Content marketing is almost a victim of its own success. Static content abounds on the web, adding to the fire hose of information prospective customers sift through daily.
Even if they look for information on a specific topic, searchers are likely to find site after site filled with textual information.
There’s nothing wrong with that, except it’s getting harder and harder to stand out in this crowded field.
There is one other issue: Static content is a one-way street. Just as we used to say about television commercials and other marketing ploys, static content doesn’t invite engagement beyond providing information for the downloadable copy.
Interactive content demands engagement. With the right interactive content, your business can rise above the haystacks of eBooks and articles while providing an entertaining, educational experience for your prospects and nabbing more targeted data for you.
What’s Interactive Content?
Interactive content is a two-way street; it adjusts to the prospect’s behavior and personalizes the experience to that specific buyer.
In the meantime, you’re learning more about that prospect’s business than an email address. In fact, you’re learning more about each customer’s business than you ever did with your case studies and podcasts.
Examples of interactive content include:
- Quizzes
- Polls
- Assessments
- Surveys
- Value Calculators
Interactive content is anything that creates a dialogue between your company and your potential customers. Statistics show the edge interactive content has over static content, including:
- A 50% increase in click rate
- A 55% increase in conversion rate
- An 80% increase in completion rate
- A 13% increase in share rate
Additionally, pageviews increase from four to five times that of static content. What do more views and higher conversions lead to? More leads at the top of the funnel.
What Does it Do?
Interactive content is an invaluable tool in four areas:
- Engagement with buyers
- Obtaining information
- Discovering or defining a problem
- Benchmarking
The goal of interactive content is to provide a “unique personal experience not found with static content.” It allows prospects to use their own data to receive customized output; it can also be used to answer questions or perform diagnostic tests.
Interactive Content Tools
You have probably seen interactive content every day online. It seems especially prominent on social media, but more sellers are using the technique to generate leads and conversions.
How can you build interactive content without spending a fortune in time and money? There are a variety of tools available to help you create interactive content without hiring a designer or programmer.
1. Ceros is a drag-and-drop application you can use to incorporate video and interactive buttons to help guide prospects through your material to improve education.
Ceros can create interactive
- Infographics
- Nanosites
- Ebooks
- Lookbooks
- Catalogs
2. ContentTools is similar to Ceros in that you can use it to build polls, rankers, contests, and “caption this” content.
3. Brackify is a little different. This application can be used to create brackets like those you use in sports contests. With some creativity, you and your prospect can create and fill in brackets specific to your industry, process, or product.
Now I’m not saying all content should be interactive. There is room for every tool in the marketing toolbox, including static content.
What I am saying is that adding calculators, assessments, and other tools that keep your prospect engaged in a dialog, providing both you and the prospect value, is a great way to generate leads that are more sales-ready than ever.
Try Out Interactive Content for Yourself
I invite you to try ROI Selling’s interactive content so that you can get a sense of what’s been missing from your own marketing arsenal.
