INTERACTIVE MEDIA

INTERACTIVE MEDIA 

Interactive media is any media that responds to user input. Traditional media such as broadcast television and film involves an audience watching with no way to navigate or participate. Interactive media began to replace this model of one-way communication beginning with the commercialization of the internet in the 1990s. The following are common types of interactive media.
A good example is the Internet. Interactive multimedia “ allows two-way interaction with multimedia course material, another computer, or another user with direct response to the input, as opposed to one-way communication from TV, video, and other non-responsive media

Application Software

Software designed as a tool for users such as a knowledge management platform.

Apps

Application software for mobile devices such as a weather app.

Games

Entertaining and engaging software that may resemble a digital world.

Virtual Reality

Immersive digital experiences that make users feel as if they are exploring a world that is a digital construct or is a digital twin of physical reality.

Pervasive Games

Games that mix virtual and physical environments.

Interactive Video

Video and television with interactive features such as streaming video that audiences help to create.

Publications

Publications such as websites that allow users to navigate, communicate and participate.

Social Media

Digital communities that allow media to be navigated, shared and created.

Art

Interactive art that involves the observer.

Advertising

Digital, outdoor and in-store advertising that features interactive elements such as a digital poster that reacts to people who are in its proximity.

Theme Parks

Theme park attractions that combine media such as a movie with physical elements such as a roller coaster.

Cinema

Interactive cinema that allows audiences to play a role in the film. In theory, movies could be game-like.



TOOLS USED FOR INTERACTION WITH CUSTOMERS
Contests — an effective way to grow your customer base and increase brand awareness. People have a natural inclination to be competitive, and everyone wants to win. A contest is a great way to get the customer to engage with and familiarize themselves with your brand.

Quizzes, polls, and surveys — a fun and engaging way to combat customer boredom.

Videos and email marketing — to answer questions and explain the buying process.

Calculators — can entice users by comparing them to others or providing accurate quotes.

Interactive infographics — add click animations and moving graphics to catch and maintain a user’s attention.

Messenger bots — add a conversational touch to customer interactions, leaving them with a favorable impression of your business.ADVANTAGES OF INTERACTIVE MEDIA
1. User Engagement
Interactive marketing increases the time spent on your website and makes the experience memorable for a customer.

• It engages multiple senses at the same time. Rather than reading text, viewing an image, filling out a form, listening to a recording, watching a video, or clicking on a button – interactive marketing combines the best elements from all these things.
• It creates excitement and interest. Interactive marketing improves the delivery of your message by enticing users to take action.
• It gives them the information they are looking for in real-time. Interactive marketing enables users to pick their own journey and answer the questions they have on their mind. Messenger bots, for example, give your customers a one-on-one, conversational experience, without you having to invest the time, money, and training that would go into fielding these queries with a human customer service representative.

#2. Conversion Improvements

People are losing their patience with outdated and over-used lead generation tactics. Things like popups, eBook downloads, and generic signup forms are decreasing in effectiveness.

The cool thing is most of your competitors are still relying on these conversion tactics on their websites, so there is an opportunity for you to stand out.

Interactive marketing does a great job of engaging users, as I mentioned. Once you have their attention and interest, a conversion is more likely to follow.

VenturePact, a software development marketplace, decided to experiment with an interactive content strategy because they felt like traditional inbound marketing tactics were losing their sting. They managed to increase conversions by a whopping 28% in two weeks.

#3.Qualified Lead Generation

Qualifying leads is much easier with interactive marketing. You can weed out any low-quality prospects with deliberate questions and targeted content. For example, you could create a fun and engaging questionnaire for your website visitors, or use qualifying questions in a contest.

One example of this is in this Quiz Contest designed to qualify prospects based on their interest and knowledge about camping in New Zealand:

#4. Virality and Sharing

One of the biggest drawcards of interactive marketing is its built-in social media virality.

By rewarding participants for sharing your interactive content, you can increase the number of people who see your experiences, generate more leads, and bolster your ROI.

Interactive content is inherently more shareable than static content in the first place. But it is also scalable if you get smart about it. For example, you could craft a contest or giveaway that requires entrants to share for points. That way, your business could get in front of thousands of people without you doing any grunt work or paying for ads.

#5. Customer Feedback

Customer feedback is incredibly important for businesses. Without it, you are unable to make improvements to your sales messaging, discern any weak points in your marketing strategy, and learn what customers like or dislike about your products.

Misunderstanding the customer’s wants and needs can be harmful to the long-term strategy of your business and hurt your bottom-line.

But how can you get feedback in a way that will be painless, even fun, for your customers?

Polls and surveys are a quick way for customers to share their opinions about your product or service. By giving them an outlet that is fast and immediate, they will be more likely to give feedback. You can see the feedback in real-time, and pivot your marketing or product strategy in a timely fashion.

Uber is one big brand who use interactive polls and surveys to get quick feedback from users:

#6. Personalization

Billions of people log onto the internet every day. Most feel like a faceless entity, a conglomerate of pixelated data without a personality. Some are starting to feel the pinch of being “just another number” who feel like they are constantly being “sold” something when on a website.

With interactive marketing, you can provide the consumer a more personal, intimate experience.

Interactive marketing views the consumer as an individual with unique goals, needs, wants, and problems that only your business can solve. The experience is tailored to talk to and satisfy these personal elements.

Self-disclosure is a neurologically satisfying experience. It is a part of human nature that people want to know and be known, and to make connections through personalized communication.

Interactive marketing techniques can give consumers this type of experience much more effectively than static content. Through polls, surveys, calculators, or quizzes, you can give your customers a voice.

One way to personalize the experience for a prospect is to let them pick their own journey with interactive video

#7. SEO

The possibilities for formulating a varied, white-hat SEO strategy with interactive content are endless.

To start with, interactive content attracts more links and is more shareable. Increasing the number of inbound links to your website and social media shares for your content will have a positive impact on your SEO ranking.

Certain types of interactive content are also embeddable on websites, unlike static content. This has “link-bait” written all over it. Think about the endless link building opportunities if you can create an interactive experience that other websites can embed and link back to yours? This could be an interactive infographic, poll, contest, calculator, or an array of other interactive techniques that act like link magnets for prospective sites in your space.

As well, search engines favorably rank sites with higher dwell times. Interactive content keeps viewers more engaged than static content and on your web pages for longer.