82% of the U.S. population uses at least one social media platform. That makes social media a significant connection point between your business and your customers.
You may already use platforms like Twitter and Instagram to connect with your target audience digitally. But did you know you could also be leveraging these platforms in your business by taking advantage of digital signage?
Keep reading to learn how it's possible.
Bringing social media to your business through digital signage: An overview
Before we get into the specifics, here’s a quick overview of the process of integrating social media into your business:
- Set up your screens
- Choose your digital signage software
- Begin pulling in posts from social media
- Assess your performance and adapt
Here’s what you’ll need to get started
One of the great things about integrating social media into your business through digital signage is the simplicity of the setup. Here is some of what you might need:
- The right screens
- Digital signage software
- Media players
Once you’ve got everything ready to go, here’s how to set it up:
Step 1: Set up screens in ideal locations
Your digital signage displays will only be as effective as you want them to be if people can see them. That’s why screen placement should be your priority.
It’s best to place screens in areas with high traffic. For example, a restaurant may want TVs near its bar, while a retail store may want screens near its most popular products.
You also want to make sure you pick the right type of screens to accomplish your goals.
For instance, it could be a good idea to invest in touchscreens to allow your customers to interact independently with your company and its products.
Step 2: Choose your digital signage software
With your screens installed, you’re ready to choose the digital signage software that will power them.
UPshow is the ideal platform to help you integrate social media into your business because it’s:
- Easy to use from any internet-enabled device
- Full of pre-made templates and customization tools to help you design your ideal displays
- Built with integrated analytics tools so you can easily keep track of how your campaigns are performing
- Compatible with any screens you want to use
Step 3: Share your latest posts
Once you get your digital signage software set up, you’re ready to begin pulling in social media posts.
The process for this is straightforward using UPshow.
You can set up a display feature that will automatically share your latest social media posts from Twitter and Instagram. Once you have this set up, you can sit back and relax while your posts start automatically showing up in your business.
It’s also possible to create specific display screens to highlight special social media posts.
For example, you might post about an upcoming event on your Instagram page. You could ensure that this gets the attention it deserves by giving it a standalone display that runs in your venue until the event.
Step 4: Share your customers’ social media posts
Bringing social media into your business is about more than just displaying your posts in your physical locations — it’s about connecting with your customers in engaging ways.
The process for this is easy. You can tell your customers to use a specific hashtag when they post about your business on a platform like Instagram or Twitter.
Then, you can set up your screens to automatically show a feed of the latest posts under the hashtag(s) you specify. The result is that your customers are excited to see their social media posts across your TVs, while you benefit from free advertising for your business online.
When enough people begin using your hashtag, it’ll pop up on other peoples’ feeds. Seeing friends, family and even influencers sharing posts with your hashtag can motivate others to check out your business.
Step 5: Evaluate and adapt
It can take time to figure out the ideal strategies for your business with varied digital signage display capabilities.
The tactics you use at first may not deliver the engagement or sales results you were hoping for when you implemented them.
UPshow makes this much easier for you to do. You can use our built-in analytics features to quickly assess your performance without using a third-party tool, allowing you to review your progress and adapt quickly.
Strategies for unlocking the full potential of your social media integration
Whether or not you succeed with your social media integration goals will be affected by the efficacy of your outreach strategies.
With that in mind, here are two different tactics you can employ to start getting more out of your digital signage social media combination once you get it up and running.
Offer deals based on social media engagement
Three-fourths of Americans say deals are a top factor they consider when purchasing.
So why not leverage that to make your social media integration more effective?
There are a few different ways to do this. For example, maybe you want more followers for your account. If so, you could offer a special discount when someone shows you that they’ve followed your business.
Or maybe you want more engagement on your posts. If so, you could run special giveaways on your social media accounts that customers need to comment on to qualify for.
Give your customers prompts
A big part of your social media integration strategy may be getting your customers to post about your business online.
That’s much likelier to occur if you give customers an idea of what to post about. You can even tie this into your social media contests.
For example, a restaurant could run an Instagram campaign that gives a free meal to the customer that gets the most engagement on their post.
Then you can prompt them to post about their favorite memory at your restaurant.
With this strategy, you’re making it easier for customers to figure out what their posts should look like while also incentivizing them to follow your instructions.
Things to be careful of
Adding social media to your business through digital signage isn’t complicated. However, there are a few potential problems that could pop up, which you may want to look out for as you make the transition:
Not involving your customers
One of the most significant limiting factors on the efficacy of your social media campaigns will be the involvement rate of your customers.
If your customers don’t notice or care that you’re running social media campaigns inside your store, you’re probably not going to see the results you want.
It’s why it’s vital to emphasize strategies that can deliver the customer engagement figures you want.
Screen placement issues
Additionally, you could ruin the effectiveness of your campaigns if you display them on screens that are tough for your customers to see.
It’s why we made screen placement the first step in the integration process. You want to make sure that you get that right before proceeding.
The angle that you hang your screens at is an essential part of this as well. If people have to crane their neck at an awkward angle to see your screens, they’re probably not spending as much time looking at them.
UPshow makes it easier to integrate social media into your business
Are you ready to start enjoying the many benefits of bringing social media into your business? If so, UPshow is here to help.
Our digital signage software comes with all of the features you need to get as much out of your displays as possible.
