While digital marketing has become a cornerstone of modern strategies, traditional methods like Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising remain powerful tools. When combined with the dynamic capabilities of social media, OOH advertising can create a symbiotic relationship that amplifies a brand’s reach, engagement, and overall impact. After all, marketing and advertising leaders are continually seeking innovative ways to reach and engage their audience. Let’s explore how these two seemingly different marketing channels can go hand in hand to create a compelling and effective marketing strategy.
Amplify Reach and Visibility
OOH advertising, which includes billboards, transit and moving ads, street furniture, kiosks, and digital screens, is uniquely positioned to capture the attention of a broad audience in public spaces, throughout their everyday lives. Its strength lies in its ability to create high-impact, large-scale brand visibility. However, the challenge with OOH has always been tracking engagement and measuring ROI accurately. This is where social media steps in.
By integrating OOH campaigns with social media strategies, brands can significantly extend their reach beyond the physical locations where the ads are displayed. A strategically placed billboard in a bustling city center can become a viral sensation when shared across social media platforms. Encouraging users to take photos of OOH ads and share them with specific hashtags can create buzz, turning a local ad into a global conversation. This not only increases the visibility of the campaign but also allows for tracking of its performance through social media analytics. Take the analytics one step further by tapping StreetMetrics to measure the campaign’s impressions and capture audience demographic insights.
Create Interactive and Engaging Experiences
Social media thrives on interaction and engagement. By leveraging this characteristic, OOH advertising can transform static messages into interactive experiences. For instance, digital billboards can display real-time social media feeds, showcasing User-Generated Content (UGC) and encouraging passersby to participate. A campaign can invite people to tweet their responses or post Instagram photos with a specific hashtag, which then appear on the billboard. Not only does this interaction captivate the audience’s attention, but it fosters a sense of community and participation.
Moreover, QR codes on OOH ads can bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds. A QR code on a bus stop ad can lead computers to a branded Snapchat filter, seamlessly integrating the physical ad with digital engagement.
Measure Impact and ROI
Measuring the success of OOH advertising has traditionally been challenging due to its one-to-many nature. However, when combined with social media analytics and StreetMetrics’ measurement and attribution capabilities, brands and advertisers can gain a more comprehensive understanding of their campaign’s performance. By utilizing StreetMetrics’ platform in addition to tracking social media mentions, shares, and engagement rates associated with their OOH ads, brands can gauge the effectiveness of their campaigns in real-time.
Moreover, integrating OOH advertising with social media allows for A/B testing of different creatives and messages. Brands can experiment with various ad designs on social media, analyze which one performs best, and then roll out the most successful versions on their OOH platforms. This iterative process ensures that the final OOH ads are optimized for maximum impact.
The synergy between Out-of-Home advertising and social media presents a powerful opportunity for brands to enhance their marketing efforts. By leveraging the broad reach and visibility of OOH ads with the interactive nature of social media, brands can create engaging, memorable, and measurable campaigns. As marketing and advertising continues to evolve, the combination of OOH advertising and social media will undoubtedly play a crucial role in driving success.
If you’re an advertiser already combining your OOH ads with social media and are interested in more detailed analytics on how your OOH campaign performed, reach out to us here.
Portions of this blog were written by AI.
