Marketing used to be a one-way broadcast message, from brands to consumers. That was until the digital wave and social media came into the picture, and interactive marketing became the norm.
If you are a diligent and competent marketer, you should know by now that marketing has become a two-way channel. For any campaign or tactic to work, it must be based on an interactive communication model.
What changed?
The rise of social media changed marketing, cementing a trend into a norm and forcing marketing teams everywhere to think from an interactive point of view. Before social media, people were unable to voice their opinions or comments while watching advertisements and marketing campaigns.
Enter Facebook
When Facebook launched its platform, billions if not millions of people began spending a huge portion of their time on it, interacting with their friends and family. Advertisers followed the consumers to the platform and attempted to launch similar strategies, with less effective results.
Instead, campaigns were more successful when they focused on the social aspects or raised discussion points amongst the audience on social media.
For instance, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge brought about an increase in tenfold of awareness and donations via a ‘friend referral’ system (social aspect). It generated heaps of discussions and interactions and anchored a turning point for marketing campaigns worldwide.
In fact, generating interactions is one of the ways to give your brand a huge boost on social media, based on their new algorithms.
P.S. For game-changing interactive marketing campaigns, approach a top-notch digital agency to get the job done.
So, how should I do this?
For all your marketing campaigns going forward, it’s time to include an interactive perspective. Here are three ways how to craft interactive marketing campaigns:
Ask A Meaningful or Thought-Provoking Question
If you want to encourage interactions, the first and simplest step is to ask them a question. Not just any question, but something that invokes thought and stirs emotions, enough for the audience to want to respond.
By anchoring your branding campaign on a meaningful question, your strategy and tactic will follow suit to invoke responses from the target audience.
Link the questions to your brand to leave a more lasting impression with your interactive marketing campaign.
User-Generated Content
To get responses from your audience, the best way is to ask. This is the next best thing: ask for their ideas and content.
By running a campaign to get user-generated content, you are able to leverage on the social aspect of it and allow your target audience to shape your brand to be more personal and approachable.
You could ask for submissions for your upcoming product’s name, or flavours, or even the look and feel of it.
The aim is to feature good submissions and show your audience that you are not just a business, but an approachable brand.
Gamification
The most interactive element of them all, games are capable of capturing the audience’s attention for long stretches at a time.
Create a fun and interactive game centred around your brand’s product and services. It doesn’t have to be a convoluted or complicated mechanic, such as these great gamification examples.
Tie in your brand with the game, or be forgotten amidst the fun they’re having. Also, having rewards and prizes as carrots are extremely effective in this scenario as well.
Keep up with the norm and create interactive marketing campaigns from this point on for effective marketing campaigns.
If you’re finding it difficult to craft one, approach a digital agency that specialises in creating meaningful interactions.
Table of Contents
What changed?
So, how should I do this?
Ask A Meaningful or Thought-Provoking Question
User-Generated Content
Gamification
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When we talk about talking selfies and stories on our socials, which side are you on? Instagram, Facebook or… Snapchat? When Facebook attempted to buy Snapchat recently, they were rejected despite a whopping bid of $3 billion. In response, Facebook leveraged on their acquisition of Instagram to compete against Snapchat, by launching Instagram stories or what’s widely known at Instastories.
Talk about life’s regrets.
With the purchase, Instagram’s platform soared in terms of the number of users and ads, while Snapchat struggled to keep up. Facebook also launched Facebook Stories to add options for the avid social media users. From there, Snapchat started to look more and more like an Instagram copy instead of the other way around, as they struggled to innovate to pull ahead of its ‘successor’.
Until now.
Snapchat recently launched a gaming platform, similar to WeChat, in an attempt to improve user engagement and move ahead of their rival. They released a series of Snapchat filter games and Augmented Reality (AR) games that users can play on the platform.
Most notably, the AR Tennis game against Serena Williams is a clear sign that Snapchat’s advanced AR technology is going to become their selling point.
Y’all seeing this? Get your chance to battle @serenawilliams – you wont win 😂 but try your best and share your high score. pic.twitter.com/sXuxtImgJI
— Alexis Ohanian 🧠 (@alexisohanian) July 2, 2018
Credit: Alexis Ohanian Sr.
Snapchat games provide an additional tool for businesses to adapt. (YAY!) That is always welcomed for creative people (*wink wink*) to adapt for marketing.
Does Snapchat still matter?
Well, it really depends.
Snapchat numbers have risen steadily over the past year, with more and more youths adopting the platform. We’ve to admit, they’ve got really nice filters. Heh. This means any strategy or business targeting youths have to take Snapchat into serious consideration.
Incorporating gaming has given other platforms (aka Facebook) a boost before and it should do the same for Snapchat.
What can businesses do with this information?
Consider playing around with Snapchat’s functions and ads viewing if you are unfamiliar with the platform. Businesses can also start looking into adapting filters and AR games to help their own cause.
Do keep the demographics of Snapchat in mind while developing and utilising them and tie in to your branding. It will be a waste of marketing dollars otherwise.
If you want to utilise them, and you are having trouble with incorporating into your brand, consult an agency to help you.