Interactive Content Ideas to Get Found Online
Posted: August 14, 2019 - By Kalena McElroyMost small business owners understand the importance of a strong online presence. In fact, recent research shows that 60% of small businesses have a website. But is that enough for your customers to find you online? Not likely. Today’s customers have access to an abundance of online content each day and often experience information overload.
Boost your small business’s visibility with interactive content
So what else can small business owners do to connect with online customers? Interactive content is a proven way to heighten engagement online. Customer research has revealed that 91% of people want more visual and interactive content. And three excellent approaches to use are infographics, giveaways, and live video.
Infographics
If you’ve gone through the effort to create a strong content piece, you should consider ways to repurpose it. Creating infographics can be an excellent opportunity to get extra mileage out of your content.
The best infographics feature eye-catching graphics and compelling, number-rich content. With infographics, you can present ideas in a quick and easy-to-understand way. And you’ll appeal to customers who prefer visual content.
Start by repurposing any evergreen content into infographics. Your evergreen content includes pieces that have relevance and value long after their publication date. Also, study your web statistics or social shares and identify which content pieces are most popular. Determine if you can remove any ideas that may date the content and rework into an infographic format.
Here’s another tip: You can take your infographics to the next level by making them interactive. Adding pop-ups or questions to engage your audience and provide insight into audience wants and needs.
Giveaways
Giveaways can generate significant excitement and online buzz about your brand. With social media, it’s easy and inexpensive to run a giveaway. However, you should take care to read the rules and guidelines for running a contest on any social media platform. And remember that these rules can change at any time, so double-check before any giveaway.
Where can you host giveaways? Facebook is an obvious choice. With more than two billion global users, your potential reach is massive. However, you can’t run contests that require users to share contest posts on their own or friends’ timelines or tag friends to enter. You can ask people to like or comment on posts or post on your page.
Instagram is a great choice for giveaways. On Instagram, you can ask people to like, tag, comment, or post, to enter a giveaway according to Social Media Today. And Instagram is a natural place to host a photo challenge contest. Just ask entrants to post a photo to their personal accounts and tag it with a specific hashtag.
Live Video
Live video is gaining huge traction. Consider this fact: 80% of people prefer to watch live videos from a brand than read a blog. In fact, Fortune magazine reported that during the first year of Twitter’s Periscope streaming service, viewers watched 110 years of live video content—every day. When you add powerhouses like Facebook Live, Snapchat, and YouTube in the live video mix, you can imagine how much video content people watch daily.
So how do you make the most of live video for your business? Here are two great ideas to try:
- Take Viewers Behind the Scenes: Give viewers a tour of your business. You may want to show products being made or introduce them to your staff. Or stream a fun, team-building event to show off your friendly side.
- Introduce New Services or Contests: Get people excited about your latest offer or promotion with a video. Consider an unboxing video for new products. Or give people insider information about a contest or giveaway.
Although informal, casual live streams can work well, just keep video best practices in mind. Seek out uncluttered backgrounds and use good lighting and audio to ensure the best results. Speak clearly, make eye contact, and let your business shine.
As a small business owner, you need to find ways to cut through the noise and clutter online and reach your audience. Interactive content is the answer. And infographics, contests, and live video are three proven marketing tactics that work. Think about what content your audience engages with the most and choose interactive content approaches that make sense for your business. Just a few interactive pieces can go a long way to broaden your appeal and attract new customers.
