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Interactive content has the ability to be used by almost any business looking to advance its engagement levels. Interactive content can help increase engagement, prospect leads, and build a more successful brand overall!
Content is proven to be one of the most effective ways for marketers to reach and engage audiences. In fact, 93% of B2B marketers claimed to use content marketing in 2014. On top of that, 73% of B2B content marketers produced more content than they did the year prior. It seems that everyone knows the power of good content.
But with changing times, the typical content strategy can get stale. You have to make sure to stay on top of content trends if you want to get that attention from your audience. This is where interactive content comes in.
Interactive content takes the best parts of content and makes them - well, interactive. It requires an advanced engagement from audiences and pays them in a much better content experience. It’s much more than the typical video or blog post.
The best part about interactive content is its ability to be used by almost any business looking to advance their engagement levels. Interactive content can help increase engagement, prospect leads, and build a more successful brand overall. If your association is looking to incorporate interactive content into its content strategy, here are some things to consider.
At this point you might be thinking: Why is interactive content so popular? What can it do for my association According to Associations Now, 63% of all businesses surveyed had over 1,000 employees who rely on interactive content marketing. This relatively new form of content provides results that work for organizations.
In other words, interactive content is another way to have a personal connection to your audience. It’s a chance to indirectly have a conversation with your members and any potential buyers you may have. Interactive content combines the in-person charm of a direct conversation and the valuable knowledge of regular content. Its advanced persuasiveness is what makes it work so well.
You can add interactive content into any aspect of your association’s marketing strategy. Whether it’s an email, a landing page, or a blog post, interactive content will do the trick.
Why does interactive content work so well? It all has to do with the way people think. Audiences love to voice their thoughts and opinions with someone who cares what they think. They also love to gain new knowledge from content they’re interested in. Interactive content provides both of those traits in one easy to follow format.
Now that we know why interactive content is so successful in a content marketing strategy, let’s talk about the different forms.
It’s clear at this point that interactive content should be in any association’s content marketing strategy. But, what types of interactive content are out there? What would work best for associations?
Believe it or not, your association might already be using some forms of interactive content. If you’ve created surveys or assessments for your members, you’ve provided them with some interactive content. There are many other forms you can give to your members. Here are just a few:
- Polls
- Knowledge tests
- White Papers
- Infographics
- Videos
But what makes these forms of content interactive? There are a few factors to consider.
Let’s take a look at an interactive white paper. How does it differ? Well, you can make a white paper interactive by taking static content and turning it into an experience for the reader. Use questions, animations, and other properties to turn a white paper into an interactive guide audiences will love. Another great form is an interactive video. Allow your members to take part in a video by adding in questions, statistics, quizzes, and other activities.
If you know what forms of content can be interactive, you can create a content marketing strategy around those forms. Here are some tips for incorporating interactive content into your association’s content marketing efforts.
Marketing interactive content is almost identical to marketing traditional content. It can be spread across all marketing channels your association already uses.
Events are a great platform to introduce interactive content to your members. If your association is hosting an event, send out a quiz before the event in order to generate excitement among attendees. Once the event is over, a survey would be effective to find out how members enjoyed their time. Allow them to voice their opinions and suggestions. Giving members an active part in your events through content helps them know they’re valued. You can also incorporate interactive media into your paid advertisements.
According to Outgrow, over 80% of static advertisements are ignored. This includes things like banners, pop-ups and other digital content. Using an interactive ad is proven to be more effective for lead engagement. Try using interactive content wherever static content is used in your association’s content marketing strategy. A new form of engagement could be just what your organization needs for lead generation.
Social media has been a hub for interactive content for years. From gifs to Buzzfeed quizzes, audiences are well versed in seeing interactive forms of content on their favorite social platform. Why not give your members the same experience with your own interactive content? Social media is a great platform to test out interactive media on because it’s essentially free or low-cost marketing. Your content can reach a wide audience without the high prices that a paid advertisement typically takes. If your association is trying to incorporate interactive media, but wants to test the waters, it might be a good idea to use your social media audience for a test run. Advance your association’s social media use by adding more than just pictures to your posts. Include a helpful video in a tweet to intrigue Twitter users looking at your content. You can even use interactive content on your association’s LinkedIn.
Once you start to produce interactive content on social media platforms, or any platform in general, it’s time to see how it measures up to traditional content.
Experimenting with a new form of content would be useless if your association didn’t keep track of analytics. Make sure your content marketing is enhanced by this change, not hindered. Content reach is a very important part of a content’s metrics. How many users have engaged with your association’s content? Is your interactive content getting the same engagement as your traditional content? However, there’s a difference between users who are engaged and users who actually complete the engagement. With traditional content, all you had to worry about was engagement. Are your members viewing your content to its extent? But with interactive content, you should track how many users are actually completing the interactions.
How many users finished every question on your quiz? Did they complete the survey you sent out, or did they just read it over? Interaction completion is a vital part of the interactive content process.
Your content’s metrics will help you understand what is working for your association and what isn’t. It will help you tailor content for future audiences. Integrating interactive content into your association’s content marketing plan takes a thoughtful and driven strategy. However, if you approach interactive content with this knowledge in mind, your association can take charge and engage audiences in a brand new way.
