Interactive Content Guide: How to Bring Life to Your Content Marketing Strategy

Have you ever caught yourself taking a quiz to find out what kind of friend you are or enjoying fun animated infographics on the web?

It’s undeniable: interactive content like that really grabs our attention!

People love creative and stimulating content that breaks away from the ordinary and lets them interact.

For brands, such material is much more effective than traditional advertising and sales approaches. That’s why this kind of content is gaining more traction in marketing strategies.

Interactive content is the new powerhouse of Content Marketing. Until recently, this strategy included mostly static materials like ebooks and blog posts.

The time has come to encourage your audience to participate and engage with your content. And that’s what we’ll talk about in this article.

Next, you’ll find information about the following topics:

What is Interactive Content?

Interactive content is any type of material that conveys its message by encouraging users participation and responding to their input. Because of it, the content experience evolves from passive consumption to active engagement.

Interactivity can appear in calculators, quizzes, ebooks, videos, and animated infographics. They don’t necessarily need to be digital. Still, it’s on the internet that this type of content gains a myriad of formats and generates new possibilities for user interaction.

The power of media interactivity has leaped forward with the emergence of the internet, especially after the popularization of blogs and social networks.

Since then, brands have started to get used to the participation of consumers in their content.

A New Approach to Content

First, Content Marketing relied heavily on the logic of passive consumption. In other words, brands published content and waited for feedback from users through likes, reactions, comments, shares, or browsing behavior analysis on websites and blogs.

Now, while it’s already much more interactive than we had in offline marketing or the early days of the internet, brands can still go further.

That’s where interactive content comes in, offering a more exciting and fun approach for consumers, given the vast amount of material they have to sift through on the web.

This type of content requires users to engage with the material to get the information they want, making it much more engaging than just reading a text.

Each interaction with the content represents a sign from the user to the brand. Vitor Peçanha, co-founder of Rock Content, defines interactive content as something that prompts people to give feedback.

It’s different, for example, from when a consumer downloads a PDF or reads a blog post, as there is no feedback during the content consumption in these cases.

Thus, interactive content allows brands to understand whether people have actually consumed their material while providing a much more exciting experience for the consumer.

What Are the Benefits of Interactive Content?

Interactive content is increasingly gaining traction in marketing. But do you want to understand better whether it’s worth investing in this kind of material for your strategies?

Let’s list the main benefits of interactive content!

Combine Content and Experience

Ebooks, infographics, and blog posts are valuable for educating consumers because they provide a lot of information.

When they become interactive, they add something that attracts and engages people: fun.

Interactive content, therefore, combines information and entertainment. This way, the user feels stimulated to consume the content, which contains triggers to hold their attention.

For example, a quiz requires the person to go through all the questions to get the answer, which can be more engaging than an ebook or blog article.

So the content stops being passive and static, providing a better consumer experience for your audience.

This change is even more relevant if we consider Generation Y — the millennials, born between 1980 and 1995, who are in the market dictating trends and influencing consumer behavior.

These young people have seen the internet being born and the world becoming faster. That’s why this generation is dynamic and immediate.

There’s no point in offering static, boring, and irrelevant content; they need innovation, challenges, and experiences. Interactive content, therefore, meets their desires.

For the generations that follow, the dynamics of content will no longer be a choice but a necessity to communicate with them.

Increase Engagement

Offering an interactive consumer experience instead of static content is a surefire way to boost your engagement rates. This is the great benefit of interactive content, making it a valuable tool in marketing.

Content Marketing has grown so much that it has saturated consumers with numerous stimuli and posts on blogs and social networks, often lacking quality or relevance.

With little room to attract this information-rich consumer, brands need creative ways to capture their attention. Interactive content solves this issue.

Passive content makes way for interactive formats, which increase engagement time and brand involvement.

When reading an interactive infographic, for example, the user is surprised by a new way of consuming information, much lighter and more fun. This encourages them to read all the material, grasp the message, and even share it with their network.

This increase in engagement is evident when analyzing metrics such as time spent on the site or link shares (referral traffic).

Additionally, you can analyze consumption metrics to understand if users actually consumed all the interactive content.

Get More Feedback from Users

Another benefit of interactive content is the ability to receive a wealth of feedback data from users.

As we mentioned, passive content does not indicate whether the consumer actually consumed the material.

For example, you only know how many users have downloaded or scrolled to the end of a blog page. But you can’t tell if they read the content, can you?

Interactive content, on the other hand, collects data during content consumption. You can identify views, clicks, and interactions with each element of your interactive material, as well as evaluate exit points.

According to Rock’s survey, 60% of organizations that use interactive content can better measure their efficiency, compared to only 25% among those that use static content.

For example, let’s say you’ve created a questionnaire to help clients understand what solution they need to solve their problem.

Each question answered represents a metric to verify your strategy’s efficiency and get to know the user better.

This way, you can confirm that users have engaged with all your content and collect valuable data about your audience’s behaviors, pains, and needs, which can then be used to optimize your strategies.

Therefore, the benefits of interactive content are not limited to Content Marketing — they can enhance your entire marketing strategy.

Optimize Lead Generation and Conversion Rates

Interactive content not only generates more engagement but also brings results in lead generation, sales, and revenue.

Dynamic content, with visual appeal, provides a richer experience and can ignite consumers’ desires. Besides, by holding their attention, this type of content can also guide them on their journey to conversion.

To achieve this, you can use tools to create interactive content (we’ll introduce some of them later).

Some of these tools offer features to optimize conversions and test applications to determine which ones work best.

For example, you can test two layout versions of your landing page to find out which one generates the most conversions.

This way, you make the user experience more interesting and reap better results from your content.

What Are Some Interactive Content Examples?

Here, we’ll show you various types of interactive content you can publish and provide some examples to inspire your production.

Some materials are inherently interactive, like quizzes and calculators. Others, like ebooks and infographics, can be made interactive.

You can also combine different types of interactive content into one piece.

For example, a single page can feature an interactive infographic and include a quiz at the end for users to test their knowledge (and for you to gauge the content’s effectiveness).

Now, let’s dive into some of the best types of interactive content and get inspired!

1. Quizzes

A quiz is a form of interactive content that has already won many fans! They gained popularity on the web with Buzzfeed tests and have since become valuable interactive tools for various brands.

Quizzes can educate and entertain the audience, usually with a light and fun tone, and capture insights into their understanding of a subject.

When they are creative and relevant to the audience, they also have a good chance of going viral!

For instance, check out this quiz that aims to debunk many myths about washing machines.

2. Calculators

Calculators are interactive content that helps show how your product can be positive to the customer’s budget.

You can show how the client can save, make money, or plan financially, depending on the type of solution you offer.

This type of content can be combined with material that explains the value of your product to the market, so that the calculator corroborates what you’re saying.

Here at Rock Content, we have created a CAC (customer acquisition cost) to help marketers understand how much they spend acquiring new clients. 

3. Ebooks

Instead of delivering a static PDF to your audience, how about creating interactive content to present the information in an ebook?

You can combine text with videos, images, graphics, and animations. With interactivity and visual appeal, ebook consumption becomes much more interesting and enjoyable.

Here, you can see an example from Salesforce, which has turned an ebook into an attractive page full of animations.

In this example, anyone who still wants to save the material in PDF format can download the file after entering their contact details.

4. Infographics

Infographics are already a way to transmit data and information with visual appeal. But did you know that you can make them even more attractive?

Just add points of interactivity with the material, so that the reader participates in the content.

Take, for example, this interactive infographic that explains complex information about energy microgrids. The material includes interactive buttons, statistics and facts.

Netflix has another good example of how to transmit information and data in a way that is attractive to the reader.

Cocainenomics is a case of branded content used to promote the Narcos series and brought a lot of data about narco-trafficking. In the end, it also includes a quiz on the information presented.

5. White Papers

White papers usually present more technical content than ebooks and blog posts. They go straight to the point and act as a manual or guide for executing a strategy or action. 

So making them interactive is one way to make this material more attractive and understandable.

6. Landing Pages

A landing page has a clear objective: to generate conversions.

Adding interactivity to these pages can help to trigger the visitor’s desire and convince them to leave their contact details to become a lead.

Below you can see an example of a DHL landing page with visual and animated content that makes the experience more interesting.

7. Lookbooks

A lookbook is a very visual material, usually composed of photographs, widely used by fashion brands to present products, models, photographers, and designers (although it can be used in any niche).

However, lookbooks are usually static, in PDF format, or even printed. To make them more attractive, you can create interactive lookbooks.

Travel operator Northstar Travel has created an interactive lookbook to present Los Cabos destination and has included a quiz and contact form at the end.

8. Questionnaires

The questionnaires are similar to the quizzes, but generally feature more serious language and more in-depth content. The intention is not only to entertain but mainly to help the consumer in their journey.

At the beginning of the journey, the questionnaire can help them identify their needs. At the end of the journey, the material will help you to show what solution they should adopt to solve their problem.

In this way, you can also collect data about this consumer to determine what stage of the journey they are at. 

Based on that, you can decide what marketing and sales approaches should be used.

This questionnaire, for example, helps companies identify their contract management needs through six strategic questions.

In the end, the user provides their data to receive the results and recommendations from the company.

9. Resource Library

A resource library brings together different content that a company has already produced for its Content Marketing strategy.

Instead of offering a list of links for users to access these materials, you can create an interactive page to make it easy for them to find what they want.

This is what Symantec has done with its resource library, which is divided into categories and also includes restricted access areas.

10. Solution finder

The solution finder also reminds us of a quiz or a questionnaire.

However, it has a more specific goal: to guide the consumer through questions to find the right solution to their problem.

For example, this site helps consumers choose the right extended warranty for their car, which can be difficult and boring to describe.

With the final answer, the user is directed to a page where they can sign up for the plans the company offers.

11. Vídeos

Videos are already a kind of engaging content because they have a more dynamic look and narrative than textual or static content. But they can be even more attractive if they invite people to interact with the content.

For example, YouTube allows you to insert interaction buttons that direct users to other videos they might want to watch.

It was based on this feature that a New Zealand pizzeria created an interactive experience for users on YouTube.

The content invites people to help a pizza delivery guy do his job without getting killed by zombies. Throughout the story, the user is invited to choose the alternative that will take them to the next content. Cool, huh?

12. Search results

Presenting the results of a survey, full of data and graphs, could become boring for the target audience.

Therefore, creating interactive content to present this data can be more efficient for people to grasp the information.

An interesting example is the Selfiecity project, which investigates the ways people take selfies in different cities around the world.

On the site, you can browse the data collected in interactive graphics and better understand the search results.

13. Maps

Since Google Maps became popular, interactive maps have become increasingly used for different purposes.

They are useful to entertain or inform, in a similar way to an interactive infographic, but with geolocation data.

Want an example? In the Cocainenomics project, which we presented earlier, Netflix used an interactive map, based on Google Maps, to show the routes of narco-trafficking in recent decades.

How to Create Interactive Content? 5 Tips to Take Advantage of This Strategy!

To produce relevant content, you need to think about the buyer persona first. 

Who is your audience? How do they behave? What are their pains and needs? From then on, you have the public in mind to produce your materials.

To produce relevant content, you already know that you need to create a persona, understand your audience’s pains, and set goals before anything else. These steps apply to any kind of content.

Now, we’ve selected a few tips that are also valid for your entire Content Marketing strategy, but that can really help with interactive content.

#1. Use content you already have

At the beginning of an interactive content strategy, you can use materials that you already have and that have the potential for interactivity. 

Thus, you give them a new format and a new purpose.

Select, for example, an ebook that has generated enough engagement to turn it into an interactive page. In the end, you can add a quiz to test the visitor’s knowledge.

Try Ion and start creating interactive content that combines information and entertainment. Bring your audience into the conversation by creating quizzes, calculators, ebooks, videos, and more.

With interactive content, you’ll capture their attention and provide a fun and exciting experience.

#2. Produce interactive content for the funnel steps

With an eye on the buyer persona’s pains and marketing goals, define what content you will produce thinking about the funnel stages.

This is essential if your interactive content is to fulfill its function in the sales cycle — making the lead advance in the funnel faster — rather than wasting efforts on pointless publications.

A visual and attractive lookbook, for example, can be used at the top of the funnel to attract the lead’s attention.

A calculator is ideal for the bottom of the funnel, when the lead is already at the final moment of the buying journey and needs to realize the financial benefits of acquiring your solution.

#3. Create interactive content with responsive layout

You already know how important it is to adopt responsive web layouts, in a context where the consumer uses their mobile phone for everything, at every stage of the buying journey.

That’s why responsiveness also applies to interactive content.

Since this type of content involves many buttons, animations, and user interactions, you need to make sure that all elements work well on any screen size. 

Content creation tools usually already include this functionality, but it is always important to test them before publishing them.

#4. Optimize strategies with collected data

The interactive materials allow one to collect a vast amount of data about the consumer. 

As we have said, you identify whether the user has downloaded content and whether they have read the entire content and absorbed it.

But this data is only of value to your company if it’s used to generate insights and optimize marketing strategies.

They can help you to:

• get to know the consumer better;
• build the brand persona;
• optimize the segmentation of marketing campaigns;
• customize marketing approaches;
• improve sales approaches.

#5. Capture visitor contact data

Don’t miss the chance to collect visitor data to nourish them along the sales funnel.

When you offer a quiz or survey, you can release the answers only after the user has informed their contact.

In a solution finder, you can request the visitor’s email address to send them personalized directions.

It is important to show the benefit you will offer if the user informs their contact details.

What Are The Best Interactive Content Tools?

So, you want to start producing interactive content but don’t know where to begin? Some interactive tools can help you with this task!

Instead of hiring a developer to create each piece of interactive content, you can use templates and easy-to-use features to create dozens on your own.

Let’s explore some options!

Ion

Ion, Rock Content’s platform, is the leading tool for interactive content production.

It offers responsive templates for the various types of interactive content mentioned in this article, all without needing to write a single line of code.

Ion also provides optimization testing to identify which materials will generate more conversions. Plus, you can measure their performance to ensure they meet your goals.

Here’s a glimpse of what Ion looks like and how easy it is to use:

Dot

Dot is another example of a platform that allows you to create interactive content. 

Through simple-to-use features, you can create quizzes, calculators, lookbooks, questionnaires, among other types of interactive content, all on your own from templates.

Thinglink

Thinglink is another platform option for creating interactive content. The tool allows you to create interactive infographics, presentations, maps and videos, and includes features for photos and videos in 360 degrees.

Typeform

The Typeform is already a well-known tool for creating online forms with a simple, beautiful, and responsive layout.

But maybe now you’ll notice this tool with fresh eyes since it allows you to create interactive content and embed forms, surveys, quizzes, and polls wherever you want.

Mapme

Mapme is very good for creating interactive maps. You can add photos, videos and 3D buildings, create location categories (e.g., restaurants, schools, museums, etc.) and customize the map with colors, shapes, icons, and pictures.

Wrap Up

Now you know the importance of interactive content for your strategies, and you understand what you need to do to start producing this kind of material.

Realize that we are talking about a type of content that can differentiate your publications from your competitors, considering so many blog posts and ebooks that overload the consumer with information.

In an interview with Rock, Vitor Peçanha said that this is a trend for the next few years, which is already noticeable around the world. Creating less content, but with more accuracy and impact, is what will bring more quality to digital strategies.

Ready to elevate your content strategy and boost engagement? Unleash the power of interactive content with ION! Seamlessly create, launch, and measure personalized interactive experiences.

From quizzes and polls to assessments and calculators, ION empowers you to captivate your audience. Start enhancing your marketing efforts today – discover what ION can do for you!

Interactive Content FAQ

What is interactive social media content?

Interactive social media content encourages users to engage actively rather than passively consuming information. This includes polls, quizzes, live videos, and interactive stories that prompt users to comment, share, or participate in other ways.

What is an example of an interactive resource?

An interactive resource is any digital material that requires user participation. A common example is a calculator on a financial website, where users input data to receive customized results.

What is an example of interactivity?

An example of interactivity is a quiz on a website that asks users a series of questions and then provides personalized feedback or results based on their answers.

How do you create interactive and engaging content?

To create interactive and engaging content, start by understanding your audience’s interests and needs. Use tools and platforms that offer interactive features like quizzes, polls, and infographics. Make sure the content is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and provides immediate feedback to the users.

What is considered interactive content?

Interactive content includes any digital material that prompts active participation from users. This can be quizzes, calculators, polls, interactive videos, and infographics, among others.

Why do people like interactive content?

People like interactive content because it is engaging, fun, and often provides instant feedback or personalized results. It breaks the monotony of passive consumption and allows users to interact, making the experience more memorable and enjoyable.