FIRST, WHAT IS GOVERNMENT DIGITAL SIGNAGE?
Now that you have an idea of what digital signage is, we can get a bit more granular with government specifics. Government digital signage is the practice of using digital signage to serve government interests and communicate messages, events, and other relevant information to a community. For the sake of brevity, we often include Parks & Rec signage in with these objectives. Many government entities and parks & rec communities employ signage to engage their community in certain events, take desired actions, and share important information in a timely manner. With proper signage implementation, governments on a local, state, and national scale can reach their audience within seconds.
As with any signage solution, government digital signage does not just include the way you deploy content, but also in how you create it! Many government organizations have a hierarchy or specified roles within their teams. You can apply the same logic to your signage network. When you first log into your facility’s dashboard through our CMS, you will assign an “Owner” who will have the highest level of access within your CMS. From there, you can assign admins, content creators, and even create your own specialized roles. This will help you organize your team and ensure each user is honing in on the task assigned to their role. This can also help prevent accidental content deletion or other apps from being tampered with in unintended ways. By locking everyone into their role, you guarantee no one can mess with tools outside their assigned apps.
In this way, it’s important to remember government digital signage isn’t just the content you will be publishing. It is also the facilities they will be placed in, displays they will be shown on, and the people on your team helping you bring it all together. By organizing each facet of your signage network, you set yourself up for a long future of success!
HOW TO GET STARTED WITH GOVERNMENT DIGITAL SIGNAGE
As stated previously, there are a few things you’ll need to get together when embarking on your signage initiative. Before you even reach out to any service providers, it would be a good idea to form your digital signage team, form your goals, and assign roles. From there, you’ll be able to effectively communicate to your account managers your goals for your signage project as well as what each team member needs to be trained on. This can speed up the training process, allowing you to get to content creation quicker!
From there, you need to make sure you have the proper equipment for displaying content. We mentioned previously that REACH’s software is “hardware agnostic.” So, if you have any spare media players, Fire Sticks, or similar devices, you can just use those (depending on the scale of your project of course). However, if you’re starting fresh, you can always purchase a player from us! REACH is both a hardware and software provider, so we know what our clients need for any kind of project! For example, our REACH DS3 players provide clients with an affordable, enterprise grade solution that is capable of high-level signage integrations.
Of course, REACH also partners with BrightSign, who are known for producing some of the most popular and reliable media player models on the market! Depending on your project, you may be recommended one of BrightSigns premium models to help with things such as live TV options or video walls.
Once you have your team and equipment figured out, all that’s left to do is find a good service provider. Thankfully, if you’re reading this article, you’ve already found one! REACH is here to help you along every step of your signage journey. First, you will be paired with one of our “Install Coordinators.” This person will be your guide through the start of your signage initiative. They will teach you and your team everything you need to know to get started, ranging from apps to integrations to certain template guides. After you’re all set up and have learned everything you need to succeed, you will then be assigned an account manager. From this point on, the account manager will be your point person for all signage inquiries. REACH offers 24/7 support, meaning there will always be someone available to help. With all this in mind, you are finally ready to begin crafting great digital signage content!
FORMING A DIGITAL SIGNAGE TEAM & STRATEGY
Similar to government hierarchies, digital signage allows you to assign roles and permissions to grant or restrict access based on the roles your users will be placed within. Our new CMS 2.0 has “Admin” and “Content Creator” roles as a default to help you get your organization off the ground. Of course, you can create your own custom roles as well.
Admins have access to every facet of your CMS. They can go in and edit any app, and grant or remove permissions from other users. Any person you add as an admin will have this ability, so proceed with caution when adding other admins.
Content creators will have access to the Dashboard, Media Library, and Playlist tools. The goal here is to funnel these users into the specific roles and tasks so that they remain focused. However, these roles can be expanded to other permissions if you would like to increase the scope of content creators.
REACH OUT NOW
Many facilities will begin changing their signage approach with the start of Spring. With that in mind, we HIGHLY recommend reaching out to your account manager now if you want free spring content, interactive integrations, or other signage implementations. While the process itself should not take too long, we do like having time to test the connection and ensure stable connectivity. Additionally, if any issues arise in that time, our support team can quickly sort them out. For more information, click the button below!
