Digital Out Of Home Advertising & User-Generated Content: The Revolution Of Outdoor Advertising
Gone are the days when ad agencies and brands would spend a large portion of their marketing budget on paper advertising. Technology has evolved, and people are responding more to digital displays.
That’s why we are witnessing brands’ gradual shift from out-of-home advertising to digital-out-of-home(DOOH) advertising. In 2020 digital out-of-home advertising spending in the United States was estimated to amount to 2.72 billion U.S. dollars. And to further grow to 3.84 billion dollars by the end of 2024.
User-generated content (content created by experienced customers), on the other hand, has become the most treasured content for both the brands and the consumers. More than 86% of companies today use user-generated content as part of their marketing strategy.
Now imagine the kind of possibilities for brands if they put these marketing strategies together. Wouldn’t that maximize the benefits?
But, before we dwell upon that, let’s understand where UGC & DOOH stand individually.
The Influence Of Digital-out-of-home Advertising & User-generated Content
Digital out-of-home advertising is simply the integration of offline out-of-home advertising with digital elements. It is interactive and attractive advertising empowered by digital channels displayed in environments accessible to the public.
User-generated content is created by experienced customers who share their experience around a brand, and the brand repurposes the content in their marketing campaign.
DOOH offers enhanced creativity & targeting, constant traffic, better visibility, and many more attention-grabbing elements. UGC acts as the most reliable source, giving consumers real-life experiences of their peers with products or brands they find interesting.
When you display user-generated content on the DOOH, you can monitor, track, modify, manage, and display content at your discretion and in real-time as well.
85% of consumers find visual UGC more influential than brand photos and videos. With the growing demand by the audience for faster and more personalized content accessible on the go, digital OOH advertising along with UGC fits right in the picture. It perfectly satisfies these demands with greater effectiveness & efficiency.
Benefits of Digital Out-of-Home With User-generated Content
Now that you know where DOOH & UGC stand individually, it’s time to understand their benefits when you bring them together.
DOOH & UGC Boosts Audience Engagement
When you come across a basic advertisement created by a brand, do you think it is impactful enough to have a long-lasting image in your mind? That’s what user-generated content on DOOH does to the consumer. It gives the consumer the kind of relatability they seek from mainstream advertising.
You can display advertisements effectively with the potential of creating awareness, exposure, and driving engagement. Strategically place DOOH at spaces where the passersby have more idle time, like bus stops, train stations, or commute mediums.
Almost every brand uses professional air-brushed pictures of models. Seeing a peer as a brand’s advocate would entice the consumer and encourage them to engage more. Not just that, they will find it relatable and memorable. Who knows? If they are your customer, they might also get encouraged to create content for you!
User-generated Content Builds Social Proof
These tips for advertising on social media are the online user behavior where people copy others’ actions. It’s almost like following the herd. When a person sees a group of people doing something in the digital space, their probability of doing it increases.
That’s exactly what user-generated content does to a consumer. When you display user-generated content on your digital out-of-home advertising, and your customers or any passersby see that, they feel intrigued to create content for you.
Besides, the idea of appearing on a digital display attracts them. It helps you generate more UGC for your DOOH, creating better social proof possibilities.
Display Dynamic & Creative UGC With DOOH
Content is of prime importance for any advertising as it is what consumers are attracted to and engage with. Digital out-of-home advertising displays allow you to present dynamic and creative content.
You can even aggregate, moderate, and display user-generated content as part of your digital out-of-home advertising campaign using Social media aggregation and display tools like Taggbox Display. User-generated content is extremely influential, and around 9 out of 10 people tend to trust UGC for their shopping decisions.
Displaying user-generated content helps in driving higher engagement. Consumers feel more rewarded, gratified and tend to trust the authenticity of the advertising message. Besides, you get more creative and unique content from diverse audience groups and different perspectives for the same product & brand.
User-generated Content Drives Better ROI
DOOH displays are installed quickly with only upfront costs of screens and setup, without any recurring costs, manual labor costs, or printing costs, unlike the traditional OOHs.
DOOH helps in reducing the overall advertising budget with maximized engagement, minimal cost, effort, and time investments. Besides, when your focal content is user-generated, you don’t have to spend time on creating new content every day as the customers generate it, saving you money for hiring models, actors, and professional photographers.
Also, Display screens can be modified and moderated in real-time with the possibility of displaying fresh content with constant updates for recurring audience engagement.
User-generated Content Is Trustworthy & Reliable
User-generated content is trustworthy & reliable, and it has become a universal fact now. 90% of consumers find user-generated content useful and believe what existing customers say about the brands rather than flashing ads and promotional emails.
When you display user-generated content in your digital out-of-home advertising campaign, it gives the passersby a real-life experience around your product, bringing more authenticity to your brand image over a made-up advertisement.
It will generate interest among the passersby and would encourage them to engage more with your brand. They’d want to know about you, and the UGC will help you boost your sales like never before.
DOOH Enables Offline Personalization
With DOOH advertising & its integration with artificial intelligence & recognition, you can create personalized advertising. Personalization is a key element of present-day advertising as it shapes the consumers’ initial experience with the brand.
It is almost like generating on-spot user content, as the common consumer becomes the brand’s advocate. Consumers’ initial experience with a brand is highly influential in shaping their further journey into the engagement & purchase funnel.
Recognition technology with features like sentiment recognition, behavior analysis, facial expression analysis, and image recognition, along with digital out-of-home advertising, could immensely help in delivering personalized advertising in an offline environment.
Brand Examples of Digital Out-of-Home Advertising & User-generated Content
Here are some of the prime examples of brands using digital outdoor media advertising with user-generated content effectively & successfully.
Facebook’s Pride Display
It is a beautiful and influential example of a brand using Digital signage for a social cause. On the occasion of gay pride week, Facebook Israel installed digital screens showcasing content mentioning pride week.
Facebook Israel partnered with Taggbox social wall to aggregate and display social media content on the social media wall, which contained photos, videos, and live updates from around the country. They showcased engaging and interesting user-generated content to celebrate Gay pride week.
People were motivated to share their opinions, ideas, and experiences relating to Gay pride week. It massively encouraged conversations, discussions, and engagement from the audience.
The underline is that Facebook and Taggbox Display were mediums that empowered users to share, interact, and celebrate this “Pride-filled” occasion.
Apple ‘Shot on iPhone’
Apple launched its “Shot on iPhone” campaign in 2015 by collecting user-generated content created by iPhone users who used the hashtag #shotoniphone and displaying them as digital-out-of-home advertising. The images were so captivating that they redirected people’s perception of smartphone photography.
The campaign was so successful that now when you see Apple’s advertising campaigns, you will find 80% UGC in it, as it is inspiring and puts more emphasis on the possibilities with the iPhone. Apple generated $274 billion in revenue in 2020, and 50 percent came from iPhone sales.
The Future of DOOH & UGC Advertising Campaigns
The idea of digital out-of-home advertising is a modernized version of old-age outdoor offline advertising with integrated digital elements for better exposure, reach, and engagement.
Digital displays with user-generated content manifest interactivity, creativity, and engagement value for the audience at high-audience traffic hub spots and could be valuable assets to the brands.
There are still many possibilities and unopened doors that can be explored to generate more UGC and find new implementations, targeting hubs, and creative customizations. Moreover, effective advertising by implementing digital outdoor advertising equipped with content created by your customers.
Feature Image Source: Instagram