to welcome them to the office.  

To solve this, design a content hierarchy, map or workflow to determine what content is most relevant to what displays based on your target audience.   

You can also use content tagging so content only reaches designated devices. For example, content tagged as “Connecticut” will only go to devices/players that are set up with “Connecticut” tags, even if it lives in a larger, global playlist.   

Content that doesn’t look professional 

Content that doesn’t look professional is a quick way to lose credibility or and the attention of your audience. Use built-in platform content templates so your content is best designed for individual screens.  

Content contributors have too much access or are overwhelmed 

When utilizing a digital signage platform, make sure you and your team are familiar with the capabilities of the platform and user levels within the platform. Rather than having several contributors with admin privileges and access to every layout, content template and feature in the platform that isn’t a part of their daily duties, create user groups and set permissions so contributors only have access to what is a part of their regular content creation.   

For example, the HR department only needs access to an HR content folder and an HR channel that links to the relevant displays. This way, departments and individual content creators or publishers only see information and content that is relevant to their work. This will help with any confusion or any one individual becoming overwhelmed. Another solution may be to make it so content contributors only have access to their own location.   

Like publishing privileges, be wary of how many contributors have access to editing the digital signage posts themselves. Too many cooks in the kitchen has the tendency to create posts that aren’t consistent, can seem unprofessional and aren’t on brand. Instead, allow a few administrators full access and otherwise lock down styling so contributors can only edit text and imagery, not the brand styles.   

Many signage platforms allow you to set certain content contributors to have their content approved by a designated person in the platform before the content can be pushed to digital signage displays. This ensures that content is good to go and doesn’t contain any errors before it’s published. By creating a user group that requires approval for content additions, new content can be monitored and edited before it goes live.   

Additionally, individuals can still send relevant messaging (or pre-created images and videos) over to those who do manage the platform. This way, content can be populated by admin, and messages can be reviewed before being published. This creates a larger team of content creators coupled with content publishers. The work is lessened for all parties, and content will be published correctly.   

Inability to reach all audiences 

Your signage needs to reach your associates, clients, partners and more, and reaching all of them can be tough. Utilize collaboration platforms like Webex and MS Teams or a company intranet page such as SharePoint to push your signage messages to areas outside of your physical signage displays. Integrating your technology and your digital signage content is a terrific way to reach more viewers.   

Many of these common digital signage challenges can be alleviated through planning. When preparing for regular digital signage posting, create hierarchies of content and hierarchies of contribution. Create templates and take the key points above into consideration. Thinking through a digital signage deployment internally will allow for a smooth flow of your digital signage content. Remember, it’s not just about well-branded content, it’s making sure the screens stay fresh and engaging.