As marketers, we are always looking for newer and more effective ways to attract, engage, and convert more customers. Video content has done a lot to help us achieve our goals in this regard. But, an even better way to generate leads is by using interactive content.
Although it's not a new concept, interactive content is exploding in popularity as an effective way to capture the attention of customers.
According to Hubspot, 62% of B2B marketers use interactive content, and that number grows with each passing year. This type of content boasts an impressive 70% conversion rate.
In this article, we are going to look at all the reasons why interactive content is the next big thing for lead generation so you can implement it into your future marketing strategies.
But first, the basics:
What is Interactive Content?
Interactive content is content that requires the audience to participate, as opposed to passively reading, listening, or watching.
This type of content includes things like:
✓ Calculators
✓ Contests
✓ Surveys and Quizzes
✓ Games
✓ Assessments
✓ Interactive Infographics
✓ Interactive Whitepapers
...and more.
Since a user must interact with a page for any action to take place, this increases user engagement and ensures that you maintain the attention of your audience in a more interesting way.
Ultimately, the idea behind interactive content is to offer your audience a richer and more entertaining experience to keep them interested in your business’s online courses, products, services, or solutions.
Why is Interactive Content Important?
The reason interactive content has become so important is that these days, it's no longer enough to simply have high-quality content on your blog.
We live in an age where your audience swipes, taps, and clicks to quickly find the information they need online. If your content isn’t instantly appealing and engaging, you will lose their attention.
This, in turn, has caused marketing to become very competitive, and it’s also the reason why interactive content is perfect to help you drive great results from your marketing efforts.
Reasons Why Interactive Content is Important
It’s unique and immersive: Interactive content is interesting and helps you capture and keep the attention of your target audience.
It builds awareness and backlinks: interactive content is so unique that it builds distinct awareness and backlinks, improving your authority and traffic.
It makes your blog stand out: In order to compete successfully, your blog needs to stand out while adapting according to the desires and interests of your audience.
It provides immense value: With interactive content, you have the perfect tool to help you provide value to your audience in a way that is highly engaging.
It’s simple to create: You don't necessarily have to be skilled or experienced in emerging technology in order to leverage the power of interactive content.
It allows for easy data collection: The tools that you use for creating interactive content also allow you to gather and analyze data which helps you draw conclusions to inform you marketing strategies and help you provide a better customer experience.
Giving Your Lead Generation a Competitive Edge
At this point, you may be wondering if interactive content really is more effective than non interactive content in obtaining leads.
The fact is, interactive content gives lead generation a competitive edge over non-interactive content in many ways.
In addition to the many benefits outlined above, interactive content is an innovative tactic that facilitates the process of building stronger connections with your customers at a time when the attention span of human beings is at an all-time low.
When competing with tons of other content and materials online to capture your audience's extremely short attention spans, interactive content will give you a distinctive edge over your rivals who are using non-interactive content.
According to a survey conducted by the Content Marketing Institute, 87% of B2B marketing professionals agree that interactive features and content help to capture and retain the user's attention much more than traditional, static content.
The truth is, while video is great for brands and can really build a relationship with your following and become an additional revenue stream if you’re using YouTube, it’s just not as successful with lead gen as interactive content.
Types of Interactive Content That Generates Leads
The longer you manage to retain the attention of your audience, the higher the chances that you will be able to convince them to become customers.
As you have seen so far, interactive content can help you do just that by attracting and engaging your audience.
Listed below are five types of interactive content that have been proven to be extremely effective for generating leads.
1. Calculators
Interactive calculators are versatile interactive content that offers an efficient, cost-effective means of gathering information. You can use them on landing pages at the top of the funnel, or at the bottom, depending on your buyer personas and the purpose of the campaign.
Using a calculator like the one below helps you present numbers in a way that makes users more likely to be interested as they are able to visualize the improvements that can be made.
For example, the water intake calculator below can be used to help consumers determine if they are drinking enough water each day.
It can be used together with a call to action on the webpage to offer ways to help visitors maintain a healthy daily water intake (or something else of that nature).
2. Contests
Another effective way to use interactive content to generate leads is by using contests and giveaways.
This type of content generates high levels of user engagement and is ideal for use during the early stages of the customer’s buying journey.
You can create any type of contest that will resonate with your target audience. For instance, you can have:
A photo or video contest
A contest for nominating friends to participate
A contest for votes
...and so on.
The idea behind it is to ask people to take some kind of action so they can compete for a specific prize offered by your business.
This is a timeless and effective tactic that many businesses use to strengthen their social media presence and increase their brand awareness along with using social media management tools. In addition, if used correctly, contests can really help to compliment a Linkedin lead generation strategy if you’re a BSB company.
Below is an example of a social media contest created by FitNerd:
3. Surveys and Quizzes
There's a reason why quizzes and surveys dominate on all social media platforms. When well designed, they offer an easy and convenient way to boost your interactive marketing strategy.
You can use them in a fun way to match your potential customers with specific products and services from your business. You can also use quizzes and surveys in conjunction with other types of interactive content.
On Facebook, in particular, many businesses use quizzes to expand their reach and get free publicity. To give your quiz a higher chance of going viral, give users a chance for sharing their results on various social platforms when they get to the end of the quiz.
By sharing your quiz, they will also encourage others in their networks to take the quiz, as well. This will result in even more free publicity for your business.
Here is an example of a viral quiz from BuzzSumo:
4. Games
Using games as part of your lead generation strategy can be extremely effective because gamification doesn't feel like advertising. It allows you to get your message across without being too pushy or salesy, and it’s one of the main reasons why this type of interactive content is valuable in lead generation.
Games are a great way to get the first contact without the need to go very deep into technical terms. They make the approach between the brand and the user simpler and more fun.
Just take the example of the massively popular game, Pokémon Go, which illustrates the way communication is revolutionizing how marketers reach their prospects and leads.
When using this tactic in your interactive marketing, make sure the game is interesting enough to keep your audience playing.
Keep sales messaging light - better yet, avoid it entirely.
Focus on giving your users something they love, and they will begin to trust and develop stronger confidence in your brand. When that happens, you will find it a lot easier to make the sale.
5. Interactive Infographics
Although static infographics are quite efficient in attracting and holding the attention of users, making them interactive will help you get even more conversions.
You can create infographics that allow users to configure the content with subjects that they find most interesting. You might even allow them to choose the elements that appear in each image.
Doing this encourages greater user engagement, helping you to share a lot of relevant and compelling information with your audience.
With an interactive infographic, users can click on different parts and engage with the various elements of the design, giving you many opportunities to categorize and systematically reveal a ton of fascinating details along the way.
Here is an example of an interactive infographic on how to prepare for a biological threat:
Summary
The examples above are just five of the many types of interactive content that you can use. There are many more that your business can benefit from that will also provide additional monthly revenue.
Interactive marketing is fast growing into the new industry standard, so implement these tactics into your overall content marketing strategy to avoid getting left behind.
Use a tool like involve.me to create high-quality, educational, and entertaining content to help you attract, engage, and convert your audience.
Author
Ron Stefanski is an internet entrepreneur and marketing professor who has a passion for helping people create and market their own online business. You can learn more about Ron by visiting OneHourProfessor.com.
You can also connect with him on YouTube or Linkedin, or on his Facebook Community.
