With people online more than ever, interactive content marketing is the best choice to increase engagement and grow your audience.
Many savvy companies have a content marketing strategy in place, so it’s important to think about how you can differentiate your content from your competitors.
Let’s explore different ways you can turn static content into interactive posts and pages that encourage engagement from your audience.
But first, let’s understand a little more about interactive content and why it’s so important.
What is Interactive Content Marketing?
Interactive content is content that encourages your audience to participate in some way, rather than just passively consuming the information.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, it could be as simple as clicking a button or answering a survey.
This type of content can make the experience more entertaining for your audience, thereby making you and your brand more memorable.
Plus, it’s a great way to get to know your audience better and collect important data.
Here is a recent example that we have implemented at my company.
For about a year I’ve been asking my community what new skills they’d like to learn. I’ve done this in different ways and on different platforms – in our private Facebook group, on Instagram Stories, on social posts and on YouTube.
These questions have both increased engagement and given me solid data to decide what to do next.
Why is it important to engage your audience?
From the content they consume to the products they buy, people have more choices (and more information) than ever before — and that can make getting their attention pretty difficult.
In a highly competitive market, it’s more important than ever to know the best ways to reach an audience and keep them connected to your brand.
Interactive content marketing is more effective than other types of content, not only because it increases engagement (which, as you know, all algorithms love), but also because it keeps people’s attention on your brand for longer.
How do you measure interactive posts?
You may be wondering what makes a post successful.
As you start testing different types of content, it’s important to keep an eye on these metrics:
Social Media Metrics
- Remarks.
- saves.
- shares.
- direct messages.
- likes
- traffic to the left.
Most social platforms provide business and maker accounts with access to analytics, and you can find some of that information there.
If you’re running an advertising campaign or giving your audience a link to click, it can be helpful to use link tracking so you know where your traffic is coming from.
You can use Google Analytics to track these links and we also use the Pretty Links WordPress plugin to make them less overwhelming.
Website Metrics
- session time.
- Signups and Leads.
- Exchange rate.
- backlinks.
10 different types of content to increase engagement
There are different ways to create interactive content and my best advice for you is to pick a few and start testing.
Experiment with different things until you have enough data to decide what type of content resonates best with your audience — and then keep creating more of it.
1. Live videos and Q&A
Videos are really taking over the internet – which has made it one of the most effective forms of marketing.
Live video content can be scary at first, especially if you’re an introvert like me. But it gets easier with time and definitely worth it!
Live content lets you hang out with your community, get to know them better, and help them get to know you and your brand!
That personal element and interaction can make a big difference.
2. Create polls, multiple choice questions and quizzes
Polls and multiple choice questions are super easy for users to interact and super easy to create.
They are also incredibly engaging. Why? Because people love to share their own thoughts and opinions on topics and contribute to the conversation!
You can use polls and questions in Instagram Stories and Facebook Groups, or if you have a YouTube channel with more than 500 subscribers, you can also create polls on your YouTube Community tab.
People love quizzes too! They’re an effective way to generate interest and grab people’s attention.
They can also be shared, so they can become a great lead generation tool. You can use online tools like Typeform or Paperform to create your quiz.
3. Let your audience rate your content
Another great way to engage your audience with your content is to allow them to rate your content. You can add rating widgets to your blog posts and/or website pages.
Displaying review results on your website can increase your credibility and help you create content people are interested in.
4. User Generated Content (UGC)
Testimonials and reviews are so important for a reason. Let your clients or customers speak for themselves!
Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools in marketing, and while it can happen naturally, there’s no reason you can’t encourage your audience to get involved.
For example, you can create shareable content (such as a meme) and have a call to action to share, tag, or send to a friend who can relate.
You can also incentivize your current customers to write about you and your brand, such as with a customizable story template or giveaway.
5. Gamification
Who doesn’t love a good game?
From simple word searches to challenging online games, gamification is a great way to engage your audience.
Big companies have had great success with campaigns like this, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t scale them down and make them work for your audience.
6. Animations
Animations go a long way in grabbing people’s attention, so try to add some movement to your content!
You can do this with GIFs, hover effects, or even dynamic scrolling (where elements move as the user scrolls through the page).
Especially on sales pages, where you usually have to fill in a lot of information, animations can help keep people interested – and maybe even improve your conversion rate.
And now, creating HTML/CSS animations with ChatGPT is even easier – you can just ask it to create one for you!
For example, you can run the following command prompt and use the generated codes.
<<HTML/CSS and javascript animation to fade in text when it enters into a browser viewport>>
7. Infographics
Large chunks of text can often feel overwhelming, and this could put readers off.
If you have a lot to communicate, the best way to do this is to create an infographic.
They combine aesthetically pleasing design with important information – and often they are read more than general text.
8. Promotional Gifts
Promotional gifts are a great marketing technique as they grab people’s attention and encourage them to engage with your brand.
You can incentivize people to share content, tag friends, or even encourage your audience to show up at live events.
Being able to generate more shares of your content can also become a great lead generation tool as you reach more people who may not have heard of your brand.
And the price could be, for example, a product or service you offer, or even gift cards from Amazon and Starbucks.
9. Tabs & Carousels
Another way to break up text-heavy content is by using tabs and carousels.
Allow users to choose what they want to see. It also helps to organize the content and make it easy to find.
Instead of having to scroll through long pages, they can just click and find what they’re looking for.
It also adds more interactivity to your content, which can be far more interesting than just reading large chunks of text.
10. Recycled Content
Creating content is very time consuming and can be exhausting. So don’t be afraid to reuse content.
Marketing is about repetition, it’s about finding different ways to get your message across and reaching the right people.
If you have a post that got a lot of engagement, think of different ways you can reshare it. Maybe you can create a quiz on the topic or even make some changes and re-share it on another platform.
Not only will you save time, but you’ll create content more effectively because you’re reusing content you already know will resonate with your audience.
Think YouTube videos, blog posts, and podcasts—longer content forms can easily be repurposed into multiple smaller pieces.
Final Thoughts
As is usual with marketing, there is no one-size-fits-all recipe that will make your content stand out.
But interactivity is extremely important in the online world and will improve user experience.
Also, keep in mind that your audience’s interests and expectations may change from time to time. What works well today may not be the best option a year from now.
Don’t be afraid to change and test as you go; This is the best way to learn more about your target audience.
More resources:
Featured Image: Interactive Content/Shutterstock
