Are you looking for a way to cut through the noise and ensure your content actually moves your audience to action? While nothing is guaranteed, you’ll most certainly see an uptick in engagement when you begin working with interactive content.
Tapping into the Value of Interactive Content
Interactive content refers to content that requires the participant’s active engagement. Instead of just reading or watching something, they’re forced to get involved and interact with the content they’re consuming.
“At its core, interactive content is a way to have a conversation with your audience,” SnapApp believes. “Interactivity brings the dynamism and persuasive power of an in-person interaction to a landing page, blog, email, paid media ad – or anywhere else you might find your audience.”
What’s most exciting is that interactive content clearly works. According to one study, 81 percent of brands believe interactive content does a better job of grabbing attention than static content. Roughly 79 percent feel interactive content enhances retention of brand messaging, while the same percentage of brands see repeat visitors and multiple exposures.
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4 Types of Interactive Content to Use in 2018
Interactive content works, that much is clear. The issue you’re probably wrestling with is how to incorporate it into your existing content strategy. In other words, where’s the best place to start?
Every business will have to address its content strategy in a unique manner, but here are some specific types of interactive content you may consider using this year:
1) Cost Calculators
Cost calculators are hugely popular. While they’re simple to make, they deliver a lot of user-side value and are common in B2B organizations and service industries where variable factors affect the final cost.
This payment calculator from Lehigh Valley Honda in Emmaus, Pennsylvania is the perfect example. Shoppers can input the price of a vehicle, their anticipated down payment, and the loan information. In return, they get a quick calculation of the estimated monthly payment. This helps them establish some realistic parameters for shopping.
2) Virtual Tours
One of the issues businesses often have when interacting with customers online is that it creates some division between brand and consumer. Whereas traditional brick and mortar businesses are able to interact in a face-to-face manner, much of today’s interactions occur via screens. Interactive content can help lessen the negative impact of these scenarios by providing virtual tours.
It’s not just businesses that use virtual tours, though. You’ll also see a lot of universities, landmarks, and museums use virtual tours to give people an idea of what to expect before visiting. This virtual tour from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is a good example.
3) Polls and Surveys
Many marketers are already investing in polls and surveys without realizing these are technically interactive content elements.
The beauty of polls and surveys is that they both engage users and gather valuable insights regarding how users feel about specific issues or situations. This data can then be used to shape marketing, advertising, product development, web design, or any number of other parts of your brand.
This survey from Castlight shows how simple, yet effective a well-executed survey can be.
4) Assessments
Sometimes users don’t know where they stand on a certain issue or topic and want to find out. In these cases, assessments – like quizzes – are more effective than polls and surveys.
“Assessments work well for the first stage of the buyer’s cycle (awareness), though they can travel further down the funnel,” Digital Marketing Institute explains. “Like all interactive content, quizzes require either an interactive tool platform or some custom web development, so they’re generally a bit of an investment–though not as much so as some of the other forms of interactive content. When used as a lead-gen tool, assessments require the user to input his/her personal details to receive results.”
This quiz from Dun & Bradstreet is a good example of how a simple quiz can engage users and push them further down the conversion funnel.
You may also like: 10 Pro Content Marketing Tools Your Small Business Can Use.
Take Your Content Strategy to the Next Level
Static content – such as blog posts, articles, and video clips – have their place. In fact, the majority of any content marketing strategy is made up of static content. However, if you want to take your strategy to the next level this year, you should find a way to season it with interactive content that engages users on a personal level and draws them into your brand.
