What Is Interactive Content Marketing?

With marketing evolving faster than ever before, it’s no surprise how quickly trends come and people’s preferences shift – all of which we need to adapt to if we wish to survive in the business world.

Well, now it’s content marketing’s turn to take a leap forward. Besides voice search copywriting and voice content on the horizon, I’ve witnessed another new (and awesome) trend- which is interactive content.

Here’s how interactive content is evolving content marketing by ensnaring your customer’s interest on a whole new level.

Prefer to listen, rather than read? Here’s the Podcast summary!

We all know by now how important content marketing is for brands today.

Our blogs, videos, podcasts, websites and so on all have their place in the world, ready for our audiences to find and engage with. Every piece works together to reach the right people, spread our message and add value where it is sought. It works well.

But people have an insatiable (and growing) appetite for content and they’re forever looking for better experiences that are more absorbing. As marketers, we have to cater to this too; otherwise we get left behind, lost in the clutter.

So, what content type is showing the most potential? Interactive content!

What is interactive content?

Generally speaking, interactive content is anything that actively responds to the audience based on their interaction with it. Picture it as ‘choose your own adventure’ content, where you enter in choices or data and the content reacts accordingly.

In other words: it’s not static content.

A blog like this is static content because you read it from top to bottom and it doesn’t change or shift as you interact. The audience plays a passive role in static content.

Whereas, in interactive content, the audience plays an active role that’s beyond just reading, listening or watching. The more they interact, the more it responds; and in return, they get an experience or feedback that is catered specifically to them as a result.

What is interactive content marketing?

As the name suggests, interactive content marketing is using interactive marketing as a part of your overall content marketing strategy.

Just like all forms of marketing, it should exist for a strategic purpose. While it’s tempting to make games for the sheer fun, there should be at least some sort of goal in spending the resources to create it.

Ask yourself – what is the ROI of interactive marketing over other forms?

To get the best results from interactive content, it should play an important role in your brand’s strategy towards content – just like every other piece.

Why use interactive content?

People have shorter attention spans than ever, which means they’re hunting for content that actually holds their interest and is relevant to them.

Nothing delivers this better than interactive content.

Basically, when content is interacting, it provides a journey or a story that corresponds to their choices and needs. This is highly appealing for anyone if done right!

Marketing is all about getting a person to take action, and interactive content really helps this process happen much sooner, through the incentive of a highly personalised outcome in real time.

What are examples of interactive content?

The best examples of interactive content are questionnaires and quizzes which ask people to respond in order to get a unique conclusion.

Each question they answer gives them a particular score and the final result that they are shown depends on the answers they submit.

Here’s an example of one that I wrote for a sleep apnoea test, designed to identify what level of risk a respondent has based on their answers. If they selected answers like “yes” to if they snored and felt drowsy during the day, then it told them they were more at risk to sleep apnoea and their Call To Action was to book a sleep test.

On the other hand, a different person may get the low-risk outcome, and in that case, the brand knows they aren’t a target customer, but still sends them to the blog for more general information.

On the surface, it appears to just be a few questions, but the backend is an intricate design of questions and scoring that is calculated together to give the final outcome best suited to the individual.

Other types of interactive content include:

Webinars
Polls and surveys
Assessments
Contests
Virtual Reality (VR)
Augmented Reality (AR)

Of course, video games, VR and AR all offer a very popular type of interactive content! Remember the Pokemon Go phenomenon?

There are now companies set up that can ‘gamify’ your content so that you can get your message across to a specific audience in a more collaborative and fun way!

What’s the point of interactive content?

There are really valuable benefits that are gained from creating and launching interactive content.

1. Customers love it!

It’s no surprise. Interactive content that promises a tailored outcome provides a lot of intrigue and curiosity that is very hard to resist. This can draw a lot of attention at a higher rate than other content.

2. People pre-qualify themselves

By getting involved with this content, your customers essentially tell you pieces of information you need to know to cater the perfectly matched message that will have a better chance of converting them.

3. People give more information than is really needed

I’m part of a HubSpot community, and at one of our meetings, one of my clients mentioned that an interactive quiz I built for them only had 8 compulsory questions that were needed. However, people were willing to answer up to 20 questions! This added a lot of scope for extra data collection to build customer personas.

4. It promises a bespoke experience

One of the biggest incentives for a person to participate in interactive content is wondering what their specific outcome will be. This provides a lot more allure for people to pay attention to your content.

5. Interactive content can go viral

People love sharing their results, depending on the topic – especially on social media. If you allow people to share theirs with their friends or network, chances are they will, and that will show it to others who will also give it a try to see what they get.

6. Creates brand relevancy

In my recent blog, Is Brand Relevancy The New Brand Awareness?, I discussed how just knowing about a brand is not enough. You want your brand to be relevant in your customer’s lives. Interactive content can offer this opportunity by literally demonstrating to people the possibilities of your brand and how it fits in with their needs.

7. It’s a mini sales funnel

Because it adapts to each person, interactive content can actually nurture a lead live! So, as they start to get involved, they can be shown the right messages to essentially convert them from a stranger to a lead, into a visitor and finally a paying customer within one session (if done well)!

How do you create interactive content?

While interactive content provides so many benefits, it’s not as simple to create as regular content.

For example, blogs, photos, videos and podcasts are becoming far easier for all brands to make. However interactive content requires a lot more time and expertise to create due to the interactive component.

You need to build code and algorithms behind the public-facing side that allows the content to function. This also requires a lot of strategy and planning to determine how you want the content to behave, what are all of the alternative messages, and what outcome will show up when.

However, don’t let this deter you.

Firstly, because it is harder, there is less competition in this space.
Secondly, as time goes on, it’s going to get easier to make.
Lastly, there are a lot of people and businesses out there that can help you out.

So, how are you going to take advantage of interactive content to improve your engagement with your audience?

How Can Melotti Media Copywriting Help You?

To engage your customer and achieve ongoing business success today, you need quality copywriting and consistent content. However, we understand that this is easier said than done.

You’re time poor and spread thin, and writing isn’t your expertise. So, focus on what really matters, while we take care of all of your copywriting and content marketing needs!

For more information or to speak to a quality copywriter to get the results your business deserves, contact me now at info@melottimedia.com.au.

I can sharpen your words to achieve your goals, today!

Christopher Melotti

Melotti Media Copywriting and Message Marketing Bureau
www.melottimedia.com.au