How to Engage & Inspire With Interactive Content Marketing

Easy Ways to Stand Out from the Competition Using Interactive Content Marketing
I'm sure you've heard the old adage "Content is king." While that's certainly true, it's not enough anymore to simply write a text-rich blog post and expect engagement to happen.

According to a study by Microsoft, the average human has an attention span of eight seconds. Eight seconds! You need to attract your readers' or followers' attention and require their active engagement quickly.

That can easily be done with something called interactive content marketing.

While pieces like blog articles and eBooks are considered passive content, interactive content requires the person to actively engage with the content, whether that's by swiping, tapping, answering a question...

In this article, I'm providing 3 ideas you can use to attract your audience's attention and stand out from your competitors.

Some of you may remember those "choose your own adventure" books from childhood. The TV show Black Mirror did an incredibly unique episode called "Bandersnatch" that let you choose game designer Stefan's moves and his ultimate fate.

While you're probably not going to go that far with your marketing videos, one easy interactive marketing tool is having a Facebook Live where you answer questions and take comments virtually.

Here's an example. During episodes of my Tea Time Tips on Facebook, I ask questions and encourage my viewers to comment. They can also ask questions that I answer live in the video.

It's a fun and simple two-way conversation that gets everyone involved with the episode versus me just talking "at" my followers.

Polls and Questions
These are great interactive social media marketing tools. Let's start with polls. I'm going to go with a Facebook example again, because it's so easy to create a poll while you're making up your post. Here's how:

In addition to polls, another way to easily encourage engagement is by asking a question in your news feed on Facebook.

While it's a good idea to keep your question relevant to your business, go ahead and have some fun with it! You want your audience to be motivated and excited to answer your question, whatever that might be.

Here's an example from one of our clients who owns Malarys Fashion Network, a clothing boutique in Cloverdale, BC. Yvonne framed a fashion-related in a lighthearted way on her Facebook page and got a high number of engagements, including 20 comments.

To do this well, think about some interesting topics that relate to your business. Here are a couple of generic prompts that could help:

• Can you recommend some good [your product or service category] books this summer?
• What business advice would you give yourself when you were just starting out?
• If you could run your business in any period in history, when would it be and why?

Infographics
Infographics engaging visuals to communicate stats or other information quickly and clearly. Neil Patel did a great article back in 2014 on the power of infographics. It's still relevant today, and you can read it on our blog.

However, it's time to step up your infographics game with interactive elements. It's true that it takes more time and effort to create a two-way infographic instead of a static one. But if it's relevant to your business and captivates your audience, the traffic, engagement and social shares you get (which will link back to your site) will be well worth it.

There are numerous sites out there that allow you to create infographics from a template, or you can hire a professional graphic design company to create them for you.

Here's an infographic Google did to explain the complex topic "How search works." You can interact with various elements to move you through the content, which is much more interesting than a long page of text.

Now that we've gone over some ways that you can create these unique content marketing pieces, let's look at some of the benefits.

I talked a bit about it increasing engagement: you share an interesting and fun piece of content and users are more likely to interact with it and share it themselves.

In addition to increased user engagement, here are 3 other ways that interactive marketing tools can be beneficial:

They can collect data for you.
As marketers we rely on data to make decisions that will benefit our business. It can be a challenge to collect behavioural data by asking questions outright for a few reasons: Customers are extremely wary of these tactics and it's not fun!

(When's the last time you filled out one of those surveys a website randomly asked you, just because?)

By using a poll or engaging question, you can learn more about your audience's likes and dislikes. If you're inviting your audience to interact with an infographic, you can gain valuable insights by looking at where they navigate and click.

They increase clicks and conversions.
As a small business owner, you should always be looking for ways to engage with potential clients. It can be a real challenge to get someone to download your eBook or to convert on a landing page on your website.

That's where interactive content comes in. It can boost your click-throughs and conversion rates big-time. TheContent Marketing Institute did some case studies of brands that each saw upwards of 50% click through rates when they used it.

Put yourself in your potential customers' shoes: what would you rather click on at the top of the marketing funnel?

A 'Submit' button on a website asking you to provide your email so the business can send you a white paper? Or, a quiz or poll that asks for your opinion on a relevant topic, then asks for your email to send you the answer?

You'll find that many people are much more willing to provide their info if it's presented in an engaging way and it doesn't seem like you're asking.

They build brand loyalty.
When a viewer just reads an article or watches a video, their participation is minimal, and so is their engagement. But content people can interact with is different; it can create deeper relationships.

Research has shown that the more of a relationship a consumer has with a brand, the more likely they are to be loyal long-term customers. You start to be seen as an expert in your area, and people trust you.

And the more people trust you, the more likely they are to buy from you.

The content marketing landscape is always evolving, and you need to be willing to change with the times if you want to be successful.

Expect to see more interactive videos, quizzes, polls, questions, infographics and more; it's time to seriously consider adding these to your marketing tools if you want to stay ahead of the competition.

We know it can be nearly impossible to keep up with your marketing when you've got a business to run!

Susan Friesen, founder of the award-winning web development and digital marketing firm eVision Media, is a Web Specialist, Business & Marketing Consultant, and Social Media Advisor. She works with entrepreneurs who struggle with having the lack of knowledge, skill and support needed to create their online business presence.

As a result of working with Susan and her team, clients feel confident and relieved knowing their online marketing is in trustworthy and caring hands so they can focus on building their business with peace of mind at having a perfect support system in place to guide them every step of the way.

Visit http://www.ultimatewebsiteguide.ca and download your FREE "Ultimate Guide to Improving Your Website's Profitability - 10 Critical Questions You Must Ask to Get Maximum Results".

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Susan_Friesen/260293

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Banner Ads and Pop Up Ads: Which Is Better For Increased Website Traffic?

The internet is full of banner ads for every possible company and product you can imagine. Although many complain about the forms of advertising, there is not much difference in internet advertising and telemarketing phone calls to your home.

The interesting thing is however that web users prefer to be annoyed by internet ads over unexpected phone calls. This acceptance of ads has created a breeding ground for millions of pop-ups and banner ads on the internet. Sites use them individually or together, but some still wonder which is better for increased website traffic. Consumers have offered a response, perhaps not verbally, but with statistics of effectiveness.

Pop-ups are typically seen as annoying advertisements. Those that include blinking lights can even be hazardous to some users with certain medical conditions. They have been considered the most hated form of web advertising available. With pop-ups being so annoying however, consumers may wonder why they are still being used so frequently. The truth is that pop-ups are terribly aggravating, but they are indeed effective overall. For some crazy reason, there are millions of people who actually utilize them when they appear on their screen. This is partially due to many sites using pop-up ads as an excuse and reason for offering free services to site users. They will state that they must use these forms of ads in order to offer the site for free. Users, who don't want to pay, but still want to use the site, will likely accept the excuse without question.

The trouble with pop-up ads these days are that there are many programs on a computer that will not allow pop-ups. This means that when a pop-up is meant to appear on your screen, your installed pop-up blocker program does not allow it to happen and instead blocks the advertisement from reaching you, the user. These programs are very effective most of the time and can cost advertisers a great deal of money if the ad is not reaching the intended target. Advertisers are now coming up with newly programmed pop-ups however that can bypass these blocker programs and still deliver the ads to your screen, whether you like it or not.

Banner ads began to appear on websites in response to the annoyance consumers felt from pop-ups. Advertisers thought that if banner ads were not as bothersome, they may offer even better results than the pop-up ads. Many websites began putting online ads in all available areas of their site. Upon doing so, they soon realized that although banner ads are not typically as bothersome as pop-ups, they are also not as effective. Advertisers began using banner ads less frequently. Many of the banner ads were not as noticeable as an aggressive pop-up ad right in the user's line of vision. Some are off to the side of the screen and out of the direct eye contact.

Some advertisers would rather use banner ads when asked, because they seem more attractive to viewers. This may be more comfortable for the user, but it means something completely different to the advertiser. An advertiser wants their ad to be noticed, even at the user's expense. They would rather annoy the user and get the ads noticed than the ads simply sit being unnoticed. In whole, advertisers were not seeing a large turnout with banner ads, and therefore many sites no longer use them for advertising purposes.

The answer to whether or not pop-ups or banner ads are best really lies with who you speak with. Consumers are more fond of banner ads than aggravating pop-up ads. Advertisers however, will tell you the exact opposite. They both have a place on the internet and their own group of fans. Advertisers will continue to replace banner ads with pop-ups because they are more effective. The power of the choice lies in the hands of the advertisers at this time and until users want to force them to change their ways, the advertisers will continue to support pop-ups over banner ads.

James Savage has created a website that provides excellent online and offline marketing tips. Also, there are many free online training courses that will show you excellent website marketing strategies. To learn more about advertising your website go to https://MyHelpShack.com

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/James_Savage/318337

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