Don’t be passive: how to create interactive content your audience will love
Take your content marketing to the next level to engage your audience and convert your visitors with interactive content.
Content marketing is all the rage right now and plenty of brands are busy creating and publishing new content every single day. As a result, expect a rising competition for attracting the attention of your audience. Creating content that stands out from the crowd is challenging, but there’s one feature that can help you take it to the next level and engage your target – interactivity.
Engaging visitors in your messaging, you’ll turn them into loyal customers and boost the conversion rate of your content.
Here are 6 tips to help you create interactive content your target audience will love.
Polls
Nothing engages people like polls. Using this smart strategy, you get to show consumers that you care about their opinion and gather some valuable feedback to improve your product. People like to know what others think so make sure to publish the results to drive their excitement.
With tools like Polldaddy, Poptip or Wedgies, you can create a simple poll in a matter of minutes and allow your audience to tell you what they think about your offer. Encourage them to join the conversation and you’ll get two opportunities at boosting their engagement – first when they get to vote, and second when they see the results of the poll.
Animations
A fun animation can do a lot of good to engagement with your brand. Ask your web developer to create a simple CSS animation, or make the most from online tools which offer plenty of pre-built animations like Powtoon or Prezi.
Animations provide visual cues and encourage visitors to remain on your website. You can add animations to other types of content like infographics, where they instantly attract attention and help your content to stand out from the crowd.
Interactive video marketing
With regular video ads, your audience gets to simply watch the video. Interactive videos take the experience to the next level by allowing users to click on them and interact with the content.
Add interactive hotspots to your videos. They work like motion tracking ‘tags’ that allow users to click on embedded links and learn more about your brand and product. A series of well-timed calls-to-action embedded in an engaging video does wonders to its conversion rate.
Videos are all the rage right now – YouTube reports that mobile video consumption rises by 100% each year. Make yours interactive and you’ll tap into the potential of this medium for driving engagement and surprise your audience with something new.
Rating
Just like with polling, asking users to rate your content is an excellent way of showing that you care about what they think, while at the same time gathering heaps of marketing insights. Content platforms usually include this type of interactive elements – if not, use rating tools to build templates for this type of engagement.
When adding rating options to your content, make sure they don’t disrupt the experience. It’s a good idea to ask users to rate your content in the middle or at the end of the page.
Reveal-based marketing
Reveal-based marketing aims to entice consumers by preventing them from directly interacting with content. It’s all about building some kind of barrier that blocks them from instant gratification. Sounds complex, but it’s really simple in practice.
If users can’t fully access specific sections of your content, they’re bound to get curious and pay more attention to what you’ve got to say. Once you allow them to unveil the rest of the content, they’ll feel more engaged with it.
Ask consumers to play a game or build a puzzle to get a discount, and you’re guaranteed a much higher engagement with the task.
Interactive timelines
Nothing works better for visualizing a multi-step journey in time than a clear and attractive timeline. It’s a familiar visual tool that is just perfect for showing your audience the development of your product or brand idea.
To make it interactive, add pop-ups showing video content, quizzes, social sharing functionalities or gamified tasks. Allow users to direct their journey by offering them different points of interest – choosing to click on what seems most attractive, they’ll be the ones to design their experience.
Creating interactive content is well-worth your time. You’ll build a more meaningful relationship with your audience because your content will empower them, boosting their engagement with your product and brand.
