We live in a visual world. Studies show that our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text. It’s no wonder video content and visual-first platforms like Instagram and TikTok have exploded in popularity.
However, simply creating eye-catching visuals is no longer enough to truly capture attention and drive engagement with today’s distractible audiences. With ever-shortening attention spans, content needs to be not just visually appealing, but interactive and stimulating.
Interactive content refers to any digital media designed to react to inputs and behaviors from the viewer. Unlike static content which is passively consumed, interactive pieces allow the consumer to engage on a deeper level.
Incorporating interactivity into visual content holds massive potential for boosting engagement. But what are some of the most effective formats? And how can you implement interactive content strategies tailored for your brand and goals?
Let’s explore some key options and best practices.
Polls and Quizzes Add a Compelling Element of Discovery
Polls and quizzes have become widely used interactive formats thanks to their simplicity. Options like SurveyMonkey and Typeform make it easy for anyone to create and share polls, quizzes, questionnaires and assessments.
Audiences love these because they present discovery and surprise. The act of answering questions and instantly seeing results taps into our innate curiosity. And our culture’s obsession with “quizzes” shows no signs of waning.
Brands across industries can incorporate polls and quizzes in social posts, emails, landing pages, and ads. For example, Buzzfeed’s ubiquitous quizzes, designed more for shareability than accuracy, leveraged our obsession with personality tests into enormous growth.
Infographics That Invite Further Investigation
Infographics remain one of the most popular visual formats to present complex information quickly. But rather than overloading readers with paragraphs of text and stats, interactive infographics turn the experience into an exploration.
Embedding clickable elements allows users to dive deeper into data points and narratives that interest them, rather than following a rigid path. Venngage, Piktochart, and Canva present easy drag-and-drop tools for creating infographics with interactive layers built in.
Say you wanted to create an infographic on global coffee consumption trends. Static designs would simply display facts and figures. An interactive version could allow clicking on a country to pull up more detailed consumption data, coffee imports/exports, and related economic impacts. This level of customization and discovery is far more engaging.
Videos That React and Respond
While video remains the most engaging form of content, even the slickest produced video delivered through a standard YouTube link can underwhelm modern viewers accustomed to interaction.
Interactive video allows the viewer to shape their own experience – whether choosing their own path through a story, accessing supplementary info, or customizing elements to their preferences.
Services like Rapt Media and Wirewax incorporate various interactive elements such as:
- Hotspots – Clickable overlays linking to other videos, sites or dropdown information
- Buttons – Navigation controls letting viewer decide their own path
- Choices – Selecting options that determine the video flow
- Data personalization – Pulling in viewer names, preferences
- Quizzes, surveys, calculators
- Live chats
For example, a furniture brand could create an interactive video catalog allowing shoppers to click to customize fabric and finish options on products. This makes for a far richer experience than a standard e-commerce product page.
Calculators and Configurators Provide Helpful Self-Service
Many industries deal with complex configurations that can confuse prospective buyers. Calculators and configurators turn this complexity into customized interactivity.
In the software space, Salesforce offers an interactive tool guiding visitors through choosing the right Customer Relationship Management option based on their company size and needs. Insurance providers allow people to enter their details to instantly quote policies.
Product configurators also empower visitor self-service by allowing customization of options before buying. Australian bed brand Koala’s Mattress Finder asks customers questions on sleep habits and preferences before recommending their best option.
Enabling this level of self-education and customization makes visitors feel engaged with your brand while serving their needs.
Maps That Locate Relevant Information
Interactive maps provide another opportunity to engage audiences with visual information displays. Rather than static location pins or flags, interactive mapped content pulls in customized layers of data.
Think beyond just using Google Maps. Datawrapper provides templates to overlay informational visualizations onto maps. For example, a real estate blog could create a heat map of home price data layered over neighborhood maps. Clickable pins could link to available home listings integrated from MLS feeds.
Nonprofits also leverage interactive mapping to great effect by plotting donation data, social media followers, website visitors etc by location – turning dry data into engaging spatial narratives. The WHO’s COVID-19 situation dashboards made heavy use of interactive global and regional maps tracking the pandemic’s spread to great effect.
Immerse Audiences Deeper with Interactive Content
While the formats described present a breadth of options, the keys to success remain fairly universal across interactive content types:
Make it intrinsically relevant and beneficial – Interactive content should educate, assist or entertain users in some helpful way rather than existing as a novelty. Quizzes that reveal useful self-insights will be shared more than a generic “What’s your power animal?” type. Location-based interactive content works best for travel blogs, real estate sites, and other location-centric businesses.
Prioritize ease of use – Interactivity should always simplify and amplify understanding, not complicate it through overly complex functions. Use clear navigation, labels and menus.
Monitor performance rigorously – With so many configurable elements at play, interactive content requires rigorous testing and data analysis to determine what is resonating best with your audiences. This is facilitated using web analytics tools and unique event tracking.
Promote discovery – Optimizing for SEO and unique descriptors helps audiences find your interactive content via search and expands influence beyond just existing traffic.
The statistics show incorporating richer interactive and visual content has tangible business impacts through greater qualified traffic, search visibility, conversions and returns from ad spend.
Key metrics to prioritize include:
- Time spent engaging with content (ideally over 2 minutes)
- Click depth (how deep visitors scroll/engage before leaving)
- Return visitors percentage
- Social shares
- Sales conversions
Transitioning from purely static information delivery necessitates more work. But the level of engagement and brand differentiation interactive content facilitates is increasingly a necessity to thriving in an ruthless digital landscape dominated by visual platforms and mobile devices.
While chasing engagement for its own sake often comes off disingenuous, strategic interactivity grounded in helping audiences taps into content marketing principles just as relevant today. Work to inform, assist, entertain and build community around shared interests through compelling digital experiences.
The platforms and possibilities will only continue evolving – work to keep pace with user expectations, and your content will capture share of voice faster than you can hit refresh.
