5 types of Interactive Content that will engage your readers

When creating your Digital Marketing strategies, the question you should always ask yourself is: what is the best way to attract and retain users? 

Nowadays, the best answer is often the various types of interactive content.

As the access to technology continues to increase at a faster pace, interactive content is becoming more and more accessible — around the world, most people are using smartphones, tablets, and laptops to reach content as part of their daily routines.

So, it’s no longer enough to just create content; you have to go beyond and provide solutions that really keep your audience’s focus. This results in increased engagement, a greater conversion rate, and loyal future clients.

To achieve such advantages, we’ve selected the main types of interactive content and the benefits of each. Take a look!

1. Infographics

Interactive infographics are a great solution to direct leads according to where they’re at on the buyer’s journey. 

A strong recommendation is to work with content focusing on the awareness stage.

Infographics won’t necessarily lead to a huge number of conversions, but rather intend to educate their readers by equipping them with information. 

You can include complex subjects and make them easy to be consumed. Relevant data are also welcome.

When considering distribution channels, social media platforms are the best option at the moment, but infographics also serve well incorporated into blog posts.

2. Videos

Video is traditionally considered a “passive” medium, not requiring any extra effort on the part of the user, when compared to the traditional engagement of social networks or blog comments.

Taking the next step to invest in interactive videos creates the opportunity to produce personalized content that makes the viewer an active participant.

Based on each user’s personal choices, it’s possible to adapt the direction of the content for the final result to be closer to what your audience needs.

The cosmetics company Maybelline developed content to point its readers to their preferred type of makeup.

Whether discrete or daring, users could navigate between personalized tastes and styles to arrive at a personalized solution: a stylized makeup tutorial based on their answers.

With this example in mind, imagine the number of personal preferences within an audience.

Most people would probably skip over traditional branded content as a result of not identifying with it. 

But, by investing in a variety of more personalized pieces, you can still reach a broad audience.

Interactive videos provide this possibility in a single piece of content by segmenting the main audience profiles and delivering satisfactory results.

3. Quizzes

Quizzes are a two-way street that delights their audience as much as the brand.

At the core, users answer questions, and, in the end, receive a personalized response according to their indicated preferences. 

At the same time, the company gathers valuable information for its database.

Sears created an interactive quiz to help consumers acknowledge common myths about washing machines.

This way, you don’t need to wait until the end of the questionnaire to get a response to a specific question, complaint, or observation. 

In addition to the insights available for each topic, the application provides value through tools, such as newsletters and a menstrual calendar.

As we’ve noted, this resource is a two-way street, allowing the company to accrue an incredible amount of data which it can use to optimize its service — respecting its users’ privacy, demonstrating transparency, and acting in accordance with legal requirements.

Furthermore, insights are a powerful way to understand new features, stop development on products that are no longer delivering value, improve distribution channels.

4. Ebooks

Interactive ebooks are a perfect solution to follow up on an infographic or specific blog post.

After accessing general information, the ideal result is for a user to want to discover further content and stay up-to-date. 

With that in mind, the objective of ebooks is to take a deeper look at a topic.

Interactivity is responsible for guiding readers to the topics they find important or of interest, and that answers their questions. To demonstrate, we’ve chosen the Salesforce ebook created in partnership with Rock Content.

In it, the company reveals how five IT pioneers are managing their businesses with applications, adding a CTA to download the complete ebook.

According to each reader’s preferences, it’s possible to choose from a wide range of sectors and offer a detailed understanding of the implications for such a business model in similar companies.

Belgium’s AB InBev was one result of Manufacturing. The remainder of the ebook offers similar interactivity through attractive and visually engaging content.

The logic behind ebooks is similar to that of other types of interactive content: instead of creating wide-ranging content in an attempt to reach all possible consumers — yet actually engaging very few — or a pile of hyper-specific material, you can segment your audience and offer personalized solutions according to each user’s preferences.

The data collected by directing clicks is a powerful way to understand your readers’ profile, segment new content, and gain insights into your audience. 

This kind of information can be used to optimize the entire marketing strategy of any business.

5. Calculators

Interactive calculators work well close to the purchase decision. This is the moment to employ practical resources that reveal the benefits of your product or service — whether directly or indirectly.

For example, we have an ROI calculator. With it, a user can find out their return on investment by becoming a customer.

Wrap Up

During the final steps of the buyer’s journey, interactive content provides an incredible sales pitch: it doesn’t take paragraphs and paragraphs describing personal attributes or benefits to close a deal.

As your lead already understands what you’re offering at this stage, they simply require a gentle push to turn into a client. At this point, it’s critical to invest in practically demonstrating the true implications of the advantages your solution offers to that specific individual.

Interactive content is essential for anyone looking to increase their engagement through relevant offerings that deliver value.

If you enjoyed learning about the main types of interactive content, find out how to accelerate your sales cycle!