Digital signage comes alive with owned and earned social media content

Its pretty unlikely that you’ll make it through the day without seeing at least one digital sign. Digital signage is becoming a ubiquitous part of our daily lives. On the way to work, on the tube, at the shops, even at the Doctors surgery, digital screens are everywhere. Whilst I know I’d be preaching to the converted if I just evangelized the benefits of digital signage in general, what you may find more of a revelation is just how powerful the combination of digital signage and social media is for building brand awareness and influencing customer behaviour to benefit the bottom line.

Okay, so before we get to the social media bit, and I know I said we wouldn’t evangelize, but lets just revisit a few of the highlights. For starters, digital signs are far more engaging than their static counterparts:

• 63% of us see digital signage every day
• Digital signs capture 400% more views than static ones.

With stats like that its no wonder then that whilst print advertising revenue is projected to decrease by 23.8% over the next 4-5 years, digital advertising revenue is set to grow by 11% in the same period. So, considering the consumer seems to prefers impactful, eye catching digital signs static printed signage, then brand awareness and sales should both see big benefits. Research provides evidence that this is indeed the case:

• A 48% increase in brand awareness among consumers
• A 33% increase in sales.

The benefits don’t stop there. Exposure to digital signage has been shown to increase:

• The average purchase amount of consumers by as much as 29.5%, and
• Repeat customers by as much as 32.8%.

Appealing to our emotions, compelling consumer behaviour and encouraging advocacy is at the heart of digital signage, and whilst conventional content achieves this to an extent there is one medium that makes use of consumer behaviour and emotion more than any other. Social media.

Social media dominates so many aspects of modern life, and business world is no exception: 88% of B2B marketers and 76% of B2C marketers are making active use of content marketing to build their brand online and generate stronger digital performance. But set this against the reality that the majority of shopping still happens offline, face-to-face, with a physical presence of both parties. Using retail as an example, 92% of sales in the US were offline. This goes to show how important social media and content marketing is both offline and online, and how powerful combining social media with offline sales can potentially be.

Owned and earned content

• The 84% of those that trust social media are much more likely to trust content created by their peers than by a brand
• 68% trust consumer reviews, versus the 64% that trust professional reviews.

Most importantly, UGC increases sale conversions by 7% when featured at the point of sale (POS). Further rises in sales, by 13% and 18% respectively, can occur due to either presenting the number of Likes in posts, or by showcasing reviews, which are both inextricably connected with UGC.

With all that in mind it comes as no surprise that digital screens containing an integrated mosaic of social media posts are to be found at events, retail stores, restaurants, hotels, streets and just about everywhere. We know that digital signage increases sales, and that consumers trust each other the most, so combining these two winning formulas is where the sweet-spot is; combining digital signage and UGC across social media provokes substantial sales increases. It is the exact point where we, as marketers, want to be: closely associated with two marketing megastars who happen to be even better when they duet!

So how to make the most of social and UGC content…

We are at a cross-roads in terms of modern marketing, an era where the borders between all the different marketing disciplines have become increasingly blurred with each passing day. Social media marketing is powerful, especially if integrated and combined with digital signage. What separates the good marketing campaigns and activities with the great ones however is vital.Being able to tailor your message to a specific audience by targeting defined groups is what will make the difference. The extent to which companies will adapt and learn to adjust their message through social media (depending on factors such as location, culture, demographics and time-zone), is the ultimate challenge. Programmatic and content marketing are no longer buzzwords, but realities that need to be faced head on.

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