Content marketing has become the cornerstone of every digital marketing strategy.
Content consumption has risen by a storm across different platforms, for example:
- OTT platforms and streaming services have seen a 113% increase in consumption over the time of COVID-19.
- Social media takes the lead in the race for ‘rise in consumption,’ increasing by a total of 352%. [source]
With eCommerce platforms seeing a total rise of 258,000 in the orders being delivered every day, the rise in consumption of varying content has seen quite the weighty rise during the time of the pandemic.
Why Choose Interactive Content?
A common question in most marketing minds is – “Why?”
As a digital marketer, we have to question every marketing method before we invest our time into it, so it’s extremely important to know what makes interactive content worth our while.
Simply put, interactive content gives the user a side note of entertainment amid an otherwise relatively boring textual experience.
Think about it yourself, content is present all over the internet – with search engines like Google giving you a minimum of 2 billion search results for the queries you hold.
Amongst all the widespread content in the world, more than 91% of users don’t go past the first page of search results.
The competitive field for getting discovered is severely high, which essentially means you, as a business, need to take all possible measures to get discovered.
This is how we come down to the need for interactive content – innovative forms of content for recognition.
Over the years, interactive content has been one of the few forms of content that tends to lead to a positive user experience whilst also giving businesses a high CTR. Don’t believe us?
Businesses that have invested in interactive marketing campaigns have proven themselves to be much more effective by delivering a 300% higher CTR. [source]
The Benefits of Building Interactive Content
More than 90% of businesses believe in using more visual and interactive content for optimum customer engagement.
Not only does this help build a user-friendly experience, but it also helps businesses gain better results in their marketing campaigns.
To understand the benefits of using interactive forms of content marketing over the upcoming years, we’ve built a list to help you get started:
Campaign Engagement
We earlier learned that interactive campaigns have witnessed a 300% higher CTR as compared to other marketing campaigns.
Users tend to prefer content that allows them to have a personalised experience.
Through quizzes, polls and questionnaires, you can observe an automated rise in the hint of curiosity amongst the users, eventually leading to a higher engagement rate for campaigns.
Analyse User Experience
Data analysis is at the crux of every digital marketing campaign.
By learning of the user’s experience, businesses can gain insight into the user’s behaviour and expectations.
You can easily learn the amount of time that a user has spent on the ad or if they immediately clicked away.
Either way, it allows you to know what you’re doing right and what could be improved.
Moreover, you can choose to use your interactive content itself to know more about the client’s experience as well.
One such example of interactive content would be:
Putting up a simple interactive question amid your article can allow you to follow up with an accurate CTA depending on the user experience.
In the above-mentioned example, there are two possible CTAs:
- “Yes, I want to know more” suggests that the user has enjoyed the information that has been provided to them. By clicking on this option, the call to action can be one that either directs the customer to an article that’s relevant to the topic you’ve spoken about or an eBook that dives into the specifics of the topic in question.
- “No, it can be better” suggests that the user either found the topic and its content to be general, unhelpful or misinformative. Either way, the CTA to such an option can be to leave a comment on the article to allow the author of the article to understand why the article isn’t enjoyable to read for the niche audience.
Higher Conversion Rate
A heightened rate of impressions doesn’t always mean a higher rate of conversions.
However, interactive ads and campaigns have almost always observed a 3x – 7x higher rate of conversions as compared to the rest.
In some cases, an interactive piece of content is capable of generating better conversions than audio/visual content as well!
Businesses have only just begun to acknowledge the impact of interactive content, which makes it quite the curious competitive field of digital marketing.
Now’s the time to explore an option you would otherwise not have considered!
Whether you choose to repurpose old content or work with specialists of interactive content, it’s important to begin now.
Different Types of Interactive Content
Once you decide that you want to create interactive content, you might find yourself getting confused between the types of content options available to you. After all, there’s so much you can do!
Should you create interactive video content? Or should you stick to the pattern and create questionnaires?
Depending on the budget you hold and the time you’re willing to invest in a campaign, you can choose the option that fits your requirements.
The different types of interactive content include:
Interactive Videos
Possibly the most spoken about type of interactive content would be interactive videos.
In 2018, Black Mirror released the first interactive sci-fi/psychological thriller on Netflix, called Bandersnatch, leaving almost every viewer intrigued by the concept.
With the movie playing along to the life of a young programmer that begins to question reality, it gained the unwavering attention of every individual that chose to watch the film.
Over time, many others took inspiration from the film and began creating varying forms of interactive video content.
It gave rise to a brand new concept, slowly but steadily gathering the attention of many brands and companies.
Companies began using 360-degree interactive videos to help build the curiosity of the customer for retail outlets, to give a better understanding of their respective location. This could be of the outlet itself or the area in which the store is located.
Depending on the services you provide, you can use interactive videos to your avail.
For example, if you are the owner of an event management company, you can get a highly beneficial customer testimonial by giving a 360-degree interactive video experience of the event itself!
The creativity to your videos is only limited to the extent that you allow them to be.
Quizzes and Surveys
Many businesses use this form of interactive content to gain further knowledge about the mindset of their niche audience.
With a variety of questions to choose from depending on your business’ niche, a well-built quiz is capable of letting you know more about your customer avatar, user experience and the user’s wants.
For example, if you are a travel agency, you can form a quiz that allows the customer to know where they want to go if they’re having doubts about a location.
Many people want to travel but don’t know where they want to go.
By greeting them with a quiz that allows them to choose what they’re hoping to receive from their trip, it allows them to know a fine destination for their holiday while giving you the benefit of pitching a package deal of the said location.
Assessments
Assessments are a more intimate form of interactive content since they allow the consumer to assess a skill or gain some new information about themselves.
Assessments can be of many types – ranging from tests and quizzes to a complete breakdown of an individual’s personality.
Several marketers tend to build online assessments for their customers to get a better knowledge of the customer.
Since assessments are essentially extremely descriptive, users tend to add in more pieces of information about their knowledge on a specific topic, allowing businesses to cater to the individual needs of the customer based on the results they achieve.
If you want to direct the customer to a knowledgeable article depending on the requests they hold, an assessment would be ideal.
For example, you can build an assessment on the topic of “Interactive content – know the best form of interactive content for you” which further directs the user to the ideal form of interactive content marketing based on their wants and needs.
Is Interactive Content The Future?
It can be hard to determine how impactful a particular form of digital marketing can be in the future. With technology at a constant rise, there are new forms of interactivity being introduced every year.
That being said, interactive content has only just begun to create its impact.
In an age where building a creative campaign has become an arduous task, it’s important to try different methods as and when you discover them.
Use interactive content and witness the change in your analytics, today!
Want more content marketing advice and strategies? Check out one of our most popular content marketing articles:
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