When it comes to digital marketing, there’s no question that–cliche as it may be–content is still king.
But just like everything in today’s highly competitive digital landscape, content as we know it, as it is, can hardly cut it anymore in terms of engaging audiences and driving business goals.
There’s just too much static content for everyone to consume. Unless brands find a way to make their content stand out and attractive to their audiences, it’s almost impossible to rise above the noise.
That doesn’t mean throwing quality out the door, and using gimmicks instead to get attention! Brands need to strive for stellar content– content that’s informative, helpful, and useful–and present it in a way that guarantees engagement.
An effective way to do this is to use interactive content.
What is Interactive Content
Interactive content is any type of content that encourages audiences to engage or participate. Some examples of this type of content are:
- Quizzes
- Polls
- Surveys
- Walkthroughs
- Puzzles
- Calculators
Unlike static content, interactive content ensures that people not only spend more time on your pages, but they also dwell on your content longer, creating better brand awareness and recall.
In fact, engagement with interactive content is 52.6% higher than static content, with people spending an average of 4.5 minutes longer on every interactive post.
This solves the looming problem of content not connecting with audiences, or audiences not paying as much attention as we want them to.
The Benefits of Interactive Content
Even though long-form content (about 900 to 1,200 words) generally gets more attention than short-form, it’s tough to get audiences to focus when there are far too many other resources available at the click of a button.
Here are five ways interactive content can benefit your business:
Encourages Engagement
Did you know that 55% of people that get directed to a website only spend less than 15 seconds per visit? That’s not a lot of time to impress your audience. No wonder so many informative, well-written posts are left unread–or not read long enough to drive our desired action or result.
There are several factors that affect why people are exiting websites too quickly, including long load times and unattractive layouts. But static content also makes it harder for people to want to engage.
It’s just not attention-grabbing enough, especially when you consider that social media platforms are congested with media that’s more effective at attracting attention, like videos and photos.
Sometimes it’s not that your content isn’t good enough. It’s just that it’s not presented in a way that gets people interested.
Boosts SEO
Interactive content is also great for your SEO. Because it’s attention-grabbing, people are more likely to share this type of content. It’s the kind that easily goes viral if you know how to play with trends and inject your brand into conversations that are currently taking place online.
And with more shares comes higher web traffic, as well as more leads.
Interactive content also provides plenty of opportunities for interlinking content, which helps people find relevant resources easier and also improves search rankings.
Helps You Get to Know Your Customers
The use of interactive content like quizzes, polls, and surveys help businesses get to know their audiences better. It allows them to shape more accurate customer profiles that can be used to craft experiences, products, and services that provide exactly what customers want.
It’s also beneficial for communicating that brands pay attention to what their customers need and prefer. This makes customers feel that their voice matters, which enhances loyalty and trust.
Done right, interactive content can, therefore, address high churn rates, helping businesses nurture customer relationships better.
Enhances User Experience
It’s important to remember that user experience is a huge factor in search rankings. But other than that, most people that get directed to a clunky website will exit it right away and perceive it as untrustworthy.
Interactive content is a great answer for that. This type of content ensures that audiences like what they see–content that’s easy to understand, quick to navigate, and fun to take in.
The more engaging the content, the better the user experience.
And when people have a positive experience with a website the first time, the more likely they are to return and even recommend it to others.
Improves Conversion
With refined customer profiles, great user experience, and high engagement, there’s a much better chance of conversion.
Because interactive content helps businesses understand their target market better, they are more equipped to create strategies that work.
Interactivity also encourages people to click on posts, because they feel like doing so would be a benefit to them, if not from a needs perspective, then from one of pure entertainment and fun.
For example, a simple insurance calculator attached to a post may encourage audiences to click to know just how much a preferred insurance coverage would cost. This not only improves the brand’s click-through rates. It also is a fantastic opportunity to introduce relevant services.
Tips for Creating Interactive Content
Here are some strategies for creating interactive content for your brand:
- Match your content type with your audience. Not every content type may work for you, depending on who you’re trying to reach. For example, if you’re trying to go viral on Facebook or reaching a younger audience, a fun interactive video may be more effective than an infographic.
- Measure engagement and make adjustments regularly. To know whether your content works, use analytics tools to monitor how your posts are doing, based on specific metrics, like shares or clicks.
Regularly assessing the performance of your interactive posts will help you make adjustments for future posts to ensure the highest possible reach and engagement.
- Feature user-generated content. Take your interactive content up a notch by featuring content from your customers themselves. This will keep conversations going and interest high.
Ready to elevate your content? Partner with a trusted digital marketing agency to help you create content that draws people in and gets them to engage.
Read some case studies on how we get things done, or get in touch with us to know how!
Jossaine Nunez is a freelance article writer, blogger, and SEO-driven maven. While her true passion lies in writing fiction, her love for storytelling extends to helping brands convey their message in ways that are both engaging and helpful for attaining their business goals.
Jossaine’s interests in writing particularly about people, for people – which translates to brand audience engagement – stems from her experience as the Editor-In-Chief of Siliman University’s The Weekly Silimanian, which published slices of life and educational pieces surrounding university life. Her piece, A Review of Leoncio Deriada’s People on Guerrero Street, published in the Silliman Journal on discussions and investigations in the humanities and sciences, earmarks her foray into the world of writing about, and writing for, humans that make the world go round.
