- Include fun quizzes and puzzles in the video
The most-common usage of interactive videos in audience engagement is through in-video quizzes, puzzles and games. Institutions like BBC and the National Geographic Society use such quiz-based or puzzle-based interactive videos to engage with audiences on social media.
A video, which is interspersed with a small quiz, can both entertain and educate viewers. It can act as a segue to different topics that can help display the brand in a completely new light.
- Give viewers the power to choose their story
Honda is an expert on interactive videos and their 2015 video for the Honda Civic is today dubbed “the coolest car ad of the year”. The video focuses on the story of a man who picks up his two kids after school in his Honda Civic. But press the letter “R” on your keyboard, and this guy-next-door father transforms into a wanted criminal, who’s involved in a high-speed car chase in his Civic.
This interactive video allows viewers to see that version of the Honda Civic, which resonates with them the best – either as the speed machine that’s perfect for the young or a reliable family car that is safe for everyone.
By following Honda’s interactive video example, you can engage multiple groups of customers and promote the same product to them in unique ways.
- Annotate your videos to stimulate desired actions
Annotations are one of the easiest ways to make your videos interactive – especially when you’re on a budget and can’t afford to create something complicated, huge or fancy.
If YouTube is an important engagement channel for you, then annotations can be a great way to move subscribers to your website or online store. You can link different site pages at different stages of your video through annotations and allow viewers to choose what action they want to do. If the viewer clicks on an annotation, they’re automatically re-directed to the relevant landing page. Meanwhile, your video pauses and can be resumed by your prospect when they return to your YouTube page.
- Have an impromptu Q&A with your audience
Q&A sessions can make for great interactive content. Specifically, when you give your audience the choice to select the question they want answered. This way, you can empower your audiences to create a brand engagement experience that is wholly personalized to them.
Such interactive Q&A videos also reduce viewer attrition. Now viewers don’t have to sit waiting with hope that their questions are picked up. They can choose the direction in which the video will move ahead, making the video extremely customized to their tastes.
- Train job applicants and new hires on your company values
Deloitte is a company bursting at the seams with creativity. Nothing better encapsulates this than their Recruiting for Deloitte interactive video. The video is shot from the audience’s POV, where you are the new hire at Deloitte and you need to make important decisions.
As the video progresses, you’re faced with first-day-at-work awkward obstacles, which you need to navigate successfully. A menu with three options comes up during each challenge and you’ll need to make a choice. Then the video pivots to show the consequences of your choice. If your choice is right, you move onto the next segment of the interactive video. But if your choice is wrong, you’re sent back to make a whole new set of decisions. The idea of the video is to educate the audience about the company’s core values in a fun way.
This type of interactive video can be an incredible tool during new hire training. You can also use it during recruitment to track the choices your job applicants make. Then you can filter out candidates who you think don’t reflect the ethos of your company.
- Use interactive videos to bring prospects into the product/service development process
Nike was one of the brands that had followed this marketing strategy a while ago. The brand had used interactive videos to create a line of product bundles, which included running shoes, jerseys and pants. Audiences were given control of the experience and were asked to choose between various models of each product. Every time the viewer selected an option, the cast in the video praised them for their choice. Slowly, as the video progressed, the viewer built the “look” to his/her liking, which they could purchase at the end by following the link to Nike’s store.
This is something you can implement too. In fact, this is a great way to ensure conversions, since you’re offering product bundles that the prospect has created themselves. This is the definition of personalized video marketing.
- Educate customers about product features or product safety
Lots of brands like HP, Maybelline, Newton and Phillips, to name a few, have used interactive videos to explain the features and unique selling proposition of their product. As the video plays, you have the option of selecting which feature or segment of the product you want to explore first.
In addition to features, interactive videos can be one of the best ways to provide product usage safety tips. The video can include different clickable scenarios about how the viewer should safely use the product and what might happen if the product is used the wrong way. You can also include the video content to show what viewers should do in the case of a safety issue.
- Introduce viewers to new ideas
This is something that the British Council did, as part of its teachers’ engagement video. The video was designed to upskill teachers, so they might, in turn, introduce new age concepts to their students. The interactive video used a game where teachers could implement multiple different solutions to the same problem and follow through to the outcome. The video introduced viewers to modern academic concepts and job skills which their students need to have when they’re applying for jobs today.
You can do this too. Such an interactive video can position you as a thought leader in your industry, because you’re introducing new ideas to your audiences through it.
