Important Tips For Managing a Large Digital Signage Network!
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Editing digital signage content on hundreds of displays versus a handful is a very different game. After a certain point, editing content elements one by one is off the table, instead you have to learn to deploy content through carefully structured groups and layouts. There is also the growing challenge of organizing content in a constantly growing content structure. Below, we’ll cover key tools which will help you publish content accurately and efficiently across dozens or even hundreds of displays without breaking a sweat.
Organize content from the start
Sorting and labeling your content should be done from the beginning. Don’t panic if you already have a sea of unlabeled files floating randomly in your content structure. Simply start organizing them one by one as you use them, and everything will steadily drift towards an organized structure.
Content organization with OnSign can be done in many ways. The first and most obvious one is maintaining consistency in names. Labeling by numbers, locations, or any other common factor is a great practice, but the bare minimum is to ensure there are no typos. This will ensure easier searches in the future. Furthermore, as OnSign can utilize AI to group content and make it easier to find, a descriptive title of a video, image, or campaign, can make it easier to find and manage in the future.
As for additional organizational tools, segment content by folders as a general guideline. Also be sure to use tags as they’re extremely useful, especially with generic content such as background imagery, or content of a specific color. When you compile a new campaign or composition, and you just want to fill in blank spaces, tags can help you find “ambience” or “stock footage” quickly. They become even more important in content like menu boards, PSAs, guidelines, etc. Note that you can apply tags to pretty much everything on the OnSign platform, be it content or even players.
Manage content on players through tags
Tags are a must-have component when managing a large number of displays as it lets you handle hundreds of content elements in a few clicks. For example, you just prepared a brand new flash sale composition you want to test. However, you don’t want to push it to all players. So you can just push it to players labeled with “lobby” or “storefront.”
This also eliminates headaches when it comes to highly contextual content. For example, banners or compositions that aim to invite passersby to enter the store will only make sense in the storefront. As such, you can selectively only add that sort of content to all displays with the “storefront” tag. The opposite is also possible, where you can push content to all displays except those with a specific tag.
Build custom campaign layouts
Campaigns are a basic yet effective way of sectioning up your display. Compositions offer more versatility, but in some cases, you only need rigid borders placed across the screen that are never going to change. Explore the pre-set layouts or create new ones to your needs to ensure content shines to its fullest potential.
Prepare templates for Compositions
As we noted above, a Composition is a significantly more versatile tool than a Campaign. It allows you to create custom shapes, of diverse widths and color, with greater freedom to overlay content as you choose. Treat these Compositions as design templates which can be reused with minimal tweaking, reducing editing times in the future.
The dynamic in Dynamic Compositions comes from the ability to cycle through content from data feeds. Check out the video below, or this tutorial from our Learning Database, for a quick refresher.
Edit data feeds instead of the content layout
Dynamic Compositions allow you to sketch or import visuals and organize them on the layout. This includes videos, images, apps, and text. For custom one-time use banners, this is an easy way to build new and exciting content. Meanwhile, for varying content, you’ll want to try something different!
Think of Dynamic Compositions as a visual panel which can be connected to a large database beneath. These are Data Feeds. All tools connected to them will automatically update as you edit the data within the Data Feeds.
For example, you can create placeholder slots for an image, a product price, and product description. When connected to a Data Feed which contains a list of this information, your Dynamic Compositions will load up that information into the Composition. This way, you can auto-update hundreds of compositions by simply tweaking the Data Feed information at the source, cutting down hours upon hours of editing time. Think of a quick price change that needs to be deployed. Instead of opening each Composition containing the price and editing it manually, just hop into the Data Feed, edit the price, and all Compositions will update.
Overall, aim to mass edit content this way in all possible regions of your digital signage platform. This applies to aforementioned tags, groups, and content organization.
Set permissions
A simple guideline but a necessary one for larger businesses, set permissions to different users to ensure no one oversteps their bounds, either intentionally or by accident. Assign key staff members the permission to publish and manage content, while others can only possess the ability to create or edit content elements.
As your digital signage setup grows, managing content becomes a greater challenge. Thankfully, digital signage software is constantly advancing to meet the growing needs of users.
OnSign continuously looks to offer new features to help you manage your content more efficiently, now utilizing AI in some aspects to help you find, organize, and even create content where it’s needed. If you’re an existing OnSign user, be sure to explore our Training Hub to find out more. And if you’re not, take advantage of our free trial!
