It’s an easy goal to set, but may feel dauntingly difficult to achieve. To stay in tune with the latest trends and interests of your audience requires much. You must pay attention to the interests of your audience and the latest developments within the world that surrounds you. Accompanying your efforts online and within your business in general, consider employing digital signage to stay on trend.
Understand your audience
Typically, trends shift the fastest among younger audiences, teenagers in particular. They are, of course, only one example of an audience affected by trends. It truly depends on the particular field your business is in. Is the target audience you serve impacted by quickly-shifting trends?
For instance, fashion retailers, as well as businesses in cosmetics and the beauty industry must be keenly aware of them. Any business that heavily relies on social media is also dependent on trends. The key is to lock on and stay on a trend of that particular audience. Of course, it may be that your audience is such that it doesn’t depend on trends. Niche hobbies, or certain professional industries, such as law or medicine, are not easily swayed by trends. However, exploring trends and tailoring content to them may enable you to tap into new audiences or expand your reach.
Tailor content to trends and interests
Once you’ve focused on the interests of your audience, it’s time to start researching and learning. The challenge is to construct content which will resonate with the audience and ride the tide created by recent trends. An excellent example are the quickly-shifting social media trends. Take a look at a ton of examples from businesses which have gathered attention by utilizing trends, such as mixing currently trending sound clips with simple every-day recordings.
You’ll quickly find that their success maybe doesn’t make the most sense from an outside perspective, but it makes sense to the audiences. This same concept can be applied to digital signage. Display things your audience will be excited to see! The key isn’t necessarily to use global trends, but trends which resonate with your audience.
For instance, consider if your local community has recently united to address a shared goal, such as cleaning up the city or creating community murals. Simply by promoting these events and inviting people to take action, you’re utilizing the latest activities and interests of your local audience.
Focus on fashion, style, and music
Global trends in the world of entertainment or fashion are a good source of content for most businesses. If you’re in retail, featuring the latest fashion trends and collections (even if you don’t sell them yourself) is a great way to show you’re paying attention to what’s happening in the world.
Music is another important element, especially in environments where consumers spend plenty of time. Broadcasting radio stations that are known for playing the latest hits or even constructing your own audio loop via digital signage are excellent options! We’ve previously talked about creating audio playlists via digital signage, so if this sounds like a good application for your business, read more about it!
Optimize content for engagement
The success of any trend, be it global or local, is reflected in the engagement it creates. If it sparks a response, a laugh, a like, a photo to be shared on social media, or even the consumer looking at your display a few seconds longer, it’s successful. This is one lesson we can learn from all trends and that is to shape our content, so that it encourages engagement.
Incorporate a call-to-action, add interactive elements, or invite people to follow you on social media. If thought-out enough, digital signage may help you start your own little trend. For example, invite consumers to send you snapshots of feedback on social media for you to feature it on digital signage. Take a dog groomer or a vet office as an example. Customers could share selfies with their pets and share them to create a lovely collage of images that pops up on the displays in the storefront.
Collaborate and utilize limited access
Trends are temporary and they consistently show us that people respond to something that is on limited offer. In order to stay on trend, consider collaborating with other businesses to create special offers, events, or anything else that lasts for a limited amount of time. For example, you could collaborate with a nearby restaurant to offer a limited-time discount or free appetizer for customers who visit both businesses during the same week. This encourages cross-promotion and drives traffic to both businesses while creating a sense of urgency and exclusivity for customers. Partner with a local artist or musician to host a pop-up event or live performance at your location. You could also donate a portion of your sales during a specific period to a charity.
There are countless possibilities! In the end, it’s important to see what we can learn from other trends to replicate them in our own surroundings. Experiment and try tapping into global as well as local trends. And even if your content doesn’t explode across the internet, it will certainly intrigue your audience and build a stronger connection. Begin designing, creating, and scheduling your content across all digital displays with OnSign TV!
Cover image PabitraKaity.