Interactive Video – The Power to Engage

In this digital age, it’s a challenge staying on top of constantly evolving marketing technology and assessing which new offering may be most beneficial to your organization. Video technology is one area that is advancing at breakneck speed.

Staying abreast of changes ensures your content continues to evolve and appeal to your target audiences. According to the 2018 State of Inbound report, interactive content creation was listed as a top-five priority for marketing teams in North America. Specifically, 38% of respondents said it’s a priority for the up-coming year, while it ranked higher than marketing automation, webinars and tutorial videos. The bottom line? Users want control — they want to choose what they want to see and when they want to see it. So, how do you ensure your organization delivers stand out content experiences? Be relevant to what people want and give them control —incorporate interactivity in your video content.

Video is interactive

Interactive video allows viewers to determine their own paths through content that most interests them. Because interactive video incorporates a variety of elements that enhance user engagement, it offers a real engagement rate of 78% over a standard linear video. For instance, by adding clickable video chapters, users can skip directly to content they need. According to the Video Marketing Statistics 2018 Survey, 20% of marketers have incorporated interactive video with nearly 80% of them finding it effective. But video interactivity does not stop there. Video interactivity can include forms, polls, quizzes, images, text or buttons right in the video – enhancing user ability to explore and interact with your content. Every interaction is captured, providing detailed analytics of where users are going, ultimately allowing you to better track your audience’ interests and helping to inform future marketing initiatives. What’s also great about making a video interactive is that it can be added to a pre-existing video—avoiding the hassle of re-shooting.

Example of an interactive corporate video

The client had to address a business need that many organizations face – the lack of qualified, high quality candidates for open positions. They needed a recruitment tool that would increase the number of relevant submissions for their open positions. Advantis worked with the client to capture video of employees talking authentically about their experience working there. But we took the video a step further and added interactive features to the video – viewers can choose to skip directly to topics that are most important to them or if they are interested, to search jobs at any time during the video. The call to action screen also links directly to the client’s career portal. Best of all, since every click is captured, the analytics provide insight into what matters most to prospective candidates.

Video is 360

Video interactivity can come in many shapes and forms. Not only does it come with the ability of adding clicks, images, links and polls, but video is turning 360 degrees – allowing viewers to have full control on what they see. 15% of marketers have used 360 videos and over a majority of them have found it an effective strategy. According to Uscreen, if your company produces sports and travel content, you might want to consider adding 360 video as 60% of all 360 viewers want to see travel and sports-related digital content. These videos allow viewers to choose their perspective, ultimately creating a more immersive and interactive experience.
Here are some examples of great 360 videos:

Video is personal

Video is increasingly becoming more personalized, allowing marketers to provide customers with a one-to-one video experience. Now what exactly does this mean? Imagine watching a video where the main character addresses you by name, or the text on screen presents information specific to your situation? For example, if your organization is a utility company, you can send a video that greets the recipient by name, present a chart of the recipient’s recent billing cycle and energy consumption – with data tailored specifically to them. Personalized video is not exactly a form of direct interactivity. However, it does provide customers with videos that are highly tailored more to their interests.

So now that we know how video technology is evolving, why should we care? The advancements in video technology make it possible for audiences to actively engage with video content. Interactivity draws the audience in and engages them for a longer period of time. In fact, 80% of marketers have said that video in general has increased dwell time on their website (Wyzowl). Interactive videos provide viewers the option to take control and discover their preferred content. It also incorporates elements that make it easier to navigate, ultimately improving user experience.