The days of passive content are over. Say goodbye to your static posts and paragraph-riddled websites. The future of content is interactive, and the brands that lean into it now are the ones who'll dominate their industries.
Interactive content is digital media that requires active engagement from the audience -- as opposed to passive consumption of text, images, or video. Rather than simply reading, watching, or listening, your audience is making choices, responding, and engaging in a true back-and-forth with the content.
This type of content is super flexible and can run the gamut from something as simple as a poll to an elaborate choose-your-own-adventure style experience. Let's look at a few examples.
When it comes to content, there's always a tension between quality and quantity. For the past several years, quantity won out. Brands produced as much content as humanly (and robotically) possible, pumping out blog posts, social content, and YouTube videos in a relentless stream of information and entertainment.
But audiences are getting smarter. The bar for content quality has never been higher. Your audiences expect engaging, compelling, and entertaining content. At this point, it's often the minimum bar to get their attention at all.
That's why today's audiences favor high-quality, interactive content over stale and dull content. According to Ceros,
"66% of Marketers agree that over the next 12 months, having the right mix of content types in place will become more important."
Cutting-edge interactive content is dominating traditional formats simply because it's:
Gamification is the practice of using game design elements in non-game contexts. Brands can use gamification in everything from their website to their social media to their email marketing. The key is to turn something mundane into something exciting, rewarding, and fun.
Examples of gamification include:
Personalization is a proven marketing strategy that doesn't get old. Audiences consistently respond better to content that feels like it was created just for them. In fact, personalization can increase the performance of any content in any format.
You can use personalization in interactive content by including assessments and quizzes that let the audience self-segment. You can also create personalized interactive video experiences that automatically adapt to user choices. The more personalized and flexible your content is, the more useful it becomes to more potential customers.
Choose your own adventure storytelling has been around for decades, but the concept is especially exciting in video. By creating a choose-your-own-adventure video experience, you let your audience drive the narrative. This is especially useful for demonstrating the capabilities of your product, as you can use the adventure style to lead different audiences to the specific features that appeal most to them.
Netflix's Bandersnatch and interactive video experiences from innovative brands like This is Service Design Doing are changing the way storytelling works, leading the way for this interactive video content revolution.
Quizzes, polls, and surveys are classic interactive content, and for good reason. They're versatile, they provide unique value to the audience, and they collect priceless data for your brand.
Some brands, like the New York Times, have achieved viral success with quiz content that generates entertainment by testing the knowledge of their audience. Others use polls to create personalized listicles that feature only the items the user has selected.
Contests and giveaways are a tried and tested form of interactive content. When done right, they can massively boost your brand awareness, generate leads, and increase social engagement. Even a simple giveaway, in which participants submit their email to enter, can generate thousands of leads in a very short period of time.
Infographics are extremely popular. They're shareable, easily digestible, and help people understand complex concepts. But interactive infographics take the format even further. Rather than simply displaying data or information, interactive infographics allow the viewer to drill down into the content to get more granular data and information. They also add animation and visual storytelling elements that help to make complex ideas even more memorable and engaging.
Calculators and configurators are two forms of interactive content that are especially useful for brands with complex products and services that involve multiple variables. By giving your audience a tool that helps them explore or configure your products -- or understand how much they're going to cost -- you help them to understand the value of what you have to offer.
This kind of interactive content can reduce the friction in the buyer's journey, moving customers from consideration to decision much faster than passive content.
Video is already one of the most engaging forms of content on the internet. So interactive video takes engagement to an entirely new level. Rather than passively watching a brand-produced video, the audience gets to participate in the experience.
Companies like WIREWAX and Adventr are leading the way with interactive video tools that let brands add clickable hotspots, branching narratives, and personalization to their video content. This kind of interactive video experience is becoming increasingly common across eCommerce, B2B marketing, and digital education.
Augmented and virtual reality are still on the cutting edge of marketing, but they represent an enormous opportunity for brands that have products and services that can benefit from these immersive experiences. They create an entirely new level of immersion and engagement.
For example, using augmented reality, a furniture brand can let customers preview how a piece of furniture would look in their home before buying it. By using virtual reality, a travel brand can let users experience their destinations before booking.
User-generated content is any content that your audience creates about you. It's a powerful form of social proof, and it's become an increasingly important part of many brands' content strategies. But you can also leverage user-generated content as a form of interactive content, by encouraging your audience to create and share content about your brand.
This is a great way to create a sense of community and participation around your brand. It also creates a source of unique, authentic content that can be used across your marketing channels.
Interactive content is the future of brand engagement. It's more memorable, more shareable, and more personalized than passive content. And it's becoming increasingly accessible and affordable for brands of all sizes.
If you're looking to take your content strategy to the next level and stand out from your competitors, interactive content is the way to go. Start experimenting with some of the strategies above and see what resonates with your audience.
Julian Tillotson is the Founder & CEO of INDIRAP, a full-service video production and creative strategy agency based in Chicago, IL. With 10+ years of experience, INDIRAP has delivered 20,000+ videos to 900+ clients across 40+ industries, making it one of North America's leading digital creative agencies.
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