Create a Social Media Wall For Your Event in 5 Steps

Creating engaging features for an event goes beyond simple canapés and a few guest speakers. Social media walls for events are an excellent way to create a interactive elements and to encourage guests to share their experiences, whether that's using branded hashtag campaigns, or tagging your social media account.

There are many ways to create a social wall, but digital signage is one of the easiest to control and scale. And if you want to improve your chances of event engagement and getting reviews and followers, a good social media wall can work wonders.

What software do I need to create a social media wall?

As well as your social media accounts, you will need some software to connect to your chosen screens and display your social wall.

There are several options, including both free and paid social media wall software. These include:

• Walls.io: One of the best known and most versatile social media wall software.
• Taggbox: Another great option with integrations for many social media platforms and also user generated content platforms such as Google and Facebook reviews.
• Strea.ma: ScreenCloud's own social media feed manager - included for free with all plans.

You'll find many other options on the market to manage social walls, but these are the most popular and easiest to use options.

As well as platforms to curate and display user generated content, you'll also need some kind of display management software. While it is technically possible to connect these tools to a TV from a computer with a HDMI cable, you will find it easier to manage content (and display it on different screens) with digital signage software such as ScreenCloud.

Digital signage software gives you the ability to connect remotely to multiple screens, to schedule content and even to remotely manage screens.

What screen do I need for a social media wall?

A social media wall relies on a large screen, or screens, to display social media feeds. You might choose to mix and match your social wall displays, with a larger screen in a focus area, and smaller TV screens scattered around the event.

The type of screen you need will depend on the location or the event you're running. A smaller more intimate event, such as an industry conference, might be able to manage with a large TV screen. It is advisable to use a professional-grade TV display as these are designed to handle longer durations and to be packed down and re-used for future events.

A larger event such as a live sports event, music festival or something with thousands of attendees will benefit from a more hard wearing and visible screen such as an LED video wall or outdoor digital signage screen.

Take a look at our guide to video walls for more info on types of screens.

1. Get your screens ready

Any screen can be turned into a smart screen capable of digital signage and social media walls. Many smart TVs will support installing digital signage apps on their hardware via their app stores, for example Samsung Tizen, Sony Bravia and LG webOS. Simply head to their app store and install the ScreenCloud app and you'll be able to connect and control your content.

However, we strongly recommend connecting using a media player that can handle the rigours of always-on digital displays. The best digital signage media players on the market right now include:

• ScreenCloud PIXI: Designed to handle 24/7 streaming with remote device management and a low cost.
• Amazon Signage Stick: Ready to connect and stream your content right out of the box.
• Brightsign Media Players: One of the most durable and popular options for digital signage management with plenty of choice of players.
• ScreenCloud OS/P1 Pro: Our original hard-wearing digital signage player made for more demanding environments such as all day sunlight and heat.
• Budget Media Players: There are many options for more affordable media players - check out the full list of recommended devices.

These media players will also be able to power your LED video walls and other high performance screens, which often don't come with connectivity options as standard.

Check out our full guide on screens and hardware here.

2. Install your cloud-driven software

The ScreenCloud Player can be downloaded directly onto your screen from the appropriate app store (depending on your screen), or if you're using a device such as Amazon Signage Stick or ScreenCloud PIXI, you'll find these connect to ScreenCloud right out of the box.

Using ScreenCloud has a number of benefits when managing event displays, including:

• Quick to setup and add new screens if needed
• Cloud-based CMS means you can add and edit content yourself, from any location
• Choice of social media and social wall software - we have ten dedicated to social media at last count
• Multi-zone layouts
• Portrait or landscape supported
• Auto reboot, offline capabilities and remote device management

You can download ScreenCloud from a number of different app stores depending on which device you are using:

ScreenCloud Android Player - download ScreenCloud from the Google Play Store to run on any Android device including Android TVs and Android tablets.

ScreenCloud iOS Player - download ScreenCloud onto an iOS device such as an iPhone or iPad and you’re ready to go.

Once you have the ScreenCloud app downloaded on your device of choice, simply take the pairing code (which looks like the below) and log onto https://screencloud.com/ on your laptop or PC to set up your ScreenCloud account.

Once logged in at ScreenCloud, you’ll see a screen that looks like the below. Click “add screen” and enter your pairing code.

That’s it! Your screen is now paired to your account and you can manage the content and playlists from anywhere you like.

3. Choose social media apps

In the ScreenCloud App Store there are numerous apps dedicated to running your social media wall, within an event, conference or other live setting.

Walls.io

Walls.io lets you collect and showcase the best posts, photos or videos from 14 social media platforms using hashtags, keywords, and profiles. You can also go beyond social media and let your audience upload content directly to the wall, eliminating privacy concerns and engaging every part of your audience. Adapt the look and feel of your social media wall with their easy-to-use style editor. No matter what size or resolution your device or embed is, the Walls.io widget always looks great.

Gallery for Instagram

Create live scrolling social media walls of your latest Instagram posts through gallery for Instagram, filtered through a campaign hashtag or specific user account. Choose from light or dark themes and set up beautiful, image-based displays.

Social feed for Facebook

This app shows Facebook wall posts, a great way to share updates that you’re posting across your event. The beautiful interface clears away the noise, so that only the posts you want to see are shown to your event audience.

Follow us

Follow us creates a beautiful visual of your social media handles and hashtags, to prompt audiences to follow you online. This is great within an event setting to get more online interaction with your brand, or to offer sponsors a rich way of connecting with their target audience.  

4. Other content displays

The great thing about using digital signage is that it gives you the flexibility to add other content. You might want to use your screens to display schedules and timings, highlight security protocols, link to downloadable resources or even share a simple welcome message.

Some fun apps for your social wall might include:

• Ask a Question: Does what it says. Post a question or interactive polls on screens which attendees can answer via a QR code...
• Clocks and Calendars: Clearly display the time and events within your digital screens.
• Broadcast/YouTube Live: Connect live feeds into your displays to allow others to see whats happening across the event site.
• Emergency Alerts: Make sure to keep your attendees safe. Automated emergency alerts will display in the event of a CAP activated notification.

5. Create playlists and schedules

Another great thing about using ScreenCloud is that you’re not limited to one social media wall. This is where playlists and scheduling are super useful in creating a more engaging social media presence across your event.

Playlists allow you to use not just one social media feed, but many, to cover all angles of your event. 

Using the ScreenCloud playlist tool, you can drag and drop any social media feeds (plus any other info) into your display.

This allows you to set the order of content and to edit how long each social media wall plays for.

You could flick between Instagram and Twitter, or use multiple different hashtags or feeds to share more information across your event.

Then you have schedules. With ScreenCloud’s schedules, you can set up different playlists to play out at different times. This helps you to build the social media wall around your event schedule. Perhaps a Twitter wall for arrival, an Instagram wall for later in the day when (hopefully) there’s been a few snaps posted and a 'Follow Us' board as you wave delegates out of the door.

How to moderate social wall content

The nature of social media means that anyone can post anything - so moderation is strongly recommended. And yes, you can check and manage social media posts before they go live on your social walls.

You'll have the option to moderate content within walls.io and Taggbox.

If you're using our own tools, such as strea.ma and our own social media feed integrations, you'll find a guide on moderation and control here.

Manage your event displays and social walls with ScreenCloud

ScreenCloud has been used at some of the world's biggest events, including Lollapalooza music festival, The America's Cup in Barcelona and many corporate and industry events.

If you're looking for a powerful display management software to share both user generated content and other event content, then ScreenCloud is your perfect partner. Improve event engagement, share useful information and host spectacular events....

Try ScreenCloud for free, or book a demo today.