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Interactive content experiences provide users with ways to explore information in a more engaging and exciting way. It creates a dynamic experience between the content and the user. Compared to static content, interactive content provides higher retention of your message and branding. We should use interactive content because it drives meaningful engagement, differentiates your content from the competition, and offers the ability to track metrics and measure KPIs.
1. Gain Deeper Audience Insights
Many companies still rely heavily on static content, such as PDFs. The problem with this form of content is that it is impossible to measure or track interaction, and once the audience has already downloaded the PDF, new updates cannot be made to that downloaded version. In order to get an updated version, they will have to redownload it, which many users might not do. If content cannot be edited and updated, then outdated information will be shared about the company, which can lead to misunderstandings or a loss of potential sales.
Only 21% of B2B marketers say they successfully track the ROI of their content. This is a huge issue, as using a medium you cannot track will not be any help to your marketing efforts. Tracking this information allows you to know if the content is having an impact on sales and revenue, which can allow the company to make changes and adapt where needed.
With content experiences, your company will be able to gain insights into how people are engaging and interacting with your content. This will then allow you to get an understanding of what content is effective, what drives the most engagement, and what leads to more sales. You will also understand who your prospects are and view their behaviors.
Only 21% of B2B marketers say they are successful at tracking the ROI of their content.
- Content Marketing Institute
2. Drive Meaningful engagement
With so much content constantly being projected, it is becoming increasingly difficult to capture attention. When browsing a website, the viewer typically only spends about 5 seconds until they click off. In dense channels of digital content, only the best content will be noticed and grab attention.
For digital content to be effective and successful, it needs to meet the expectations of B2B users. It needs to be clear and easy to understand, easily accessible, engaging, and interactive. It must also have many visuals and be visually appealing to the user. 91% of B2B users prefer to consume interactive and visual content, which leads to a more meaningful content exploration process. Providing an interactive content experience creates a personal encounter with the content that is more memorable than simple, mundane websites, resulting in a more positive experience.
91% of B2B buyers prefer to consume interactive and visual content.
- DemandGen Report
3. Achieve Stronger Differentiation
Every company wants to create and deliver digital content that is current and will attract more viewers than its competitors. However, many ideas for the content have been repeated or overused, resulting in content that all looks and feels the same, even if it is for different companies. It is hard to determine what makes a company better than the rest when its content is the same.
Companies need to create a sense of differentiation in order to stand out and achieve more growth. This is where interactive content experiences come into play. Rather than just throwing information at your audience and hoping they absorb it, content experiences allow your audience to interact with your company and create new connections. All customer interactions should be memorable and enjoyable to keep your users engaged with exceptional branded experiences.
High-growth companies are three times more likely to have a strong differentiation strategy.
- Hinge Marketing Report
4. Create better sales and marketing alignment
Static content keeps all engagement information a secret. The only measurable thing is how many downloads there are. However, this does not tell you much, as someone may download your white paper, but never even look at it. The number of downloads does not offer any information about the quality, the engagement, or the interests of the viewers.
Information from tracking and measuring interactive content experiences can then be passed along to the sales team. If they know what is most engaging for the users then they will know what leads to the most sales. They can then utilize this information to continue to enhance engagement and find out the best strategies to meet users at their point of interest and increase sales.
Salespeople can gather an instant, contextual understanding of every content asset their lead has experienced, right from their CRM.
5. Create Brand Loyalty
Using interactive content experiences allows the user to find accurate information about your brand in an easy yet entertaining way. This positive user experience forms a strong relationship between the user and the brand. Similarly, the user trusts the content and that the information is accurate, and therefore will spend more time on the website.
Interactive content experiences help create a good impression of your company, which will create a sense of value around it and persuade more users to choose your brand over competitors. It stands out from the rest and offers experiences that other companies do not offer.
6. MOBILE-FRIENDLY
Interactive content is much more compatible with all devices, including mobile, not just computers. This is not always the case with static content, like PDFs. When opening a PDF on a mobile device, it does not convert to fit the screen and makes it difficult for the user to use it effectively and find what they are looking for.
With interactive content, it is easily converted to fit the screen of any size device, so each user can have the most positive interactive experience possible. This is important because if the information is not properly displayed to the users and they are unable to easily access it, then they will not stay on the website, and will find another company that can provide what they need instead.
Interactive Content Examples:
- Videos
- Polls/ Surveys
- Quizzes/Tests
- Games
- Interactive calculators
- Multi-touch photos/ videos
- Live chats
- Infographics
- Virtual reality
- Augmented reality
sources: Foleon.com
