What if the best way to build bonds with your customers was to change up your content?
Modern consumers are often tired of traditional, one-sided content. What they crave instead is interactive content that keeps them entertained and engaged.
Creating such content one of the best things your business can do to build your brand and relate to your audience on a whole new level. Still not convinced? Keep reading to discover our complete guide to interactive content.
Interactive Content: What Is It?
Our guide will help you discover the different benefits of interactive content and the kinds of content customers crave. Before we go any further, though, it’s important to define what “interactive content” really is.
In short, “interactive content” refers to any kind of content that customers can interact with in almost any way. This can range from simple polls and surveys to complex interactive videos and games.
Some kinds of content is easier to create than others, and certain audiences will respond better to particular types of content. Through a bit of trial and error, you can discover what your own audience likes best.
Now that you know more about what interactive content is, let’s look at some of the different benefits it has to offer your brand.
Standing Out From the Competition
One of the biggest benefits of such content is quite simple: it gives you a chance to stand out in a crowded field of competition.
Even though consumers love content they can interact with, most businesses do not focus on such content. Therefore, if you start creating this kind of content, your business can gain a very solid lead over your competitors.
And even if you’re already leading the pack among the competition, this content is one of the best ways to engage audiences. Why settle for having the most customers when you can also have the most engaged customers?
Gathering Data
Whether you like it or not, we are living in the Information Age. As a business, it is important that you gather as much info as you can and use that data for your robust analytics. And as it turns out, interactive content is one of the best ways to gather data from consumers.
The reason for this is simple: all of the information you gather from this content is given freely by customers. Compare this to the harsh audience reaction when consumers discovered how much information Facebook was gathering from them without their full knowledge or consent!
With interactive material, your business gets to have it both ways. You get all of the data you need for robust analytics, and your customers are actually engaged rather than resentful at how you obtained that data.
Consumer Loyalty
As useful as it can be, interactive content is not an island unto itself. Instead, it is a stepping stone to even greater things for your business.
For example, the right kind of content can boost consumer loyalty to your brand. That’s because the more data you collect from your audience, the better content you can provide.
The quality of your SEO is based on the E.A.T. principle. In short, your business must demonstrate expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. But the content that demonstrates these qualities is going to vary from audience to audience.
With your interactive content, every bit of consumer interaction gives you invaluable insight into your audience. And you can use that insight to refine your content, boost your SEO, and seriously increase customer loyalty.
Now you know more about the benefits of content you can interact with, let’s look at a few winning examples that you can implement across your own websites and social media.
Charge Up Your Infographics
Infographics have been a staple of content marketing for a long time now. The reason is simple: a good infographic can take very complex sets of information and break it down into useful visual data.
The only “problem” with traditional infographics is that they are static. No matter how great the infographic is, it serves as just another picture for your customers to process.
The next big thing when it comes to infographics is interactive infographics. As the name implies, these are infographics that change and display additional data when the customer mouses over or clicks on certain elements.
Obviously, this takes longer to develop than a traditional infographic. But the returns you’ll get in terms of customer engagement and social media shares will make all the effort worth it.
Interactive Videos
You’re probably not surprised to see interactive videos on this list. After all, streaming dominates consumer entertainment across multiple platforms ranging from Youtube and Netflix to Twitch and TikTok.
Making any kind of video content is a great way to build your brand. But if you really want to stand out from the competition, you should focus on creating interactive video content.
There are different approaches to such content. For example, you could film additional scenes for a short video narrative and create a modern “choose-your-own-adventure” that your audience will love.
An arguably simpler approach to such content is 360-degree video. These videos allow customers to move their phones around or even view the video with a VR headset and examine your content from different angles. This is especially effective when you shoot a major event and your customers can feel like they are really there.
Special Surveys
Remember, you don’t have to overthink it when it comes to interactive content. When done right, some of your most effective content be polls and surveys you distribute to customers.
Sometimes, a poll or survey may be very straightforward, such as asking customers to rank your products in order of preference. Or polls and surveys can be fun “Buzzfeed-style” content that offers insight into what kind of person each customer is.
No matter the poll or survey, your ultimate goal is to collect as much relevant data about customers as you can. And best of all, your customers will have fun filling everything out!
What’s Your Next Move?
Now you know why interactive content is so popular and important. But do you know who can help you create top-notch content for your customers?
At Vertical Response, we specialize in interactive content, A/B testing, analytics, and more. To discover what we can do for your business, check out our prices today!
© 2021 – 2020, Chris Duncan. All rights reserved.
