Content is almost always subject to decay? no matter how good it may be. Aside from cases of literary genius, or timeless brilliance, content will age and it will eventually meet its end. But what if it didn’t have to? What if there was a way to breathe new life into content every time it’s experienced? Well, good news, there is and it’s called interactive content.
Interactive content, simply put, is any piece of content with which people can directly interact. Whether it’s sharing thoughts and opinions via polls or surveys, or directly competing with other people through photo, video, or written contests, interactive content adds a powerful new dimension to traditional content. By incorporating interactive content into a content marketing strategy, you can create a variety of appealing opportunities for audience members to engage or the interactions themselves can even serve as new gateways to older pieces of content. Here’s how it works.
Interactions Create New Experiences: It is basic algebra – the more variables, the higher the number of potential outcomes or combinations. With static content, there’s really only one variable – the content itself. With interactive content, however, the options presented to the viewer can become a variable; who the viewer may share the content with can become a variable; the channels in which the viewer prefers to interact can become a variable, and so on? In short, as long as the interactions centering around a piece of content are new, the experience itself is still fresh and engaging — whether the content itself is new or not.
Interactions Generate New Data: Want to know how people are feeling about the state of your industry? All you have to do is ask. Hoping to screen out potential customers from curious browsers? Give people a scale to screen themselves. Just as conversations and body language can give you all the information you need about a person offline; online, interactions are a great way to understand what’s happening. What’s even better, every new interaction is a new data point to help you paint a better picture of an overall pattern. Are you converting impressions to clicks consistently? Are people engaging with the content to completion? Is your content driving conversations? The more interactions you generate, the more data you’ll have to optimize your future initiatives even more, in turn, driving more interactions and further improving results!
Interactions Involve New People: We all love to feel like we’re a part of something. When brands invite their audiences to share their voices, ideas, opinions or feelings through interactive content it creates a relationship built on involvement. Consumers feel as if they’re a part of something with every new interaction, and it’s this connection that often drives people to share content with their friends or invite others to join the community. For every new person an interaction brings in, that’s a potential new idea to add, or a new perspective to interpret and/or re-share your content.
In the end, no matter what value you may wrap up in your content, it’s how people experience it that makes it resonate. As long as you can give people meaningful or enjoyable ways to interact with your content those interactions will fuel that content’s impact – truly making interactivity a fountain of youth for what you create.
Looking to learn more about how interactive content can enhance your business? Contact us today!
One Comment
Excellent piece of writing combined with some great insights. Thanks for sharing.