Imagine a blog post that is just pages and pages of text.
Would you voluntarily read that blog post till the very end? Not likely.
Today, the information revolution has led to exploding exponential content creation. Readers have multiple sources to get information from and without appealing content, writers may quickly find themselves losing readership.
Research suggests that interactive blog posts which contain visually stimulating, interactive content can increase readership and social media sharing by a factor of 40.
Here are five interactive content types you can include in your blog to keep your readers coming back for more:
1. Animate the inanimate.
Nothing spices up a blog better than videos. In fact, studies show that websites experience an 86 percent conversion rate just by incorporating videos in their posts.
It isn’t just videos, either; podcasts do a better job when it comes to increasing blog readership. Embed a podcast containing the audio to your post and watch as readers—and non-readers—visit your blog for information.
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This tactic works especially well in “how-to” blogs where readers seek specific directions that are easy to understand and implement.
2. Use custom-created graphics.
Most freely available pictures and GIFs on the internet are overused and have hardly any impact on reader engagement. Why not create your own graphics to engage your readers?
Tools like Canva and Piktochart let users create their very own images, GIFs and infographics. There are also content curation tools which allow you to create your own graphics with ease. With hundreds of designs and templates to choose from, you’ll be spoilt for choices.
If you create your own graphics, remember to use contrasting colors to bring your core message into focus.
3. Quiz your readers.
In 2013, The New York Times' most popular piece wasn’t an article; it was a quiz.
The news website saw millions of people frequenting its site to try their hand at the quiz entitled “How Y’all, Youse, and You Guys Talk". It took the website a whopping 11 days to find an article that beat this level of reader engagement.
Quizzes make for dynamite interactive content. They provide nuggets of information packaged in highly entertaining and interesting ways. Include a short quiz in your blog and watch as your readership explode.
4. Incorporate social media into your posts.
The best way to get your readers to interact with you is to guide them to share your posts. From “Tweet This” links to “Share This On Facebook” messages, you have many ways of incorporating social media into your blogs.
Twitter has a great link generator which helps users create a personalized link that helps publishers share messages easily. Just type in your message in the text box, click on the “Generate link” option and wait for your custom Twitter link to appear.
This technique only works if you create content that is worthy of being shared. You could add backlinks to interesting studies, statistics and quizzes to make your content more authoritative and interesting.
5. Add ratings and comments plugins.
One of the easiest ways to interact with your readers is to add features for user to rate or comment directly on your site. Websites like FileHippo allow users to download plugins for free. You can also look for free WordPress plugins to download and use on your blog.
Having a rating star or a comment button encourages viewers to interact with your content and can spark a conversation that lasts beyond your initial post release.
How do you drive interaction on your content blogs or websites, PR Daily readers?
Nisha Prakash is a blogger specializing in social media marketing and content management .
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