A Beginners' Guide to Social Media Walls

What is a social media wall?

A social media wall is a filtered combination (you and I may call it a collage) of live posts from social sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest, and displayed on any interface such as digital signage or website pages.

Business owners use social walls to engage customers and visitors with their brands.

Imagine walking into a store, and the first thing you see is a hashtag displayed in bold beside a series of social posts! And below it goes the line, “create the look and tag us” ― perhaps, the 101 call to action!

How to create a social wall?

Not the Herculean task you think it to be! Just a 3-step process.

Step 1: Set up your screens and media players

This part is pretty simple. With advanced display content management software like Pickcel, you can use any existing hardware that you might have. For instance, you can use your regular TV as electronic signage showcasing your social feeds. Tech buffs into more efficient systems can create DIY social media walls with Raspberry Pi media players.

Step 2: Deploy the software

Among the thousands that promise to integrate all apps without much hassle, you want to find one that lets you:

• Remotely manage your social wall screen from anywhere― the comfort of your couch or while at the airport lounge

• Customize styles, and choose which presentation gives you maximum engagement

• Does not require any additional modifications to your hardware

• Allow you to moderate your social media posts manually

• Instantly displays content without lags or misses

Create & publish live social walls with Pickcel

Features & Benefits

Step 3: Get your posts published

The idea of a social wall is to syndicate the web content and display it on-screen with minimal manual effort. So, first, you need to authenticate your social media accounts to connect them to your social wall software. That’s nearly the job done.

Next, focus on one of the key elements of building an eye-catching social media wall on your signage screens: the layout and orientation of the social feed wall. For instance, if you use widescreens like HD TVs or commercial displays, ensure the social media wall is built on a standard 16:9 aspect ratio.

Pickcel’s social wall app allows you to configure your wall in both 16:9 (horizontal) and 9:16 (vertical) aspect ratios.

Once your content is ready, hit publish and see the marvelous array of online chatter come alive offline through screens.

5 Best examples of social walls

Here are four brands that nailed the social media wall campaigns.

1. Singapore Airlines Social media Wall at its trade event

In the 2014 World Marketing Conference, Singapore airlines created a brand awareness campaign by deploying a life-size video wall showcasing various posts, tweets, and hashtags sourced from the SA’s company pages on social sites.

The dynamic wall was an instant headline-maker and gave the brand massive traction.

2. Zotter user-review social media wall

If you are a cocoa enthusiast like me, Zotter is no alien. The delectable melt-in-mouth chocolate brand came up with a unique social wall idea at their tasting tours.

Giant screens at the center of the tasting room with user-generated feedback from platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook (using #zotter) caught visitors’ attention. Additionally, the wall encouraged visitors to share their experiences under the tag and get a chance to be featured! Well, the push for trying out more of their flavors.

3. Silicon Valley Bank’s in-office social media wall

One of the USA’s largest banks, Silicon Valley, has digital screens installed in-office getting their real time posts and tweets out to employees and clients visiting alike.

Not just that! The bank makes sure to infuse a few hashtags that would prompt a viewer to do a quick search and see what has been posted to date, what’s new, and what might be in the line-up!

4. Gulf country, Florida webpage

If you think social media walls have to do with everything offline, Visit Gulf’s landing page will make you rethink!

Scrolling down the incredibly well-designed and one with compact information, you will soon come across the Be social with us #InGulf with logos of different social media platforms right below. What’s most interesting are the images that lead you to a post on these mentioned platforms.

The cherry on the cake? Each post highlights a different aspect of the region. Surefire brownie points for creating a virtual social wall accessible from anywhere across the globe!

5. Intel CES, 2015

Ranked by time as the most eye-catching exhibit, CES 2015 saw a sleek yet spectacular LED screen displaying their Instagram and Twitter content alongside encouraging attendees to use the #CES2015 and tweet memories, moments, and a lot more!

And this came at a time when very few people knew what a social wall was. Ahead of its times? That’s Intel!

Benefits of a social media wall

Social media walls help create a buzz around your new product line, line-ups at your event, or simply some words of wisdom. The best way to engage and get your audience to your landing pages or counters is to get them guessing, and social walls get the work done smoothly like butter!

• More reach of your social media pages alongside increased engagement on each

• People spend time on your landing page and learn more about your product.

• Spurt in word-of-mouth marketing of your brand. People looking at your social wall may likely get their friends and acquaintances to do the same.

• Increased conversion rates. Someone intrigued by your social wall might end up with a purchase, all thanks to that Instagram influencer seen donning it!

• The cheapest way to promote your business and get the needed audience on your social handles. No ads, no separate promos, just a bunch of your posts from different platforms in one place!

• Every social media business account offers various analytics on engagement metrics like views, likes, clicks, etc. These insights can directly help marketers improve their marketing strategies.

Parting words

The most significant takeaway (advantage) of social media walls is that almost any niche can make effective use of them! Be it retailers, event organizers, banks, universities, or creative agencies. And there is a high chance of your brand or event getting more exposure since at least 1 in 3 of your viewers have active social media accounts and would be willing to check out what you put out. So, if you’re planning to get a social wall, now is the time!