Turn any TV into a digital sign with XOGO. Display menu boards, graphics, videos, infotainment and even social media feeds.
Digital Signage for Small Businesses
Digital signage is an ideal tool for small businesses. It’s easy to deploy, cheaper and more eco-friendly than printing, and keeps your viewers engaged. Read on for more information about digital signage and how to deploy it in your small business!
What is digital signage?
Simply put, the term digital signage refers to putting content on a screen that is related to your business or organization. Typically this content consists of graphics or videos that advertise things like your store hours, food and drink menus, flight arrival / departure info, daily specials, or corporate communications. This content is often developed by a company's marketing department or creative agency; at XOGO we also have an in-house creative team called XOGO Studio that can custom-develop graphics or videos for our small business customers and load them right into the customer’s XOGO account so they are available for use.
These days a lot of businesses are also leveraging dynamic content in order to keep their content fresh and audiences engaged. Dynamic content feeds are designed specifically for digital signage and play within XOGO alongside your other content. Examples of dynamic content include infotainment feeds like news, weather, sports, stock prices, trivia and quizzes, and even local traffic information. Social media feeds are another example; users can pull in their business' social feeds or even pull in content from sources like Twitter that have been uploaded with a specific hashtag.
How does it work?
Until recently, digital signage was rather complex. It typically required an IT team to set up, along with expensive on-site server hardware, user training and more. Cloud-based systems like XOGO have completely transformed the industry by making digital signage user-friendly and accessible for everyone. Users simply install our free XOGO Manager and XOGO Player apps in order to turn any TV or projector into a digital sign. Players are deployed in seconds and thanks to the cloud, they can be managed from anywhere in the world using our manager app.
What do you need?
XOGO consists of two free applications. The first is called XOGO Manager. It runs on your computer, tablet or smart phone and allows you to upload content, create and schedule playlists, and add/manage your signage players. Think of it as a remote control for your digital signs.
The second app is called XOGO Player. It comes preinstalled on any player purchased from XOGO of course, but can also be installed on your own Windows 10, Android, Chrome or Fire TV device. When you first open the XOGO Player app, it displays a 4-digit PIN code. This code is simply entered into XOGO Manager in order to connect the player to your XOGO account.
You can run one XOGO player completely free of charge, or upgrade to a pro account in order to deploy an unlimited number of players. With pro accounts there are no limits to how many players you can deploy or how many playlists you can set up, and you can manage all of your players from the XOGO Manager app running on your computer, tablet or smart phone.
What does it cost?
It's absolutely free to deploy one XOGO player (with some limitations). In order to unlock additional features or deploy more than one sign, simply upgrade to a pro account right within the XOGO Manager app. The cost is just USD $20 per player per month (or choose to pay annually and save 25%). There are discounts available for businesses that need to deploy more than 100 players. And all customers receive free email-based technical support from our teams in the United States and Europe.
In terms of hardware, XOGO Manager is designed to run on your existing computer, tablet or smart phone. Our player app can be deployed on your own Windows 10, Android, Chrome or Fire TV device; we also offer a number of hardware options in our online store including our award-winning XOGO Mini device. At just $99, the XOGO Mini is now the best-selling digital signage player on Amazon and it's a great choice for anyone that needs to display HD content on an existing TV. We also offer hardware that can handle 4k content and power multi-screen video walls. Check back often, as we continue to expand our hardware offerings.
How do I get started?
Getting started with XOGO is easy. First, download our free manager app on your existing computer, tablet or smart phone and set up an account using your email address and a password.
Then download our player app on the device that you want to use as a player - again, this can be one of our XOGO Mini or XOGO Enterprise devices, or your own Windows PC, Android tablet, Chromebit, Chromebox or even a Fire TV-powered television (we really like the ones from Insignia and Toshiba). For an EASY demo you can simply download both apps on your Windows 10 PC and run them side-by-side.
With both apps downloaded, just follow the simple setup instructions on our Getting Started page. Essentially you will use the manager app to upload your content, then enter the PIN code displayed by your player in order to connect it to your account and send it a playlist.
The player setup process takes about 90 seconds, although you have the option to go much deeper and explore features like Realtime mode (real-time content triggering) and advanced scheduling (schedule the days/times when you want specific content to appear or not appear). If you run into problems at any point, just check out our FAQs, tutorial videos or visit our dedicated support portal in order to submit a support ticket. We look forward to working with you!
