The Importance of Interactive Content – Part 1

Interactive Content and its power in marketing

Static content is not very persuasive anymore – that’s what most of us already know.  Since your target group is not really engaging with static content, it drives only little success. Or even none?

We need content that encourages users to interact. Content that stands out from the crowd. Content that won’t be forgotten. That’s where “interactive content” comes into play.

Somehow everyone is aware of it. Nevertheless, the implementation usually looks a little bland. But the future of marketing screams for interactive content and wants to be heard. We’ll explain you why should listen into it.

What is interactive content all about?

These days, everything sounds a little futuristic and as science fiction. But in this case it doesn’t require any fancy Hollywood effects. Well maybe. Depends. As the name suggests, interactive content actively integrates the user into the content, e.g. by mouse clicks. This means that several senses of the user are addressed simultaneously, so that they can better deal with the respective information and memorize it.

But why is active participation so important? Well…do you like it when your target group prefers to browse the competition’s website? Do you like it when nobody can remember your brand? Do you like it when the target group perceives your content as boring? Have you just answered all your questions with a “no”? Then you already have the answer here. But of course we take a closer look at the whole thing.

The power of interactive Content

Count with us: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight… . Boom! According to scientific findings, your attention span is now completely exhausted. 8 seconds. That’s it. So it also means for us that we have just as much (or as little) time to get the customers’ attention. If we fail, then Asta la vista! And to prevent this from happening, we need interactive content.

Through active participation, several senses are addressed simultaneously. And if several senses are addressed simultaneously, the respective experience is more intense. Information can thus be stored better in the long-term memory. In addition we are in direct contact with the target group and thus create a closer bond. In the following an overview to further advantages:

Higher Engagement and more reach

Lame content makes your brand, well… lame. Using interactive content your marketing becomes… well… interactive…? (Ok, we are really spraying with logical conclusions right now). The point here is that thanks to interactive content, we create positive experiences which allow the users to interact actively and also  share this experience with their community, e.g. on social networks. More shares means more reach. More reach means more followers. More followers means more potential customers.

SEO

Interactive content enables countless linking possibilities on the webpage and also increases the time users spend on the site through active participation. Google will love this and thus give your site a higher ranking.

Conversion rates

Do you remember the previous 8-second count? It is becoming increasingly difficult to get the attention of the target group, not to mention encouraging them to purchase. Actually, there are many options today: Pop-ups, registration forms, newsletters and many more… The problem? Somehow we are bored with all of this! We simply have too much of everything.

Interactive contents help to address customers in an original way, to integrate them themselves, to entertain and captivate them. The more emotions you can arouse, the better. Because this is how customers come back on their own. In general, with the help of interactive content you get up to twice as much conversions as with traditional marketing.

Analytics

Interactive content enables valuable customer data to be collected and insights into answered questions, behaviors and needs to be obtained. This allows you to collect valuable information even without “your opinion counts” e-mails that end in spam anyway.

Interactive Content – A variety of Options

Customer loyalty, brand awareness and more conversions – sounds good? Unfortunately, interactive content doesn’t create on its own. So it’s time to get down to business!  You have a multitude of possibilities at your disposal.

Interactive Infographics

Even static infographics are already a powerful element to illustrate contents concisely and easily understandable.

Interactive infographics take your content to the next level. Through a mouse click or special switches more contents can be accommodated without appearing too oppressive. Even complex data can be visualized easily and more information can be conveyed at the same time. In addition, you can not only prove your expertise, but also show that you have thought about communicating the content to the target group in an understandable way. Interactive infographics offer valuable added value through visual storytelling and can quickly become viral.

Quiz

Users like to test their knowledge. A quiz is entertaining and at the same time provides a playful way to gain insight into customer behaviour. For example, you can find out why there is a need for a certain product. With tools such as Qzzr, you can also create your own quizzes with relatively little effort.

Interactive Videos

We have already introduced interactive videos as a powerful marketing element in our explainer video trends 2020- post. Video content is enormously important anyway in order to bind the viewer to you through visual storytelling. Interactive videos in the form of e.g. 360 degree videos, shoppable videos or with integrated info fields increase the user experience even more and achieve higher click-through rates.

Online Calculator

This interactive content is suitable for a wide range of industries to illustrate the benefits of a product to customers. Individual factors are taken into account in the cost calculation and individual offers are created. Examples are credit calculators, cost calculators and savings calculators.

Surveys

A tried and tested method for obtaining customer feedback over many years. If surveys are designed correctly, they can engage the customer in an entertaining and interesting way and actively participate in the brand activities, while at the same time providing valuable data.

Immersive Experiences

Today’s trend theme. The virtual and real world are being combined and take the user experience to the next level. VR and AR not only make it possible to convey more information in real time in an enormously exciting way, but also create a stronger connection to the brand.

You become part of the brand world yourself and dive directly into the story. Although the effort is enormously high and virtual reality is still in its infancy, immersive experiences offer an enormous future potential in content marketing.

Interactive Learning

However, interactive elements cannot only effectively enrich content marketing. Playful elements activate completely different synapses in the brain than static facts and figures and can therefore promote creative thinking in digital learning in particular and thus stick better to the mind.

More practical knowledge: Excellent GPA and still no clue- that’s unfortunately how many graduates feel today. Without direct application, even the theories of great economists, will not get you anywhere. There’s no difference when it comes to  digital learning. Thanks to interactive elements, however, participants are directly challenged to take action and thus be actively confronted with decision-making situations in order to apply the content they have learned.

Address the right audience: We must also remember that the younger generations, to whom most digital learning courses are tailored, have grown up with interactive elements. Interactive games, apps and smartphones – these are everyday elements of use of Generation Z and Millennials. These needs should also be taken into account in e-learning processes to ensure maximum learning success and full attention.

The interactive future is on its rise

To wait and wonder doesn’t help. Active action is required! And this also applies to your target group: In order to reach it effectively and to stay in its memory, the user must be actively involved. The solution: Interactive content. From infographics and quizzes to virtual reality, there are many ways to integrate interactive content into your content strategy.

So, put an end to static content and focus on an interactive future. This is the only way to gain a competitive advantage and not be lost in the digital maelstrom.