Digital marketing succeeds when viewers consume your content and act on it. In Part 1 of this series, we take a look at content marketing trends for 2017 with a focus on interactive content.
Most marketers report that interactive content converts at a higher rate than static content. Therefore, it only makes sense to incorporate some interactive content on your website.
Interactive content comes in many forms: calculators, contests, quizzes, polls etc. It engages visitors by asking them to answer questions, make choices or give an opinion. Consequently, it captures their attention and makes them think and respond to a cue.
Content Marketing Trends For 2017
The real measure of the success of any form of marketing is results. Businesses count email queries, phone calls, discount codes used in purchases and overall sales. Marketers also take note of shares, clicks and views.
Engagement
It’s hard to overstate how important engagement is. Engagement builds brand affinity. This leads to building relationships that lead to trust which leads to sales. In other words,
building engagement leads to building your business.
One of the toughest challenges in content marketing is to engage your audience. Start by having an interesting blog that informs and/or entertains. Finally, add interactive content and you have a winning combination that keeps your audience engaged.
Interactive Content
Some websites are strictly geared to providing entertainment and they raise money by selling ad space on their sites. However, the challenge is to find a way to incorporate interactive content that complements your business model. Not all interactive content is suited to every type of business. Some examples of interactive content are:
Assessments
Assessments, also called personality tests, deliver customized content based on how a user answers a series of questions. They can help move prospects through sales processes or offer more personalized information.
Quizzes
Quizzes are popular and have a wide appeal. They can be used to gather information about your visitors and help shape your marketing efforts. A quiz can help you figure out which questions your audience is trying to answer or which pain points are they trying to resolve.
Contests
Contests can be used in almost any business to increase engagement, lure customers and gather customer data.
A contest can also be created to gather useful and engaging user-generated content.
Galleries
Visual marketing has a big impact. Because the brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text, you can use image galleries to engage viewers quickly. Therefore, use galleries to showcase your products, highlight special events and interesting customer examples from your contests.
Shopping Cart
A shopping cart allows users to register and place orders online. It is a convenience that will increase sales and boost customer retention. It's important that you make it as easy as possible for your customers to make their purchases. You should simplify the buying and checkout process and make sure there are no unexpected costs during checkout. Complicated checkout procedures and unexpected costs are the main causes of cart abandonment.
Comments And Reviews
Your website should allow visitors to share views, give an opinion and interact freely. This builds a sense of community and encourages visitors to return to the website.
Content Marketing Trends For 2017 – Conclusion
We will see much more interactive content online in 2017. The question is, how will you best take advantage of it? Stay tuned for Part 2 when we take a look at a very successful online merchant and
see how this major retailer is using interactive content to sell billions of dollars of merchandise every year.