What is Digital Signage?

What is digital signage?

Making sure the right people have access to the most up-to-date, accurate information is paramount for any organization. At its simplest, that is what digital signage is all about: engaging and communicating with your audience when and where they need it most with your screens.

Let’s dive into the basics of digital signage, sharing some actionable tips to help you make the most of your displays along the way. 

How do you use digital signage?

The possibilities for digital signage are nearly endless, and applications will vary significantly depending on your unique business needs.

• Turn screens in your lobby into engaging directories and message boards
• Share upcoming deadlines and events in your classroom
• Communicate company policies and announcements in meeting rooms and work spaces
• Create dynamic, up-to-date menu boards
• Celebrate company achievements and top-performing employees
• Post crucial operational updates and safety information at the point of use
• Reinforce your brand, company values or objectives across multiple locations

What do you need for digital signage?

In addition to the obvious (digital screens), there are a few components that you’ll need to make digital signage work. 

Hardware

While digital signage hardware can be as simple as a flash drive that you plug into your displays, modern solutions often involve receiver devices such as Apple TV, Windows devices or solution-specific hardware. 

The hardware used to relay content to a screen is often called a digital signage player or receiver. Receiver devices offer increased flexibility, allowing you to change digital displays from any compatible device. Keep in mind that these devices require a stable, secure connection for your displays to receive video and images. 

Software

More often than not, your digital signage will be driven by a software solution. This is often called a digital signage CMS or content management system. A dedicated digital signage software solution gives you the ability to:

• Manage your digital signage from anywhere using a streamlined platform
• Centrally view and update display content across all screens
• Schedule what is displayed on each screen
• Control who can access and edit your digital signage

If you’re managing a vast library of content across multiple screens and locations, have multiple users accessing digital displays or want to make frequent updates to your signage, a digital signage CMS is the way to go. These solutions allow you to easily scale your digital signage, empowering users to manage their screens and make updates efficiently — without sacrificing visibility or control.

Content

Perhaps most importantly, you need content for your digital signage! Poorly designed signage can be disengaging at best and downright confusing at worst. Unfortunately, teams don’t always have the time or resources to consistently design top-notch signage. Ditto — our digital signage and screen sharing solution — eliminates this challenge by providing a library of professionally designed digital signage templates right inside the content management system. These templates are easily customized to your unique needs, allowing you to display beautiful, engaging content, without all the extra work. 

Download our tipsheet The Do’s and Don’ts of Digital Signage for more tips on creating engaging digital signage!