People cannot stop staring at screens. So, playing marketing content on digital screens is an excellent way to grab the attention of your target audience and make them engage with your brand.
When it comes to choosing digital screens for digital signage, a popular choice is smart TVs. This is because smart TVs have built-in features that support remote content updates.
That is, you can set a smart TV to automatically play something on a schedule without physically accessing the television, making content scheduling and updates more convenient.
But to take advantage of this, you need to know how to schedule content on smart TVs. This article will explain how you can do this.
It’ll look at a 7-step approach to schedule and automate digital signage content smart TVs.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to scheduling and automating content on smart TVs.
Step 1: Choose the right Smart TV and digital signage software
Before diving into scheduling and automation, you must get your hardware (smart TV) and software (digital signage) choices right.
Know that the main components of a digital signage system include: digital signage display/ screen, media player, and digital signage software. However, with smart TVs, you won’t need external devices like media players, as these TVs come with built-in media players.
So, getting the right smart TV and digital signage software sets the foundation for a successful and efficient automated content strategy.
These tools (smart TVs and digital signage solutions) are not made equal.
For example, smart TVs run on different operating systems (Samsung Smart TVs run on Samsung Tizen, Apple Smart TVs run on MacOS, Android Smart TVs run on Android OS, and so on).
Thus, when choosing your smart TV and digital signage software, it’s important to go for options that are technically compatible.
The #1 digital signage solution, Luna Screens, currently supports Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, and some web browsers, with support for Raspberry Pi and additional players coming soon.
Luna Screens is designed for a variety of smart TV brands and media player systems. Therefore, choosing it will not limit you as many other digital signage solutions would.
Also, ensure that the smart TV you choose is equipped with the features necessary for effective scheduling, remote management, and content updates.
Considerations when choosing smart TV and digital signage software include:
Compatibility
Ensure the smart TV and digital signage software are compatible to ensure seamless communication between them.
Scheduling features
Smart TVs and digital signage solutions do not have the same scheduling capabilities. So, go for Smart TVs with good built-in scheduling features (like setting specific times for the television to automatically turn on or off, switching to different input sources, etc.).
Also, go for digital signage software with advanced scheduling options (such as allowing you to set specific times, dates, and recurring patterns for content playback).
Content compatibility
Smart TVs and digital signage software have varying capabilities when it comes to supporting specific file types, interactive features, etc. Therefore, ensure you choose tools that support the content types you plan to display.
For example, you need smart TVs with touchscreen capability if you want to offer touchscreen interactivity.
Remote management features
The availability of remote management features varies among smart TVs and digital signage solutions. For example, smart TVs designed for consumer use may not prioritise these features.
So, ensure the smart TV you choose offers remote control capability. Also, go for a signage solution that lets you manage content updates across multiple smart TVs from a centralised location.
User interface and ease of use
You don’t want any part of your digital signage system to frustrate you. Therefore, go for a smart TV with an intuitive interface that makes it easy to navigate settings and configure scheduling options. A user-friendly digital signage software also makes it easy to organise and update content.
Also read: The Benefits of Using Smart TVs for Digital Signage.
Step 2: Create your content
After choosing the right hardware and software, the next step when automating content on smart TVs is to create the content you want to schedule.
Know that in digital signage, the success of your digital signage effort relies heavily on the quality of your content.
Quality content that is capable of engaging your target audience must be visually appealing and relevant to them.
Thus, develop visually appealing and relevant content for your digital signage at this stage. This includes images, videos, text, and interactive elements.
Step 3: Upload and categorise your content
When content is in a central location, locating and managing it is easier. So, after creating content, the next step in automating content on Smart TVs is to upload it to the digital signage software.
Know that well-organised content makes it easier to create schedules so that the right content is displayed at the right times.
After uploading your content to the digital signage software, organise it into categories or playlists.
Categorising content in the Luna Screens digital signage software is easy. Follow these steps:
Access Luna Screens and log in to your account.
Navigate to the content management section.
Look for the Media button and choose “Add new media” to add a new category or playlist.
Name the newly created category. Use a clear and descriptive name. Lastly, assign content to the different categories.
Step 4: Set up scheduling
After categorising your content, the next step is to define when specific content will be displayed on the smart TV. This involves establishing a timetable for when specific content from different categories will be shown.
So, at this point, set up schedules for your content based on the time of the day, day of the week, or any special events or promotions you may want to run.
Many digital signage software content management systems (CMS) offer a visual calendar for easy content scheduling.
Some strategies for effective digital signage content scheduling include:
Time-based scheduling
This involves defining specific times during the day when content should be played.
For example, let’s say you want to target customers at peak business hours. You may plan to display informational content in the morning and then display promotional content during those peak business hours.
Date (and time) triggering
This involves scheduling content to change automatically on specific dates (or specific times during the day).
For example, if you want to run a “happy hour” promo, you may set up the content to be shown at the designated happy hour time each day.
Content rotation
This involves cycling through different pieces of content to keep the display fresh and engaging. This prevents viewers from getting bored from seeing the same thing over and over again.
For example, instead of showing a particular promo over and over again, you may maintain customer interest by cycling through different promos, such as showing various discounts, special offers, and limited-time deals.
Priority scheduling
This involves assigning different priority levels to various content items so that higher-priority content takes precedence over lower-priority content during specific time slots.
For example, you may assign a high priority level to emergency messages, allowing them to override regular content schedules when you need to make urgent announcements.
Randomised scheduling
This involves setting up schedules that randomly select content items from designated categories. This displays a mix of content without a fixed sequence to keep viewers engaged.
Step 5: Implement remote content updates
When you have multiple digital signage display screens across different locations, manually interacting with the screens for content updates can be challenging.
This is why “remote content update” is essential—being able to make changes, add new content, or adjust schedules from a central location. Thankfully, one of the biggest advantages of smart TVs is their ability to connect to the internet and allow users to update content remotely.
Thus, after content scheduling, the next step is implementing remote content updates by leveraging cloud-based solutions that provide remote management capabilities.
Start by connecting your smart TV to the internet through WiFi or Ethernet, depending on your device’s capability. So, ensure that your smart TV has built-in WiFi or Ethernet connectivity.
Next, enable the remote management feature in your digital signage software. Then, when it’s time to update content, simply use the remote management features of your digital signage software to push the changes to your smart TVs.
Step 6: Monitor and analyse performance
Remember the famous management saying, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it?”
Analysing the performance data of your digital signage schedule can help you refine your scheduling strategy. This is because, based on what performs best, you can adjust the timing, frequency, and duration of the content. Thus, after implementing your digital signage schedule, it’s important to monitor and analyse performance.
Some digital signage solutions have analytics features that provide insights into content popularity, audience engagement, and overall effectiveness.
Analyse the data and use the insights gained to optimise your content strategy. For example:
Optimise placement of impactful content
Performance data can reveal the time of the day when your audience is most engaged. You can optimise scheduling using this information by planning high-impact content to be displayed during these peak periods.
Balance content rotation and freshness
Performance data can reveal how viewers respond to repeated content.
Simply monitor how often content is repeated and analyse how viewers respond to it. This information can help you optimise scheduling by ensuring a balance between content repetition (for reinforcement) and introducing fresh content (to maintain interest).
Optimise playlists
Performance data can reveal how different content sequences perform.
Simply evaluate the order in which content is presented in playlists and viewer engagement across different content sequences. Then, use this information to optimise playlists by adjusting the playlist sequencing by placing content in an order that maximises viewer interest.
Also read: 9 Ways Digital Signage Analytics Can Reveal Key Insights Into Customer Behaviour.
Step 7: Regularly update and refine
While performance data can help you optimise digital signage content scheduling on smart TVs, feedback from viewers and stakeholders can also help.
So, after implementing your digital signage schedule, gather feedback from your viewers and stakeholders about its effectiveness. Then, analyse collected feedback to identify areas for improvement in content scheduling.
An easy way to collect feedback is via surveys (online or paper). You may also incorporate interactive elements (like touchscreens) into your digital signage, allowing viewers to provide feedback directly on the screen.
While continuously improving your digital signage schedule, it is important to keep an eye out for software updates for both your smart TV and digital signage software.
Keeping your digital signage up-to-date can help improve your content schedule and the overall effectiveness of your digital signage implementation.
For example, software updates often introduce new features, improvements, or expanded functionality. This can include improvements related to content scheduling, like advanced scheduling options or dynamic playlist management.
Takeaway: Schedule and automate content on smart TVs easily with Luna Screens
With Smart TVs’ remote control capability, you can take digital signage to another level. This is done by setting the system to play specific content automatically at certain times of the day.
The seven steps discussed above will help you schedule and automate content on smart TVs. This process starts with choosing the right smart TV and digital signage software.
There are different digital signage solutions out there. But only a few are worthy. Considering scheduling features, content compatibility, remote management features, and ease of use, Luna Screens ticks all the boxes. It’s also highly reliable, with zero to minimum downtime. And it’s a scalable app that will grow with your digital signage system.
Ready to schedule and automate content on smart TVs and supercharge your digital signage effort? Get Started with Luna Screens today!