User-generated content in digital signage: what are the benefits?

Digital signage, once primarily a means of one-way content delivery, is rapidly evolving to incorporate new forms of interaction. One of these major developments is the integration of User Generated Content (UGC) into digital signage campaigns.

The challenges of user-generated content

User-generated content plays an increasingly important role in digital media, and is becoming a central issue for many organizations. Understanding the challenges involved will boost your communications strategy, including digital signage.

A better understanding of your customers

Leveraging user-generated content offers you a valuable opportunity togain a deeper understanding of your customers. By sharing their experiences and expressing their opinions on social networks, your consumers give you a better understanding of their needs and expectations. You can then adjust the themes and formats of your publications to better meet these needs.

You can also leverage user-generated content to enhance the customer experience with better information. Feedback from your customers can help you improve your products or services, or reinforce your communication around strong concerns or values.

Improved engagement and an audience-centric relationship

Through User Generated Content (UGC), consumers become true influencers. They take an active part in spreading their favorite brand's message, and give it a more authentic image in the eyes of the public. This interaction boosts your audience's engagement rate.

Encouraging your audience to create and share brand-related content demonstrates the importance the company places on its customers. This strong signal puts Internet users and customers back at the heart of the relationship, encouraging them to play a more active role. A real community is formed, whose members feel involved in the brand's development.

Increased visibility and reach

Stimulating discussion of the brand on the Internet broadens its audience. The audience grows as more and more posts are published and shared, helping to increase brand awareness.

By monitoring the content generated by your user community, you can identify your most enthusiastic fans. When followed by thousands or tens of thousands of subscribers, these convinced customers become ambassadors with considerable reach.

Lower costs for content production

User-generated content saves costs marketing, because it's the brand's users and customers who create the content. The actions the company needs to take are relatively simple to organize and inexpensive. For example, you can:

• Solicit your customers' opinions to develop your offer;
• Offer incentives to act and buy; 
• Encourage your audience to recommend your brand;
• Encourage your audience to publish and share articles, videos or photos on social networks.

You can collect user-generated content and integrate it into your editorial calendar for distribution on your screens.

Another significant advantage of user-generated content is its positive impact on search engine optimization, when the content is picked up or posted on your own website.

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Strong synergies between digital signage and user-generated content

Creating proximity with authentic content

When your customers see their own content on your digital signage screens, the credibility they give to your brand is reinforced. Authentic reviews and testimonials create a climate of trust, because they come from unbiased sources. The combination of these two elements increases the overall credibility of your company's communication.

User-generated publications often reflect personal experiences with the company's products or services. This enables the company to further personalize its content based on customer feedback, creating more relevant and tailored communication.

Integrating this content into the company's media gives life to a community of customers and brand fans. Members of this community feel involved in the brand's development and are more likely to become ambassadors. They actively share their experience and their attachment to the brand.

Engage your audience

Audience engagement is enhanced when it comes to user-generated content. Customers are more likely to interact with content that is familiar to them, whether it's their own posts or those of other users. This interaction fosters deeper, more active engagement with the brand.

The impact on purchasing decisions is immediate. Potential customers are more likely to trust reviews and recommendations from other customers. When these reviews are displayed on digital signage screens, they can positively influence purchasing choices in the place and at the time the decision is made.

Distribute your users' content with Cenareo

The Cenareo digital signage solution lets you manage a fleet of several hundred screens. You can grant specific rights to each user, for global or local management of all your sites, a region or a specific location. Your communication and messages are unified by the availability of templates tailored to your charter.

You can stream your social network feeds to your screens according to a wide range of parameters, making it easier to tap into user-generated content on Facebook, Instagram and your customers' other favorite platforms. 

Cenareo also offers a player for use via an HDMI port on any screen, and is compatible with Android/IoS, System on Chip (SOC) or the web browser of your choice. Local storage of your content on the players protects you from black screens, even in the event of disconnection.

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