Did you know that anyone can build a digital signage app for Enplug’s App Market in order to reach more customers and add new features to their own technology offerings? (Click here to view Enplug’s App Market.)
Enplug’s platform works like a smartphone, with a digital signage app for each type of content that Enplug customers want to display. Users can log onto the Enplug web interface and enable Enplug Apps for live social media, news feeds, weather, or sports scores — and those types of content will automatically play on the users’ screens.
While we have built many of these apps ourselves, our platform also makes it simple for any third-party developer to build an app to be available via Enplug’s digital signage software. In fact, we already feature half a dozen third-party apps on our platform — from business leaderboards to digital menus, crowd-sourced high school sports scores to motivational posters.
Building a digital signage app on Enplug’s platform provides three major benefits:
- Adding new functionality to existing platforms by creating a visual component
- Reaching new potential customers through Enplug’s user base
- Enabling more powerful features than are available with a simple web-based URL display
This article will cover these benefits in more depth, explore what kinds of apps can work on Enplug, and discuss how to build an app on our platform.
Benefits of building a digital signage app on Enplug
Adding new functionality to existing platforms
Most technology platforms are based on mobile phone apps and websites that users visit. Digital signage displays are a different way to reach users: the signage displays are always on large displays that allow an audience to see information or content at a glance. This type of integration can drive adoption and create a more robust experience for users.
As an example, a customer loyalty platform based on a mobile app could add a digital signage component using the Enplug digital signage software. Stores participating in the platform could use an Enplug display above the cash register to encourage patrons to download and use the loyalty app. Each time a purchase is made, a personalized message can show on the digital display.
Another example would be a sales or manufacturing KPI dashboard software. These platforms generally require managers to log in to a website to view the dashboards. With a digital signage integration, these dashboards can be displayed on TV screens around the workplace, making key metrics available at a glance.
Reaching new potential customers
Enplug’s platform is already used in thousands of businesses worldwide to power tens of thousands of digital displays. Building an app on Enplug enables companies to reach all of Enplug’s customers. When a new app is available, we market it to our customers via emails, blog posts, sales team outreach, and by making the new app visible in the Enplug Dashboard.
Enabling more powerful features
Many of the apps on Enplug’s platform can also be displayed as a simple URL. Our customers often use Enplug’s Webpage App to show custom content that isn’t yet available as an app. Examples might be custom outputs from building management systems, internal webpages, or custom countdown clocks for events.
Creating this type of content as an app on Enplug provides additional benefits above a simple URL display because we have a powerful SDK that allows for more features, such as:
- Custom triggers: Enables your content to immediately take over the screen when an event happens, such as a new interaction with your platform.
- Display customization: Allows users to customize and deploy your content within the Enplug Dashboard.
- Specified caching options: Ensures your app works well offline.
Potential digital signage apps for the Enplug platform
Below are some ideas for new app development on Enplug, inspired by customer requests and our own insights in digital signage.
Internal communications apps:
Many of Enplug’s customers use our platform to communicate with their own employees across their corporate workplaces. (Click here to read a digital workplace case study.)
Any internal communications platform can benefit from having a visual display component. With creative visuals on large screens these platforms are more likely to attract employee attention and might include:
- Employee peer recognition apps (iAppreciate, TapMyBack, Kudos)
- Birthday and holiday apps that integrates with payroll software (Paycor, Trinet)
- Employee messaging apps (Yammer, Slack)
- Employee of the Month app
Read our post on how to improve internal communication.
Social proof apps:
Enplug’s Graphics & Video App provides an easy way to announce specials for people waiting in grocery store lines, for example. Now imagine an app that provides social proof of those specials. Perhaps this app would be similar to Amazon product pages that announce how many more of a product are in stock.
The app could enable the business to announce, for example, 20 quarts of blueberries at a very low price. As these quarts are bought at checkout, the number of available quarts goes down on the screen until the number reaches zero.
Another app for social proof could be based on group participation similar to the proposed gaming app (see below). For example, in a brick-and-mortar store a dress on special could be voted up or down via people’s smartphones.
Retailers would get instant marketing feedback and shoppers whose purchases are influenced by social proof would have more of an incentive to purchase (or not purchase) the dress on special.
Interactive gaming apps:
Digital signage is a great way for businesses to engage captive audiences. From that perspective let’s consider game apps.
Some online gaming platforms like FunWall and AirConsole have a mobile social component. Players can use their smartphones as game pads to participate in multiplayer games. With an Enplug app for these online game platforms, a captive audience waiting for the start of a concert can participate in a multi-player game on a large TV display.
How to build a digital signage app on Enplug
Creating an app on the Enplug platform is simple.
Developers can create their own apps using Enplug’s SDK. (Click here now for the Software Development Kit.) An Enplug App is a wrapper for any content that can be displayed as a webpage.
There are two components to building an Enplug digital signage app:
- The configuration options in the web dashboard
- The actual content that will be shown on an Enplug display
Creating an Enplug app means that digital signage users can easily find and set up the content. This allows for advanced functionality like event-based content triggering and specified pre-load times.