Building Interactive Content

Introduction:

When you are stuck and need some ideas to create greater engagement, we have compiled these articles to give you some additional thoughts:

How to build interactive content?

^{^[1]}2017 is a busy year in content marketing. With more and more businesses investing in it, the market is getting beyond saturated. This means there’s a significant need for more diversified and engaging content – and one way to achieve that is through interactive content.

This blog post will share my favourite ten tools to help you create interactive content for your website.

What is interactive content – and why would I want it?

Interactive content is a type of content that gets the audience to interact; rather than just watching, reading or listening, interactive content requires active participation from the reader/viewer.

This type of content is excellent because it captures readers’ imaginations and makes them want to interact. Well, of course, only so long as you create good content and the subject makes them want to participate.

1. SnapApp

SnapApp is an interactive content marketing platform that allows you to create all kinds of unique interactive content. For example, you can use it to create interactive videos and infographics, calculators, quizzes and contests, and these are just some of the types of content available. In addition, their drag and drop builder is straightforward to use, and another helpful thing is that you can integrate with all kinds of systems, such as Pardot, HubSpot and SalesForce, to make the most out of your content and generate more leads.

You can publish your content to various channels, including websites, emails, mobiles and landing pages, and they also provide extensive analytics for your interactive content.

2. Qzzr

Qzzr, as the name suggests, is a tool for creating online quizzes quickly. They also aim to help businesses by helping them generate leads. For example, after someone takes your examination, they can be redirected to a targeted offer. You will also be able to capture emails or, if you want, even add calls to action to generate more leads for your business.

3. Guides. co

Guides are some of the most successful types of written content, as they provide lots of value to the reader. With Guides. Co, though, you can take things a bit further and create a more interactive, fun-to-read guide.

Use the guide you’ve already created and add embedded files, images, videos and more to it to make it more readable. Your readers will then have to click to go to the next page, and they also can leave comments, ask questions and interact with other users on the platform.

4. MapMe

MapMe is a tool that helps you “tell better stories” by using maps, videos, images and words.

You can create interactive, 3D maps with images and videos that will help you take your readers and visitors on a fun journey. Users can also add their locations to the map to get more involved in the process.

5. Apester

Apester is a tool for creating interactive content, such as personality tests, polls, quizzes and interactive videos.

It’s straightforward to use and create interactive content, and you can add it to your website to improve engagement and even make more conversions.

^{^[2]}What Do We Mean When We Say “Interactive Content”?

You’ve probably come across interactive content during one of your routine Internet runs. You may have created some without even knowing it. Remember that poll you added on your Instagram story, asking social media which sweater you should buy? The blue one slightly edged out the red one at 54%, but it was up to your audience to decide. It might sound like a trivial example, but it reflects the very essence of interactive content.

By definition, interactive content refers to digital content that a user engages with. Unlike reading an article or watching a video, they have to click, drag, or otherwise interact with the page or content to see the complete information.

Some of the most common types of interactive content include:

Assessments
Interactive charts
Quizzes and polls
Games
Configurators
Calculators
Infographics

Using the above doesn’t just create a fun experience. A study put together by Demand Gen Report found that “93% of marketers agreed that interactive content is effective in educating buyers versus just 70% for static content.” So it’s time to take advantage of this resource and drive your audience to engage with your content marketing.

^{^[3]}Doing Interactive Content Right

Everybody knows those infamous BuzzFeed quizzes. Whether you love them or hate them, they’re popular, entertaining, and can be educational without boring their audience to tears. But, unfortunately, while examinations might be one of the more trendy things to do now (considering the ridiculous success they’ve had), they’re far from the only way you can genuinely engage your audience.

For starters, infographics have the unique ability to make tired topics seem fresh and exciting again. A truly interactive infographic can be created with embedded questions. Various paths for the reader to follow and various other features that encourage participation from your audience. Take the topic of social media and The Complete History of Social Media animated infographic created by Avalaunch Media. This infographic uses Flash to show you a quick overview of the history of social media and, in the process, shows us the foreseeable future of interactive infographics.

Remember how we mentioned that you’d have to fight for your audience’s attention online? Animated GIFs are one of the most effective ways to do that. Beyond being eye-catching, the animation has all the benefits of video without turning the content into a purely passive experience. Instead, it’s a small burst of energy that might intrigue your reader enough to keep interacting, posting, and purchasing. Just look at how Starbucks caught the attention of their Twitter audience by putting their product in motion. Catch the coffee while you can!

When all else fails, contests are a great way to interact with your customers. Everyone loves a prize, and often the potential to win is fun in and of itself. Our favourite contests encourage customers to participate with user-generated content: share a selfie, upload a video, or submit a tagline. For example, when Warby Parker introduced their Home Try-On campaign, they encouraged potential customers to take pictures of themselves with the different glasses and share them on their social accounts with the hashtag #WarbyHomeTryOn. Not only were customers vying for a free pair of glasses, but they received instant feedback from their friends and family across social media. Oh, and did we mention Warby Parker received free product advertising in the process? I call that a win-win across the board.

^{^[4]}The Benefits of Using Interactive Content

As any good marketer would ask: Is interactive content worth the hype?

The short answer is yes.

Here are three good reasons why you should use interactive content in your marketing strategy:

Generate Higher Engagement Rates

Even the most basic types of interactive content can elicit a reaction, which immediately makes it more engaging than a written article — even a well-written one.

William Comcowich, C.E.O. of CyberAlert, believes that:

“Content marketing is becoming less about the words you put on a page, and more about the experiences you create for the consumer.”

Competition is fierce across all industries and in all niches. Standing out isn’t easy, making it all the more important to optimize your content to offer a more engaging, immersive experience.

Quite often, brands offer interactive content as a lead magnet to collect email addresses. The people who subscribe to this tend to have a genuine interest in the brand. Therefore, they are more engaged and more likely to convert.

Capture More Data

This is the data-driven age, in which the data we collect about online users is arguably the most valuable information for marketers. The more data you get — and the more accurate and relevant — the better you can optimize your marketing campaigns.

The problem for many companies is finding effective ways of getting data so that people trust and respect it.

So how can interactive content help?

When you create immersive content that grabs a person’s attention and offers a personalized experience, you’ll find persuading people to provide their info easier. As a result, users will enjoy the background, and you will get valuable data for lead nurturing.

Increase Brand Loyalty

Quizzes, polls and surveys are a few examples of interactive content that you can use to capture lead data which, in turn, enables you to create personalized content. Follow the E.A.T. Principle to establish yourself as an expert:

Expertise: the page needs to have quality content written by an expert writer
Authority: the site itself needs to have some authority on the subject
Trustworthiness: the site needs to have other authoritative links pointing to it from trusted sites

As you gather data through interactive content, you learn more about your audience, making it easier to create content they will love. In addition, this approach to highly targeted content marketing will soon establish trust and authority, so you can grow a bigger audience of people that come back time and time again.

Conclusion:

Creating unique content is quite tricky. We hope that the above article has been helpful.

Article compiled by hughesagency.ca

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