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In today’s day and age, interactive posts are the new kid on the block. They’re fun, engaging, and come in many variants – there’s an interactive post for every business! No matter your device, interactive posts can be viewed and interacted with, which makes them a highly accessible media form.
Plus, social media is highly saturated with content, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to be heard above the crowd. The visual appeal of your posts matters, but it is often not enough by itself to get the attention of serial scrollers.
So, what’s the solution?
Interactive posts.
In case you’ve never heard of these nifty, technological advances in content, we’re about to broaden your mind. Without further ado, here are 5 quick ways you can engage your audience – no matter your business – with interactive posts.
First – what are interactive posts?
Interactive posts are ones that ask and motivate viewers to do something, and actively engage with the content being presented. Viewers of an interactive post may be asked to choose between two options (much like in a choose-your-own-adventure story presented in an interactive PDF), provide an opinion, or explore an image to access its text or other resources.
For instance, Instagram’s swipe-up feature is a simple example of big companies putting interactivity into practice. Viewers who want to see the full content being advertised in an Instagram story simply swipe up to do so, and this simple action reinforces the idea to viewers that they are choosing to be redirected.
Is it worth switching to interactive posts?
The short answer is yes, and the why is supported by a long list of market studies. Explore the interactive image below to learn about a few key reasons:
In summary, interactive posts will help you:
- Differentiate your business from others
- Educate your buyers
- Keep your content relevant
- Increase overall engagement
- Nurture leads
Examples of interactive posts
The applications for interactivity are infinite and can be as simple as adding a button to an image or as complex as the construction of an escape game post. Here are a few we’d recommend considering if you’re looking to incorporate interactive posts into your marketing strategy.
1. Interactive Infographics
About 10 years ago, infographics rose to prominence as they enjoyed a moment as the new, cool kid of the digital scene. Just when their ubiquity started to take the edge off of how eye-catching they were to consumers, the interactive infographic emerged to refresh the powerful trend.
Interactive infographics are a great way to prioritize the most important statistics and pieces of information. You can tuck lesser statistics away into windows that pop up only when the viewer engages with a certain element or button, keeping the visuals clean and easy to digest.
You can also create infographics that display different sets of information as the viewer navigates through them. This kind of interactivity also works well with maps.
Here’s a simple example from a Twitter post explaining why clients should position their content in layers when creating business presentations. It’s more interesting than a static image, right?
2. Polls and Quizzes
Nothing works quite like a good poll or quiz, and the reason is simple. People love sharing their opinion. It makes them feel heard and important, which is a great way to leave potential clients feeling.
Polls should be accessible and easy to participate in. Their accessibility depends on how easy it is for them to have an opinion and you can lower barriers to participation by ensuring that what you’re asking is easy for your audience to have an opinion on.
You may choose to post a poll on something closely related to your business, or you may opt for something on the sillier end of things. If you’re looking to simply increase engagement, questions like “What’s the best barbeque ingredient?” is a better option on Independence Day than something that requires deep thought.
As for quizzes, here’s one mind-blowing piece of information for you. In 2013, the most-read story on the New York Times’ website was… an interactive quiz. Think about that for a second. 2013 was the year Obama began his second term as president and the pope resigned, and what won out was an interactive quiz showing people their personal dialect map.
Some social media platforms have the ability to create polls built into their interface. Here’s an example of a simple Twitter poll:
When it comes to fast food, which burger chain is your go-to favorite? #poll
— Everyday Health (@EverydayHealth) March 11, 2018
And if you want to make quizzes the right way, you’ll need a pro tool to do it.
Interact Quiz Builder offers a free version of their tool that is robust and the best on the market. Learn more by reading this Interact Quiz review here.
3. Interactive Videos
Videos are a popular engagement tool for a reason; one study found that when on a company’s website, 80% of online visitors watch a video while only 20% read the content.
Interactive videos are the next step, but despite their effectiveness, there’s one common hangup when it comes to their creation. Interactive videos are generally on the pricier side of the content spectrum.
If your budget is limited, interactive video presentations can provide a good solution. They can be made for free and achieve a video effect through automatic page transitions and animations.
Here’s an example of a travel company’s video presentation:
Have your audience choose between options in the middle of your video presentation to determine what they see next or hover over different elements to see additional information along the way. This small added opportunity for engagement can make a world of difference.
4. Calculators and Measurement Tools
Calculators and similar measurement tools allow your audience to approach your product without having to reach out to anyone on your team. You can set up calculators to provide quotes to potential clients, to show them how much they’ll be saving with your product, and to measure the positive impact your service will have on their lives.
Tools like Grid can help you create measurement tools that people can try for themselves without feeling beholden to your company too soon in the process. If you haven’t used one before, we’re sure you’ll quickly understand why they’re a go-to tool for so many businesses.
If you’re short on time, you can simply create a static image that links to your calculator. Here’s an example of that shortcut in action:
5. Interactive eBooks
Your post will keep things short and sweet, but by drawing inspiration from an ebook format, you can provide your audience with a lot of information in a small space. One thing ebooks do exceptionally well is organizing their information, dividing it into units or chapters.
You can create multi-page posts on Instagram or insert multi-page creations on Twitter and Facebook to achieve a similar dividing and organizing effect. Your audience will thank you for the ease of navigation and will enjoy the storybook effect you achieve with this format. Make sure you remember not to saturate your audience with too much information though. We want posts that are ebook-inspired and not manuals.
Here’s an example of an interactive ebook style report, that cleverly uses augmented reality to really engage the viewer:
Need help creating interactive posts?
Twine’s community of 410,000+ highly skilled freelancers can take the guesswork out of creating interactive posts and other kinds of content. This is a great option if you’d like to put your message in the hands of an expert. Harness the power of interactive marketing for your message while saving yourself time and effort.
Or fancy using an online tool?
Genially’s freemium all-in-one tool for creating interactive and animated marketing content is an accessible option for making your posts interactive.
It allows you to insert all kinds of external content such as YouTube videos, images, audio, Google maps, PDFs, and gifs into your posts – leaving them in plain view, or tucking them away in spaces opened by viewer-interacted buttons.
You can insert your interactive creations directly onto several social platforms using just their URL. Sign up for a free account to try the tool for yourself!
Wrapping Up
If you haven’t tried interactive posts for your social platforms yet, now is the time, and the options are limitless. Try starting with a simple interactive addition to your posts, and see how your audience responds. An interactive infographic or image can be a good place to start, before moving onto more animated or complex formats. Just be sure to double-check that you’re using the best website builder, so your site looks good with all the interactive features you add!
Remember: You can’t get different results by doing what you’ve always done. Take the leap to interactive posts, even if that means starting with small changes to your current posting plan. Trust us: you’ll be glad you did.
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