Digital signage is an excellent tool for communicating with employees, customers, or any other stakeholders in your organization. However, writing code to create content requires a high degree of technical expertise, and a great deal of time and effort. Using a content management system (CMS) allows users to create professional digital signage content quickly, without any coding knowledge.
What to Consider for a CMS
When you’re considering which tools to use to create your digital content, you’ll want to determine what kinds of things you want your viewers to see and experience. If you want your digital signage to be interactive, you’ll need to take that into consideration. Some content management systems will easily allow you to make content interactive, whereas others will only allow you to create static content. You’ll also want to consider any automations or integrations you want to use in conjunction with your digital signage. This could mean pulling in data from Excel or Google Sheets, or displaying slides from a PowerPoint presentation. If you’re looking for some examples or ideas of widgets and integrations to use on your digital signage, click here.
Organizing and Scheduling Content
Unless you plan on displaying content that never or rarely changes, you should also consider what tool helps you best organize and schedule your content. Some content management systems are very limited when it comes to scheduling presentations. Others will let you create recurring schedules and let you schedule down to the minute. If you need to make changes to content often, you’ll likely need a more robust CMS. For more information about scheduling digital signage content, click here.
Bringing Custom Media to your Digital Signage
Some content management systems built for digital signage limit the amount of media you can upload . If you want to consistently update your media with new images and videos, select a content management system without upload limits. You’ll also want to be sure you can upload your own content to start. Some digital signage software providers will only allow you to use their content, or stock images. This is more typical of free plans.
Ease of Use
Ease of use is another major consideration when selecting a content management system for digital signage. You don’t have to sacrifice sophisticated and complex features, you just need to find a CMS built with the end user in mind. Some content management systems will provide you with freetemplates for your digital signage. These templates make it easy to keep up to date with holidays, birthdays, and work anniversaries. For more tips on how to find easy to use content management systems, click here.
Design your Digital Signage Content Exactly how you Want
There are a lot of considerations for you to make when choosing a content management system for your digital signage. You should take into account how easy it is to use, if you can upload your own media, and if there are any creative limitations. While all of these factors can be overwhelming, there is one key question you’ll need to answer: Does this CMS have the tools I need to create and schedule my digital signage content? If the answer is yes, and you’re confident with the customer service, then odds are you’ve found a good tool for the job.