Guest post by Gaurav Sharma.
With more than four million new blog posts published every day, it’s no longer enough to simply churn out 500 or even 3000 words and click “publish.” But interactive content can help your marketing campaigns and your brand stand out.
Using interactive content for your marketing campaigns gets audiences involved rather than simply reading passively through your content.
According to a recent study, 81% of B2B marketers said interactive content grabs attention better than static content, and generates 2X more conversions than passive content.
But how can you effectively use interactive content for your marketing campaigns? Check out the use cases below. But first, here’s a look at some different types of interactive content you can leverage.
Types of Interactive Content for Your Marketing Campaigns
Here are nine types of interactive content you can use for your marketing campaigns, and why you may want to use each one:
Quizzes: Use your questions to discover audience needs, and the results to recommend products and resources.
Assessments: Use these to benchmark your company, identify audience needs, or diagnose product problems.
Surveys and polls: Use to showcase your expertise and figure out your audience’s likes and dislikes.
Calculators: Use to show clients how to save money, make money, generate ROI, reduce total cost of ownership (TCO), plan their finances, etc.. Combine them with content that showcases the value of your product.
Contests: Use these to increase engagement, draw customers to your product/service, and drive lead generation.
eBooks and whitepapers: Use to educate and generate leads. Include content such as technical diagrams and process flows that can be helpful for your audience.
Infographics: Use to inform, present data, and educate. Include interactivity points like buttons, animation, clickable links, motion graphics, scrolling effects, etc. to make them more engaging.
Interactive videos: Use these to entertain, educate, sell, or demonstrate your products/services. Include interactive elements like hotspots, clickable links, overlays, and 360-degree experiences.
Interactive emails: Use to make your messaging engaging. Include elements like videos, GIFs, surveys, gamification, rollover effects, countdown timers, etc.
Ways to Leverage Interactive Content for Marketing Campaigns
Here are five different ways you can use interactive content for marketing campaigns.
1. Drive Awareness
When using interactive content in your marketing campaigns, the objective is to generate a response and start a dialogue instead of having a one-sided conversation with potential customers.
You don’t only tell them who you are; you also get to learn about them.
For example, this quiz from Upland Kapost seeks to gauge the maturity of their respondents’ content operations. On completion, the brand gives respondents a score and recommends resources they can leverage to improve it.
But the quiz does more than that. It enables the brand to get to know its audience better while also giving the sales team a better understanding of each lead’s maturity.
Most importantly, the resources at the end help the brand create awareness about their products. They help the audience understand why they need the product and how it effectively solves their problems.
2. Lead Generation
How can using interactive content for your marketing campaigns help you get quality leads?
Quite simply, if you successfully get the visitor to use your calculator or get to the end of your quiz, they will most probably eagerly share their contact information.
That’s because you created content that attracted them and kept them engaged to the end. The interactive content also offered value, which means they can use the information or results to understand their problem better and access a solution.
You give the customer numerous reasons to choose your product without being blatantly promotional.
For example, take a look at this ROI calculator by CIENCE that enables companies to calculate their returns even before they can engage the brand. A calculator like this can be a great lead generation tool.
It offers value in exchange for lead information without being too pushy.
Once the potential client calculates their returns, they discover how much they would save with CIENCE, and this can drive them to provide their contact information.
3. Product Research
Interactive content is one of the most innovative and engaging ways to find out if there’s a need for your product or whether you need to change any features. You can leverage it to find out what your audience exactly wants to see in your product.
For example, you can use interactive quizzes and surveys to understand what your customers really want so that you can tailor your features accordingly.
You can also use interactive content to discover what your competitors are doing better and analyze those market opportunities for your business.
4. Increase Conversions
It’s no longer only about how well you can create great messages, but about the kind of experiences you give your audience.
And if you need your content to do more than get their attention, you have to put more effort. This means producing content that’s interesting, easily digestible, powerful, and engaging.
You can get that by using interactive content for your marketing campaigns. Interactive content provides an experience that helps the user visualize their issues, engages them, and increases the probability of conversion.
Additionally, it keeps website visitors on your page longer with experiences that reduce churn and bounce rates.
For example, this interactive video from Ikea lets viewers click on the hotspots as they watch it, and these hotspots take them to a page from which they can purchase the product.
They’ve made the video engaging and entertaining while also recommending products audiences can incorporate into their lives.
5. Collect Data Efficiently
Using interactive content in your marketing campaigns can help you collect valuable data to optimize your marketing strategies.
It provides an immersive experience to the viewer, grabs their attention, and personalizes their experiences. The interactive content also makes it easy to persuade your audience to give their contact information to you.
As the audience consumes your interactive content, you can collect data on views, exit points, clicks, interactions, etc. This can provide insights you can use to visualize a customer-centered marketing approach that places them at the core of your marketing and business operations.
Ready to Create Interactive Content for Your Marketing Campaigns?
Using interactive content for your marketing campaigns effectively can help you generate quality leads, collect valuable data, and boost conversions.
It can also make your brand stand out in a crowded content marketplace. You can understand your customers better and more effectively customize your future campaigns.
Got any questions about the methods of using interactive content for marketing campaigns mentioned above? Ask away in the comments.
Gaurav Sharma is the founder and CEO of Attrock, a results-driven digital marketing company. Grew an agency from 5-figure to 7-figure revenue in just two years | 10X leads | 2.8X conversions | 300K organic monthly traffic. He also contributes to top publications like HuffPost, Adweek, Business 2 Community, TechCrunch, and more. You can find him on LinkedIn and Twitter.