Interactive video: why your marketing strategy needs this type of content

When we talk about interactive video, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is the “Bandersnatch” episode from Black Mirror, especially considering the popularity that the Netflix production has achieved, becoming a benchmark for innovation in this segment.

The episode includes several moments of viewer interaction, which can lead up to five different endings.

Despite being considered a recent technology, interactive content is not new, and there has always been an interest in improving this interaction in different spaces.

Interactivity was widely used on TV in game shows and reality shows. But, as expected, the internet raised the level of interaction. 

For those who want to keep up-to-date and are concerned with constantly innovating their marketing strategy, it is important to be alert to these new possibilities of video marketing.

To help you on this mission, this post will go over:

What is an interactive video?

Who doesn’t like to have control in their own hands, right? Communication-related vehicles have always sought to provide greater interaction with the public — and interactive video has come to add to this story.

But, after all, what are interactive videos?

In a very simplistic way, we can define them as digital videos that support user interaction. It may seem like a pretty obvious definition — and it is.

If we think in terms of a comparison with its predecessor, linear video, we can see this evolution better.

Let’s think about the differences with linear videos in a practical way: until then, the viewer could pause, play, speed up, and jump to another point in the video.

That was as much influence as you could have on the video. However, if it is interactive, this leap is gigantic, and the user — previously just a spectator — can define the direction, the next scenes, the continuity, and the content’s outcome.

That is, they cease to be a mere consumer to become, in a way, a co-producer of the material they are interacting with. 

What are the benefits of using interactive video?

That interactive videos are on the rise, everyone is noticing. There is also a consensus that they are fundamental elements in any marketing strategy committed to innovation.

What not everyone really understands clearly is the actual benefits that this type of content can bring about. 

We will list the main ones below. Check it out!

Simplifying the message

Is bringing your message to your audience, in a more understandable way, important to you?

The audiovisual world has been standing out for some time as the most comprehensive way of presenting concepts, allowing the interlocutor to use the most diverse sound and image resources that can assist in the understanding of the receiver.

Interactive video adds an even more powerful tool to all this: interacting with the content.

Increasing engagement

Speaking of grabbing attention, the Digital Video and The Connected Consumer report, revealed that 87% of consumers use more than one electronic device simultaneously, which makes the dispute for the audience even more intense.

And it gets even fiercer when it comes to engagement.

The word interaction already sums up the differential that interactive video can bring about when it comes to engagement with the public.

Optimizing experiences

Much has been discussed about customer experience within company processes. 

Every day, more and more people understand the value of delivering a truly enjoyable experience, from start to the end, to their target audience.

Also, in this sense, surveys, with a focus on better understanding the public and their needs, are increasingly frequent.

Interactive videos also assist in this mission, given that they give consumers a more natural and direct opportunity to “personalize” the content according to their preferences.

The results of this interaction can also assist in new ideas for improving this experience as a whole, which brings us to the next point.

Improving data and metrics

Since consumer interaction is a demonstration of their preferences, the compilation of this data can become a good metric for understanding your audience, as well as helping to offer them content that is increasingly aligned with their needs and desires.

This kind of information doesn’t only apply to the production of new interactive videos, but also the elaboration of content as a whole.

Increasing brand popularity

It is not enough to always be on the lookout for innovations; you need to actually participate in them. 

In general, the public sees value when a company engages in modern activities. And then people tend to pay more attention to it, even “seeing it in a new light” in some cases.

They start to expect something new from that brand, which keeps consumers attentive to the publications and pronouncements. 

In a way, this yearning also drives engagement when it’s satisfying.

 

How does interactive video fit into your marketing strategy?

After all these reasons for using interactive video, we believe that adding it to your marketing strategy is already part of your plans, right?

You already have an overview of the relevance of Content Marketing itself. 

This is not only for your marketing strategy but also because of how much it united various sectors of the company in the shared focus of achieving the organization’s main objectives.

Content is an essential and indispensable piece in building a brand and in communicating with the consumer, both to bring in leads that are relevant and to increase the engagement and experience of the target audience.

In a report shared by Forbes in 2018, videos were already considered the most effective way to reach people. 

As we mentioned, when we talked about advantages, this tool adds a lot to how this message is distributed.

Interactive content has definitely come to innovate and to stay. Refusing to include it in your strategy could be the wrong choice, given the market trends and all the benefits above.

To help in this decision and its implementation, we highlighted some points that demonstrate how interactive video can easily fit into marketing actions that you already use. 

Don’t miss out!

SEO

You already have an SEO strategy, and probably keep yourself up-to-date with the best new practices.

So, you know that relevant video content improves the ranking of your pages and, consequently, increases traffic.

Social media

For some time now, videos have also stood out among the different post formats appearing in the main social media platforms.

No wonder, today there are many more spaces and options for them, whether to watch or to share, with integrations between the main platforms: YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

Gamification

In the last two years, gamification has been gaining more space in the marketing world, and many people have already taken advantage of this strategy. 

And interactive video fits just like a glove in this tactic!

Branding

Always in the marketing plans, brand awareness has a true ally in interactive video.

Not only because the public tends to see great value in companies that adhere to innovations, but also because of the simple fact that interacting with the brand — or with a video of a specific brand — will certainly increase the chances of it being remembered in an opportune moment.

How to design interactive video marketing?

Now that you know why interactive video marketing is worth it, the next step involves learning how to create your content.

Check out below the best tips on how to plan and execute an interactive video marketing strategy for your brand.

1. Use interaction appropriately

People will not engage with your interactive video if its choices are not thoughtful. Do not rush your introduction into interactive video marketing by making it interactive just for the sake of it. That will not work.

Instead, you should design it as an experience. Put yourself in your target audience’s shoes and appeal to their needs and motivations. Take some time to plan out the interactive elements of your video and why they matter.

2. Integrate it to your strategy

Interactive video is a great way to improve your results, such as conversion or engagement rate. Consider your campaign goals and come up with ways to use this medium to get your brand closer to them.

For example, interactive video allows you to add multiple calls-to-action to direct your audience to different offers through effective client communication. Use that feature as a way to increase your conversions by pointing the right people to the appropriate products or services.

3. Provide good entertainment

Let us not forget that you can highly engage your audience through entertainment. Interactive video can be more appealing if it causes that effect on people.

Because of that, part of your planning stage should be about making sure your content is entertaining.

This could apply to several different strategies. One way to do that is to provide the footage of a concert that allows the viewer to change angles and be closer to the stage.

Another approach would be to create an interactive story with multiple points of view. 

How do interactive videos look like? 

As we promised, here are some examples of interactive videos for you to get inspired. Check them out below!

Bob Dylan — Like a Rolling Stone Interactive Music Video

To launch a new Bob Dylan boxset, Sony Music, alongside Eko, decided to promote one of his biggest hits with an interactive video.

The video’s success was such that it went viral. In just one day, the content already had more than 1 million views.

Another highlight about this production was the team’s savviness in including a “guide” during the video’s execution, which was helpful because it allowed everyone to understand how it worked and thus really interact with the film.

Disney — The Jungle Book Interactive Video

At the launch of its new film, a live-action production, Disney — alongside Wirewax, the company that developed the video — offered fans the opportunity to see very closely how this kind of filming is carried out.

This action reinforces one of the advantages we mentioned for using interactive videos: they allow all the available resources to simplify a concept that could seem a little more complex.

After all, Disney’s video made it much easier to understand and see how live-action films are produced, didn’t it?

Allianz Global Investors Interactive Video

In this video, we can see how the interactive content aligns with other aspects of a marketing strategy, such as gamification, which is extremely present in this production.

In the Allianz Global video, the production was developed to meet a demand from the Human Resources team. 

It is aimed at an audience of millennial professionals, given the recruiting difficulties the company faced at that time.

Wrap Up

Given all the information contained in this article, from the definition of interactive video, through the advantages of using it to the possibilities they bring within the company’s own marketing strategy, we believe that there’s still a lot to explore when it comes to this technique.

After all, the formats it allows are many.

There are several other interactive content formats, in addition to videos. If you want to learn more about this strategy, download our Free Guide on Interactive Content!