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2 tips for picking the best CMS

When picking out a CMS, it can be difficult to ascertain which one has all the right bells and whistles for your digital signage. However, by following two basic tips you can help narrow down which one is right for you.

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May 5, 2020 by Bradley Cooper — Editor, ATM Marketplace & Food Truck Operator

When you are looking at a digital signage solution, it can be easy to get caught up in the hype surrounding the display. After all, a vendor is going to show you the display delivering truly impressive HD content. However, that display is useless if you don't have a good tool to deliver content to it, and that's where the content management software comes into play.

When picking out a CMS, it can be difficult to ascertain which one has all the right bells and whistles for your digital signage. However, by following two basic tips you can help narrow down which one is right for you.

Keep it simple

The first thing to look for with a CMS is simplicity. Not simplicity in its functions, but rather in its usage. You need a solution that is going to be easy to learn and simple to use.

Unless you have a dedicated technician working the CMS, you likely want a solution that you can pop into, throw up some content and forget about it. And even if you do have a dedicated IT person, they probably don't want to deal with a complicated system either.

With a good CMS, you should be able to easily do the following:

• Update content.
• Update its scheduled time.
• Integrate different types of content (jpg, video, etc.).
• Set content loops.

Anyone should be able to pick up and learn the CMS in a day or two of training (obviously they don't need to learn all the ends and outs, just the basics).

Keep it integrated

In today's climate, it's not enough to simply push out a generic advertisement and hope for the best. You need your advertisement to connect with the viewer on a personal, direct level. In order to do this, you need your CMS to be integrated with a variety of data sources.

For example, your CMS should be able to integrate with analytics on your customers. How many times did people view the display? What was the average dwell time? If there was an interactive component, what percentage of people interacted with the display?

Another example would be social media feeds. You can integrate your digital signage with your company's social media feeds to drive up engagement. Other examples of integration include:

• Weather feeds with content tailored for the current conditions.
• Facial analytics to determine a user's age, gender and mood and deliver content based on that data.
• Tracking software to see if a display is not working.

These are just a few of the software tools you can integrate into your CMS. Once again, make sure when you are working with a company that these tools are all simple to use. You don't want to get a CMS that's so complex you have no idea how to run your campaign!

About Bradley Cooper

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Bradley Cooper is the editor of ATM Marketplace and Food Truck Operator. He was previously the editor of Digital Signage Today. His background is in information technology, advertising, and writing.

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