Jerry MelicharYou already know you need video. You’ve likely committed a significant amount of your marketing budget to creating a steady stream of content and optimizing your YouTube channel in an effort to increase organic viewership.
But here’s an important question to ask. Let’s say you’re getting decent impressions and views. How do you know if your audience is really engaged?
According to Google, consumers have more than ten interactions with a brand before they make a purchase. This means marketers need video content that meets the consumer at every turn, that focuses on each step of the sales funnel, and that pays service to every business objective. This may mean you create a series of videos to engage the consumer — or it could take the shape of a personalized, interactive video.
These videos are presenting a shift in the industry, as they’re quickly becoming key assets in a given company’s video content portfolio. Akin to video versions of the beloved Choose Your Own Adventure book series, interactive videos are engineered to put the viewer in control of the story they’re experiencing.
According to Forrester Research, interactive videos have a 1000% higher CTR than traditional video ads. Interactive videos break the traditional linear narrative and allow the viewer to determine the message and the call-to-action that resonates most with them. Software solutions like Rapt Media help create a branched structure that “gamifies” and personalizes your message for each viewer.
Phillips worked with Rapt Media to launch an interactive video in Europe for their Click and Style electric razor. Check it out here. 65% of viewers watched this video on mobile devices, and the average viewing time was more than four minutes, with an average of 3-4 interactions per viewer.
And that brings us to another great feature of interactive videos: at each decision point within the video, you can collect data on your viewers. You can immediately use this data to adapt your video and strategy in real time. Imagine getting real-time information on which sales pitch or product feature is resonating with viewers and/or specific audience segments – and then imagine being able to quickly adjust your call-to-action without launching into an entirely new (and costly) production?
No matter what your business objective is, interactive videos can help you keep the viewers’ attention long enough to make an impact.
For another example, check out what Deloitte did to boost engagement with an interactive recruiting video. By clicking on choice points within the scenes, viewers get to walk in the shoes of a new Deloitte employee and decide his or her course of action as the video asks: “Will you fit in?”
The most successful practitioners of interactive video carefully consider what it is they want to measure with data. They track and pump that data into an analytics or marketing automation system, using it to target future content to unique viewers.
So how will you get through to your target audience? How will you form meaningful touch points that push them the right information as you pull valuable insights?
Companies like Warner Brothers, Maybelline, The Wall Street Journal, Condé Naste, and Martini and Rossi are already believers in and users of interactive videos. How can this industry shift help your company meet its business objectives?
Any thoughts on interactive videos? Let us know in the comments.
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