Every brand is adopting different marketing strategies for getting a boost. Still, the majority of companies are struggling with video content for engagement. Marketers are continuously working on different strategies for getting the audience to engage, and they are trying different ways to drive the audience into their sales funnel. Rather than going ahead with the traditional engagement experience, the audience is looking for something diverse. This is where the marketers are moving towards creating interactive content. There are plenty of brands adopting the strategy of interactive videos for driving sales. Let us understand a bit more about interactive videos.
What is an Interactive Video?
The demand for video content is pretty high in the market. On top of that, when you are using interactive videos, your marketing campaign results are on the next level. It is like providing an end-to-end engagement solution. The main reason behind the popularity of interactive videos among brands is that the audience loves to watch them. If you compare linear videos with interactive videos, you will notice a huge difference between their results. Interactive videos will make your audience active rather than passively sitting in front of the screen. These videos will also make the audience stay longer on your videos and build up social sharing.
Functionalities of Interactive Videos
There are plenty of functionalities of interactive videos that you won’t get in a linear video. They are the best way to attract more audiences to your brand. Some of the major functionalities of interactive videos are:
Hotspots
Hotspots help identify any specific shape or track the motion in a video. You can even add clickable areas or buttons in a particular video for directing the audience. For instance, if you are showing a model with a shirt, you can add a noticeable link on that shirt. This will catch your audience’s attention, and they will also be able to see the details of your product through the link in the video.
360-degree View
Currently, 360-degree videos are incredibly famous. In such a video, every angle is captured to give a complete view to the audience. The audience is allowed to drag the screen to watch the desired direction. 360-degree views are considered the perfect ones for videos of cars, tourist places, and destination industries. If you notice a 360-degree interactive video on any brand’s website, you can expect that they are innovative and forward-facing.
Live Streaming
Live Streaming on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, or any other platform is the best way to connect with your audience. It is also the most affordable option for using interactive videos. The best thing about live streaming videos is that you can establish a personal connection with the audience. The audience can also ask questions in real-time and get their answers. These interactive live videos will make it easy to develop positive customer relationships.
Applications of Interactive Videos
If you are running a video campaign, you will see that interactive videos are highly versatile. It will seize attention and provoke emotion for driving the message’s impact. Interactive videos are a perfect fit for various industries, including content generation, education, marketing, recruitment, etc. Some of the widely used applications are discussed below.
Explainer Videos
Explainer videos are the best way to demonstrate the working of anything. In the entire marketing landscape, explainer videos are a trendy type of video. Explainer videos can make your product or service relatable for the audience. On top of that, the audience also finds explainer videos to be highly engaging, captivating, and fun to watch.
Educational Videos
In the entire online education market, interactive videos are the most effective tool for improving retention and engagement. It is the best way to make online education more enjoyable for students. Hotspots and quizzes can make the learning journey effective and interactive. On top of that, interactive videos will also develop the learner’s problem-solving skills. They will be able to gain more knowledge than passively learning from simply sitting and watching.
Recruitment Videos
If your company is into next-gen recruiting processes, then interactive videos are the best way to get more attention. It will generate excitement among the candidates. The candidates will get a chance to choose any specific aspect of the role by clicking interactive features. There is no need for them to get confused through every information. Your company or brand will find it pretty easy to reach tech-savvy and talented candidates through interactive recruitment videos.
Customer Feedback
When you see that your audience is completely engaged with your interactive videos, it is the perfect time to get feedback on your videos. You will find it pretty easy to get their opinions because of the interactivity in your videos. You can create a short poll or survey questionnaire for the audience to know their opinion about your videos, brand, service, or anything in general. It is necessary to keep this process extremely simple and enjoyable so that they don’t get bored.
Entertainment
Interactive videos are an excellent medium for entertainment as the audience can take complete control of viewing. It is more like providing the audience with a game-based viewing experience. You will be able to provide both information and entertainment simultaneously through the interactive videos. The best way is to rely on compelling storytelling to engage the audience and entertain them thoroughly. Now, you are pretty much aware of the basics and applications of interactive videos. Are you thinking about the talent you might have to hire for making such videos? Well, you don’t need to worry about it. Let us look through some interactive video software to help you create better interactive videos for your brand.
Tolstoy
Tolstoy helps you to have face-to-face conversations with your customers. This will help you build credibility and authority among the customers. You get to deliver personal conversations from any place and at any time. Tolstoy has an interactive video platform that will steer you to the right content. Here, the audience has a chance to respond to your Tolstoys with video or text messages, contact information, and even more. Every message or response from the audience will help you tailor your marketing strategies. Another excellent thing about Tolstoy is that you can integrate it with most of your marketing tools and workflows. You can embed Tolstoy to your website with a single click to boost engagement and convert every website visitor. There is no coding required for embedding this tool to your website.
Spott
Spott is a freemium tool with both image and video interactivity features. Whether you are a small business or a large enterprise, Spott is an excellent choice. Spott allows you to add subscribe buttons, use clickable buying tags, and also embed your product feeds directly in the video. On top of that, Spott supports various social media platforms to make it easy for you to share it with the audience. The tag appearance is completely customizable in every video. So, you can even add a pause to allow the viewers to get a chance to check out complete product details. You can say that Spott will help you create an interactive shoppable video for your brand.
Wideo
Wideo allows you to add interactivity to your existing videos or create new interactive videos for increasing conversions. You will notice that there are 100+ templates on Wideo for creating and editing videos online. Whether you wish to make an explainer video or a generic business promotion, you can do it all with Wideo. The process of creating interactive videos is pretty simple on this platform. As soon as you are done with creating a simple video, you just need to think about the places where you wish to add buttons or hotspots. Later on, you have to add interactivity and make any objects clickable. Now, you can directly embed these videos on any site or share them on different social media platforms. To bring your marketing strategy on the right track, you should consider using Wideo for creating engaging video content.
Eko
Eko helps enhance the interactive experience of your customers and convert more website visitors. The viewers will get a chance to steer the experience provided in the story. Eko possesses different story-building tools to help you out in every situation. On top of that, you can rely on Eko’s powerful analytics to find out what’s working for your brand and where you can actually improve. There are easy drag-and-drop templates to help you in planning and building interactive videos that stand out. When you provide choices to the viewers through Eko’s interactive videos, you’ll be able to drive more audience to your brand.
ThingLink
Initially, ThingLink began as a tool for annotating images. Later on, it expanded to become a popular interactive video platform. You can transform both images and videos into interactive content with the help of ThingLink. Explaining complex ideas becomes pretty easy with interactive visuals, and you can also collect data based on engagement from the users. ThingLink is pretty easy to learn and is an all-in-one tool for enhancing engagement with interactivity. You can add hotspots, create 360-degree videos, and even 3D models for building engagement. ThingLink allows you to track engagement and collect feedback effectively to improve. The multimedia editor and scenario builder of ThingLink is pretty easy to understand and use. You can mix and match for building presentations and tours. The best thing about ThingLink is that you can create interactive content anywhere through the mobile app itself.
WireWax
WireWax is one of the oldest tools for creating interactive videos. Earlier, when people wished to create an interactive YouTube video, their first choice would be to go with WireWax. Even if its price is a bit higher as compared to the others, it is definitely worth it because of certain features. Your experience will be excellent because of the pleasing dashboard and user-friendly interface. WireWax allows you to add both movable and static hotspots. So, you can include a pause option to stop the video automatically when the viewer clicks. eCommerce businesses majorly prefer WireWax, but you can even use it for creating educational and how-to videos. Getting your interactive video to the audience is pretty simple with WireWax. You can easily embed the code into your blog or share it online on different social media platforms. The analytics are an add-on to help you improve your marketing strategies.
Mindstamp
Mindstamp is the simplest and most effective interactive video solution in the market. You can personalize video marketing for your brand to draw the viewer’s attention and drive action. Mindstamp can also help you create engaging product videos that encourage discovery and increase sales. Mindstamp works completely fine with a majority of video hosting solutions. You can take an existing video from sites like Vimeo, YouTube, etc., or you can directly upload a video. You can personalize these videos based on what you already know about your customers to drive better results. Mindstamp allows you to add interactivity in several ways through hotspots, questions, drawings, buttons, and so much more. You also get to integrate various marketing tools with Mindstamp. On top of that, the analytics and reports are highly accurate and insightful.
Cinema8
Cinema8 is an easy-to-use platform that helps you welcome immersive media. The platform provides plenty of solutions in different industries, including eCommerce, Film Making, E-Learning, AR/VR, Marketing, and Gamification. You can allow your customers to directly purchase any product you portray in your videos with a single click. Gamifying your videos can add interactivity and more fun to your videos. You can allow the users to take control of the story by building unique videos. There is no coding knowledge required for using this platform. Cinema8 also provides meaningful analytics and reports that turn out to be extremely useful. You can not only integrate ready-to-use widgets but also develop your widget and integrate it with the platform. So, it’s like having your stack of tools to build your engagement through interactive video.
Engajer
Engajer is another online platform that allows you to create as well as distribute interactive videos for your brand. You can easily measure your audience’s engagement levels on this platform to see what’s working and where you need to improve. Engajer is like a one-stop solution for all your interactive video creation needs. There are different tools and features available on Engajer that can help you out in everything, from interactive video creation to analyzing the results and engagement. You can turn all your engaged leads into customers by going through the analytics and reports. Engajer will help you notice a huge change between linear and interactive videos.
Conclusion
Currently, video is a high-performing medium for brand awareness and growth. When you add interactivity to your videos, you improve your engagement rates and significantly boost them. The above-mentioned tools will turn out to be pretty helpful if you are planning on creating interactive videos for your brand.
