Scheduling best practices

Introduction

Effective scheduling ensures the right content reaches the right audience at the right time. These best practices will help you get the most out of InfoBox's scheduling features.

Plan your content calendar

Before scheduling, consider:

• Map out your recurring content needs (daily menus, weekly promotions, seasonal campaigns).
• Identify time-sensitive content that needs specific start and end dates.
• Consider your audience's schedule: when are they most likely to see the screens?
• Create a content calendar to avoid gaps or overlapping content.

Scheduling tips

Best practices:

• Always set end dates for promotional content so it doesn't display past the campaign period.
• Use recurring schedules for content that repeats weekly (e.g. lunch menus).
• Leave buffer time between scheduled content changes to avoid blank screens.
• Test scheduled content before the actual display date to make sure it works.
• Use playlists for content shared across multiple screens. Build a campaign once as a playlist, set its schedule once, and assign the playlist to every screen that needs it. Edit the playlist to update every assigned screen at once. (Note: Screen Groups are NOT for content broadcasting. Groups are about user permissions. See What's a playlist.)

Common mistakes to avoid

Watch out for:

• Forgetting to publish after scheduling: always click Publish.
• Setting schedules in the wrong time zone.
• Scheduling content without checking that the media files are uploaded correctly.
• Leaving expired scheduled content on screens instead of replacing it.
• Trying to use Screen Groups to make the same content play on many screens. That's not what groups do, and it leads to confusion. Use a playlist instead.

Summary

Good scheduling habits save time and ensure your screens always show relevant, up-to-date content. Plan ahead, test your schedules, use playlists for shared content, and review regularly.