Consumers are indeed getting more and more demanding when it comes to content. They constantly look for new experiences with their favorite brands and expect them to cater to their expectations.
That’s why, over the past few years, interactive content has been rapidly gaining momentum. It offers what the usual blog articles and social media posts cannot – live interaction with branded content in real-time.
The statistics also confirm the growing impact of interactive content.
According to HubSpot:
- 45% of B2B buyers say they prefer interactive content over other content types
- 43% of consumers would rather watch an interactive video over a usual one because it allows them to choose which content to consume
- interactive content drive twice as much engagement compared to static content
Which benefits can marketers get from interactive content?
First and foremost, interactivity is about engagement. Interactive content engages more people because of its uniqueness and the outstanding value it delivers.
But most importantly, interactive content can help brands attract necessary audiences. Companies can even build successful marketing campaigns based on interactive content, attracting high-quality leads. When it comes to creating website content, companies companies can use professional content writing services to create high-quality content that is also optimized for search engines and readability. They should also use a trustful CMS such as WordPress, integrate a good web hosting for WordPress for more security, and add appealing visuals. For the latter, they can use an AI image generator and create amazing visuals.
Wondering how you can make interactive content work for you?
Let’s take a few ways to employ interactive content yourself to target the right audience. We’ll use examples from different companies who excelled at using interactive content in their marketing strategies.
1. Deloitte Uses Interactive Video to Attract Potential Job Candidates
In 2014, Deloitte New Zealand launched a campaign to attract college graduates and show how they can build careers in consulting. Together with Snorkel, the company created an interactive video titled Will You Fit into Deloitte:
Credit: Rapt Media
This video presents a series of challenges. The viewer gets into a particular situation that tests their qualities and shows whether they are connected with Deloitte’s values. If a candidate completes all the challenges successfully, they learn about different Deloitte departments they can work at.
You might be thinking now – why make a video interactive? Regular videos can drive engagement as well.
That’s true, but interactive videos have up to 4x higher viewer engagement and offer a unique brand experience.
In Deloitte’s case, their goal was to get as many potential job applicants to stick around and learn about the company as possible. Interactive video made that happen – all the challenges in Deloitte’s video create a real-life story, which the viewers have to live through to find out if they are the best fit for the company.
Another great way to increase viewer engagement is by adding a logo to your video. Adding branding elements in interactive videos can improve brand awareness and improve brand perception in tandem with the video content.
2. Function of Beauty Helps Choose the Right Product with a Quiz
Quizzes are a fantastic way to let the customer interact with the content. And you know how addictive quizzes can be. Take BuzzFeed, for example – the desire to find your perfect celebrity couple is just too strong.
However, quizzes don’t just serve the purpose of entertainment. They can come in handy to help personalize a product choice for a customer.
For instance, take a look at Function of Beauty, a brand that creates custom haircare and skincare products. If you want to order shampoo and a conditioner, you need to pass the quiz first to determine your hair type:
Credit: Function of Beauty
Once a customer completes this interactive quiz, they can move forward and complete the purchase. The personalization level is so high here that all shampoos and conditioners are named after each customer.
Clinique also has something similar. The brand’s quiz is called Foundation Finder, and its goal is to help a customer find a matching foundation color:
Credit: Clinique
Even though these two brands offer different products, they have the same target audience – consumers who prefer shopping online but want to receive personalized products.
The most significant advantage of quizzes is their versatility. Any business, no matter whether it’s B2B or B2C, can create a quiz.
Tests are also similar to quizzes. They are not as widespread, but they still can be helpful for some businesses. For instance, an online foreign language learning school can offer a placement test to determine English fluency level and help a learner find the best course that suits their needs.
Both quizzes and tests can be used for generating leads. You can ask for the prospect’s contact information once they complete the quiz. This way, you offer them something valuable in return for their name and email address.
3. NYC CVB Offers an Interactive Map for All Tourists
Everybody who’s been to NYC knows how intimidating this city can be. There are so many museums, theatres, and restaurants to visit that even if you thoroughly plan your trip, you can still get lost in the abundance of sights to see.
For the tourists, who want to make their visit to NYC as pleasant as possible, NYC’s Official Convention and Visitors Bureau (NYC CVB) created an interactive map:
Credit: NYC The Official Guide
You can see colored dots on this map, which represent different categories – food, fashion, drinks, hobby, etc. We clicked on the yellow dot in the southern part of Manhattan. The map showed us that it’s the location of the Brooklyn Bowl – a concert venue with all the upcoming events that are going to take place there.
Will interactive maps fit your business’s content needs too?
Usually, interactive maps can come in handy if you need to visualize massive amounts of data. An interactive map makes this data readable and easy to perceive for the audience with no time to review it.
So, if you want to share big data with your consumers, interactive maps can help you do that. You can also pair your maps with charts, various types of QR Codes, and other features that can enhance navigation.
4. McDonald’s Helps Visitors Stay Fit with an Interactive Calculator
McDonald’s isn’t famous for being the healthiest place to eat, with all the burgers and French fries. It’s not that you can’t eat there altogether – you might be on your cheat day right now. But it’s still hard to count the calories when you’re not cooking the food yourself.
For those, who want to indulge in their favorite French fries but want to know how many calories they consume, McDonald’s has created an interactive calculator.
Let’s say you’ve eaten an Egg McMuffin and a small bag of French fries. All you need to do is to add these menu items to the calculator, and it will automatically generate the number of calories you’ve consumed:
Credit: McDonald’s Nutrition Calculator
Apart from general calorie count, you can also see the overall nutritional value of the products you’ve consumed – total fat, carbohydrates, protein, dietary fiber, sugar, sodium, potassium, etc.
Like McDonald’s, interactive calculators are great for brands whose customers need to know a specific value of the product before purchasing it. Indeed, such calculators don’t fit the needs of every business, but they can be an excellent addition to your content strategy.
5. Hello Fresh Suggests Meals via an Interactive Generator
Interactive generators aren’t as standard as calculators, but they can come in handy to help you attract specific audiences.
For example, Hello Fresh uses its Flavor Generator to target people who like to cook at home but don’t want to go shopping or are bad at meal prepping and measuring all the ingredients.
All you need to do is to go to Flavor Generator, pick the cuisine you’d like to try and the flavor profile you’re looking for:
Credit: Hello Fresh Flavor Generator
As a result, you get a selection of recipes that correspond to your choice. You can either cook them by yourself or order a meal kit from Hello Fresh, where all the ingredients will already be pre-measured and pre-washed.
How else can you employ interactive generators to attract necessary audiences?
Generators can come in handy if your business offers a wide variety of products. For instance, if you’re selling clothes, you can create a generator helping your customers choose clothes based on the occasion. This will cut their product search time significantly. Besides, such a generator can be a great engagement booster.
Wrapping Up,
Interactive content has all the chances to transform your content marketing strategy and help you attract the audience you’re looking for. And the best part is, regardless of the audience you’re trying to target, you’ll always find interactive content that will help you engage this audience.
That being said, your audience’s needs and interests are the main factors that determine your choice of interactive content.
So, research your audience thoroughly and analyze how a particular type of interactive content type can suit their needs and fit their expectations.