Is Your Social Marketing Strategy Interactive Enough?

By Alex Birch

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Not sure if interactive content fits your social media strategy? Maybe you just need to think outside the box. Read on to find out.

Interactive social marketing is one of the simplest ways for marketers and entrepreneurs to boost their online presence.

Writing a killer blog post or posting those perfect photos on your social media platforms simply won’t cut the mustard if they don’t get people engaged and sharing your content.

It’s easy to wonder why interactivity is so important. Aren’t high-quality pieces of content enough? 

These days, high-quality means interactive. It draws users away from the constant online distraction and encourages them to share your content, which expands your reach exponentially.

Here, we’ll tell you the top tips for being interactive, whether you’re just getting started on your content marketing strategy, or you need to boost those numbers.

Let’s get quizzical

Quizzes work very well to pique your user’s interest and boost interaction, and the best bit is that any website can use easy templates to set up a perfect quiz.

But what are the secrets to success?

Let’s take Buzzfeed, one of the most recognizable quiz artists on the web. One of their quizzes, “What City Should You Actually Live In?” has been viewed more than 22 million times, with 2.5 million likes

 

Buzzfeed is a master of creating interactive, shareable quizzes. Buzzfeed.

There are a number of elements that give this quiz its magic spark. 

  1. It is easy to navigate, with bright colors and simple questions.
  2. It has a chatty, familiar style.
  3. It is personal, playing on the user’s dreams and wishes.
  4. It is super shareable.

You can use this form of interactive content to make a mark in whatever your niche market is. Fast food restaurants can ask their customers what kind of food they are. Interior designers can help their customers find out what style of furniture suits them best.

You might be thinking: “how is a quiz going to bring in conversions?”. Well, they can bring in sign ups, but really, they’re not about converting. 

This type of content is aimed at the first level of the marketing funnel – awareness. The easy-to-use nature makes quizzes simple and fun, and anybody who hasn’t seen one on their social media field must have been living on the moon. Their viral nature means your users spread your awareness on behalf, and you can even use a quiz to sign up new subscribers to your newsletter.

Turning awareness into consideration

Now you’ve drawn attention, it’s time to take things further.

Calculators are most effective when used at the consideration stage of the sales cycle, but according to Demandmetric, they can even double your conversions compared to passive content. 

All kinds of businesses are in a good position to use calculators and quote generators, but one clear example is insurance companies. Their tools produce a quote in seconds, and the user moves one step on in their user journey. 

But it’s not just about the user experience. 

According to ucalc.pro, online calculators can improve SEO ranking and targeted traffic. The technical side is that tools such as calculators or quote generators drop your bounce rate, greatly improving your metrics. Organize your calculator with the right keywords and you’re onto a winner.

A super simple but effective car insurance calculator with the all-important share buttons. Confused.com.

Social media contests

Competitions on social media are a great way of dangling a carrot in front of your audience in return for at least some contact details. This low-risk, high-return game usually costs very little to your company but is exciting enough to draw your users in toward conversion.

Of course, you will get a clear idea of what kind of prize to offer through your market research. Some companies find it easy, offering their target audience more of what they already have, but often, the best prize ideas can be aimed as gift ideas – bringing more customers to you! 

Marketing platform Wishpond outlines a diverse range of social media contests you can choose from, with tips and demos on how to implement it in your strategy.

Prizes that work as gifts can generate full engagement from your users. Wishpond.

To boost engagement further, many companies have shaped social media contests around a “tag a friend who...” technique. This has the added advantage of including users who wouldn’t necessarily know anything about your company without the contest.

User-generated content

All of this brings us to the elephant in the room. User-generated content. The holy grail of interactive social marketing, user-generated content, is not only interactive, but it does your marketing for you. Now we’re into the bottom stages of the funnel – loyalty and advocacy.

And remember, it’s not just for commercial businesses. 

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge appeared out of nowhere to take the world by storm, with famous faces such as Justin Bieber, Oprah Winfrey, and Donald Trump making videos and posting on Instagram, Facebook, and all kinds of other social channels. It was a worldwide sensation that raised over $220 million and is continuously listed as a winning case study in how to do interactive video content.

 

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge hit a huge audience thanks to effective interactive social media. YouTube.

Most people working in social marketing have faced the frustration of comparing their audience with that of Nike, and begrudging how easy they have it. But what is most special about the ALS campaign is how grassroots it was. There were no top marketing executives playing out to a worldwide audience. In fact, it is widely attributed to a golfer called Chris Kennedy, who did it solely to cheer up a family member who had the disease.

As Joe Edwards, digital and social director at MOI points out, one of the reasons for the Ice Bucket Challenge’s global success was its simplicity. It is very easy to get hold of ice, water, and a bucket, and video content is easier to produce than ever. 

It is hardly a challenge for the audience either. Each video lasted around a minute, and each one became more extreme and entertaining than the last.

Pinning this simple task to a donation drive is what made this campaign as successful as it was.

In conclusion

To sum up, it is always the right time to tweak your social marketing strategy and make it more interactive. Ever-changing trends, memes, and breakthroughs in technology mean you have to be reactive in real-time.

And while you can’t create a one-size-fits-all strategy that will work for the rest of eternity, the points outlined in this article will give you a valuable advantage when creating your interactive content.


About the author: Alex Birch is the SEO Manager at Typeform. Lover of all things marketing & search. Originally from Manchester, UK but now enjoying life in sunny Barcelona

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