Incorporate interactive videos for marketing

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Incorporating Interactive Video for Marketing

Video interactivity is more than simply creating shiny or gamified objects. It's about meaningful user choice.

Online, on-demand video is almost half as old as the web itself. In those short sixteen years, video has become The dominant vehicle for digital marketing with outstanding profit margins. Interactive video (or IV) is only slightly newer.

Pioneered by Viddler In the mid-2000s, IV was a major part of K-12 learning and playing video games but was often viewed with skepticism by marketers and their brand customers.

Viddler patented the idea of timeline-based overlays and cards, in 2007.

That reluctance is fueled by the perception that interactive video is not a serious business medium. This comes from the view that so-called gamification — a common usage in K-12 learning and literally part of a video game — intended solely to trivialize or “devalue” a serious value proposition. This is especially true for interactive content that is merely a bait-and-converting lead generation ploy.

Reluctance to use interactive video is motivated by

aware that it is not a serious means.

Interactive videos are also considered an expensive way to capture the attention of potential customers in crowded media environments — the latest “jangly key” trick. In fact, IV to be a novelty for many consumers. But marketers – especially in B2B – fear that when the novelty wears off, potential customers will ignore it. They also felt that the elective adventure model (most commonly perceived as IV) would not provide an adequate return on investment.

Anyway, what is interactive video?

The line between regular video and interactive video is not always clear. For the sake of simplicity, interactive means a combination of the following:

The look of a visual or audio event at a predetermined point in the video timeline . This is usually a hotspot (text, image, or shape) when clicked or touched triggers another event within the video — or in a web event outside of the video, such as a web page or an online document.

Typically, a hotspot takes the user to another point in the same video or to a separate video — a process known as branching.

Events occurring in a video can take many forms, including static overlays (images, text, and links), forms (for user feedback in text, audio, or videos), quizzes or polls, slideshows, and even picture-in-picture video or audio clips.

Most interactive video platforms allow logged in users and anonymous responses to trivia questions and other feedback requests. Logged in user responses are stored by the hosting organization. This is necessary for IV use in referral, training or learning applications, but should be used with caution in a marketing context.

Media developer Hyperbeast used the WireWax platform to create this interactive video example for Nike. Users choose their favorite shoes and other outfits, and each choice takes viewers to a predefined timecode in the same video — ending with a model wearing the user's chosen items

Ideally, interactive video is giving users Selection – about what they want to see and where they want to go when looking for relevant information. IV invites participation and autonomy, not passive viewing.

What to Consider For Platforms & Editing IV

All interactive video features happen in its proprietary viewer and hosting platform. The actual video file does not include hotspots or other IV events, although it should be recorded and edited with IV features.

For example, if you plan to have a hotspot button appear at a certain point in the video, then make sure to edit the footage with enough space for it. Similarly, if the appearance of a hotspot also pauses the video, make sure the audio track isn't at a point where pausing would create an awkward interruption in the dubbing or music.

Typically, interactive video features on a hosted platform, such as Wistia , WireWax , Vimeo or Luma1 , won't be there if the file is uploaded to other platforms like YouTube. Some platforms will allow exporting to social media locations, but interactivity will always be controlled by the platform from which you created it.

Designing interactive videos for the channel

The essence of interactive video is that viewers are provided Selection .

This means choosing between different “branches” of a proposed publisher's value, or digging deeper into the options available. It also means choosing to provide or withhold feedback. Users have autonomy and will follow the video's forks and events — but only as long as their needs are met.

For marketers, the goal of an IV should be a well-functioning sales funnel. Every event or affiliate should always provide viewers with a good reason to explore further — to discover aspects of the brand that apply to their circumstances and have more confidence and trust in their products. surname.

While it's tempting to appear with some sort of lead gene in the video — mostly at the cognitive stage of the video narration — this will often deter viewers from going any further.

Interactive Video Design

Make interactive elements useful to viewers

Ideally, the interactive elements in the video should be designed to meet the specific needs of the decision-making process. If viewers aren't familiar with a concept, a fork of a basic explainer video would be appropriate — and those who already understand it can skip it.

The essence of interactive video is that viewers are provided Selection .

If viewers need help getting to a specific section of a long video, chapter navigation or a simple questionnaire will be helpful — as long as it doesn't ask for immediate contact information.

If they are driven in time, the downloadable audio compendium would be a great choice. The possibilities are practically endless.

Use the ramifications of interactive video Not means creating a separate video for every possible choice a user can make. Overlays, static documents, and existing web pages are perfectly valid results when clicking on a hotspot. To save costs, even existing footage or audio can be replaced for use in plan IV.

Interactive video gives viewers autonomy and the expectation that they—not the brand—are in control of the experience.

What Will IV Do For Your Marketing?

Viewers expect a rich, meaningful, even customized information environment. They want concrete answers to complex questions, not a trivial, dumb version of your value proposition.

People will watch your interactive videos for their own reasons, not yours. Done properly, IVs open the door to conversations—at least three levels down the sales funnel. It would never be a ploy to draw them in.

When done well, interactive videos can be an effective, long-lasting, and sustainable marketing asset.