Every marketer wants their content to stand apart from the competition. 

But how can you do it?

According to Ion Interactive, 88% of marketers say interactive content differentiates them from their competitors.

Interactive content helps brands stand out by creating immersive experiences. It's also helpful for customers because it gives them the ability to learn or solve a problem in a more engaging way. 

In this article, we’ll show you the major benefits of interactive content marketing. We’ll also share industry-leading examples you can use as inspiration for your next campaign.

What Is Interactive Content?

Interactive content is any content that users need to actively engage with instead of passively consuming. 

Some of the most used interactive content marketing formats include:

• Quizzes/assessments
• Polls and surveys
• Calculators
• Maps
• Dynamic landing pages
• Interactive infographics
• Live and 360° video
• User-generated content
  

Marketing teams are not only building content from the ground up with interactivity in mind, they’re also repurposing content. 88% of marketers say at least 10% of their static content will become interactive in the next two years.

Interactive content marketing has a range of benefits:

• Higher engagement: A DemandGen study found interactive content has two times more engagement than static assets. On Facebook, users spend four times more minutes watching live videos than pre-recorded videos.
• Link building: Interactive content pieces are highly shareable. They can help you gain backlinks. Other sites can link to interactive assets you publish or you can host branded content on high-traffic websites.  
• Data: Get to know your customers by gathering first-party data. As they opt into lead magnets such as quizzes, you can request their name, email address, and other pertinent information.

13 Interactive Content Marketing Examples

Now that you’re clear on the benefits, let’s look at great examples of interactive content marketing you can learn from. 

1. Allbirds’ Brand Building Sponsored Content

Shoe brand Allbirds published a sponsored post in the New York Times that highlights the major role birds play in the environment. Animations and sounds from different species help immerse readers. The article ties back the brand at the end by sharing that Allbirds is going carbon neutral this year in an effort to protect the bird population. 

2. Stantec Connects With Diverse Targets

Stantec provides professional engineering services to a varied audience including oil and gas executives, city planners, and commercial developers. 

They use interactive content marketing to reach their target audience, including their “Are You Smart City Smart” quiz and an interactive dashboard where users can explore traffic trends across the United States. 

"Our interactive content outperforms our blog posts by more than double. With some items it's 5-10x,” said Stefan Riches, Stantec’s Director of Content Marketing.

3. USA Today Covering Huge Historical Issues

Tackling how slavery grew over 200 years and meaningfully engaging an audience that typically looks for the latest news is a tall order. USA Today did just this with their interactive article “Slavery’s Explosive Growth in Charts.” The article contains four interactive infographics:

1. A timeline starting in 1619 that takes readers chronologically across centuries as they scroll. 
2. Animated charts and graphs highlighting survival rates as slaves arrived from Africa and the growth in the slave trade.
3. Proportional symbol maps to show the number of slaves by state between the 17th and 19th centuries. 
4. The total population enslaved, illustrated by a scatterplot graph.
   

Their interactive article has over 36,000 engagements according to BuzzSumo data. That’s a ton of eyeballs for one piece of news content.

4. A Full View of Glen Coe

BBC Scotland published a 360° video showing the valley of Glen Coe to drive engagement on their Facebook page. The video has over 600k views.

Keep in mind that, when a viewer interacts with a video, their attention stays more concentrated on the content. Wyzowl found this results in a 591% lift in user activity. 

5. Knotch Goes Live

62% of companies plan to adopt live video streaming according to Hootsuite. At Knotch we provide our audience with access to digital marketing leaders and the opportunity to ask them questions during our digital events. Recent events include The Future of Content and The Content Revolution.

Along with digital summits, consider taking advantage of LinkedIn’s live video feature. LinkedIn says live videos generate 24 times more comments and 7 times more reactions.

6. Sigma’s Scroll Worthy Content 

The analytics and business intelligence platform Sigma uses Setka to create immersive eBooks. Opting into an eBook, users see animations that emerge and illustrate concepts as readers scroll.

7. Analyzing The Beatles

DuelingData built a highly interactive infographic featuring a range of data points built on Tableau to share with Beatles super fans. Click across different elements in the infographic to see John, Paul, George, and Ringo's contributions to The Beatles' catalogue. You can even stream songs straight from the graphic.

Don't underestimate the power of infographics. 40.2% of marketers in a Venngage survey reported infographics as the best visual format for audience engagement.

8. Buttercloth’s Dynamic Home Page

Buttercloth wanted to show how their shirts stack up to competitors. They highlight their wrinkle-free and stretchable fabric on their home page. Any site visitors can see side-by-side how Buttercloth compares to traditional dress shirts with an animated graphic that demos their product’s key features.

Since going on Shark Tank and implementing updates that make their site more interactive,  Buttercloth has done over $3 million in sales.  

9. Building An Itinerary Off User-Generated Content

Stevens Point Area CVB wanted to recognize National Travel & Tourism Week 2020 by engaging locals and former guests. On Instagram and Facebook, they invited followers to vote for their favorite things to do on a great #StePOWknd. From users’ input, they shared poll results and created a weekend itinerary incorporating user-generated content (UGC) from the places mentioned.

10. Personalized Product Recommendations 

If you’re unsure where to start with your next roast, Blue Bottle Coffee has a coffee match quiz. After completing a ten-question quiz, users get personalized recommendations they can save by signing up for an account. They’re also encouraged to share their results on social media, thereby generating word-of-mouth buzz. Then Blue Bottle can follow up with them via a series of emails. 

11. See How You Size Up

When most people think of interactive calculators their first thoughts may be around estimating taxes or calculating ROI on some sort of business tactic. However, the clothing brand Missy Empire published a much more tongue-in-cheek quiz that lets you see how long it takes each Kardashian to make your annual salary.

The quiz has generated over 200 backlinks, according to SEMRush. Imagine that!

12. Disney’s Interactive App

Disney’s My Disney Experience app lets Disney World guests enjoy their vacation with a wide variety of interactive content. In the app, users can get turn-by-turn directions in the park, play games while in line for rides, and preview photos from any mobile device. 

13. Funneling Subscribers to Product Videos

64% of users are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video. This is likely one of the biggest reasons why AppSumo incorporates video in their email marketing. Each email announcing a new lifetime deal on software links to a video demoing the product.

Clicking the video thumbnail takes you to a landing page where you can watch and submit questions about the product.

Interactive Content Marketing Examples: Wrapping It Up

Use the above examples to help you create more engaging content experiences. Then measure the success with Knotch’s full content intelligence platform. With content-wide analytics, sentiment analysis, and customized insights, you get a holistic understanding of how your audience is receiving your content on how it’s impacting their perception of your brand. Learn more and request a free demo on our website. [CLICK HERE]