Interactive Content and Why It’s Important
Business relationships start with an interaction. Whether it’s an in-person interaction, online interaction, phone interaction, or even competitive interaction, your relationships begin, and can be strengthened by those interactions.
In this age of social distancing, a term that has become popular with the onset of the coronavirus, interactions are becoming more and more necessary, wanted and, in some cases, craved.
One way to simulate an interaction with your website visitors is through interactive content.
What is interactive content?
If we break down each word, definitionally, we get the following:
- Interactive as an adjective is acting with each other.
- Content as a noun is the principal substance (such as written matter, illustrations, or music) offered by a website.
When taken together, then, interactive content would mean “acting with the principal substance offered by a website”. More simply put: relevant and real-time interactions with content that is customized to each visitor based on how they are engaged on your website. The interactive content displayed is specific to the website pages visited.
Interactive content enhances and prolongs the interaction your visitors have with your website, keeping them engaged longer. According to contently, “When your data shows that people stay with your content and come back for more, regularly, that signals they may be ready to progress from the top of the marketing funnel to the middle.”
Why is Interactive Content important?
A visitor who stays engaged on your website is an indication that your content or products are appealing to your visitors. They are intrigued by the content, are finding the products or services they are searching for, or are finding answers to their questions According to quicksprout, Google ranks search results based on “dwell time” spent on your website.
Dwell time is the amount of time a visitor spends on your site after they’ve clicked a link on a search results page.
The longer your visitors stay on your site, the better your Google ranking. The better your Google ranking, the more visitors you get. The more visitors you get, the more opportunities you have to interact with them, strengthening your business relationship. As you strengthen your business relationship, your visitors are moving further through the marketing funnel. As they move through the funnel, you have a greater opportunity to reach your ultimate goal: converting them into a customer.
What are some examples of interactive content?
Interactive content comes in many different forms. You should test various options prior to finalizing what works best to meet your business strategies. When choosing which forms of interactive content to test, always keep your ultimate goal in mind: prolong the interaction your visitors have with your website, keeping them engaged longer. Some examples of interactive content that can be presented on your website are:
- Quizzes
- Trending Products
- Engagement Widgets
- Recommendations
- Reviews
- Interactive e-Books
- Surveys
While it may be difficult to interact in the same way we used to pre-coronavirus, it’s not impossible to continue to a meaningful relationship through interactive content on your website.
