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Brand advertising keeps stepping it up a notch, and with good reason. Consumers today have set an entirely new (and higher) bar of expectations for brand communication. They want to be intrigued, entertained, and they want to be marketed to in a creative way. As many of you already know, it takes a little bit more these days to seal the deal on a sale. This may be why so many companies are making interactive videos as a top marketing priority. What about you?

According to a Forrester Research Inc. study, spending on interactive marketing will reach $55 billion in 2014. This represents 21 percent of all marketing expenditures, and interactive videos are a huge part. While these media vehicles are considered to be in the “early days” of development, experts believe that every brand video will soon have functionality to let customers “touch” and “feel” the products. More specifically, people can roll over items to buy, learn more about the product, and share it.

You’ve probably already seen this exciting approach with many leading brands. Look at Old Spice as just one example. Their “Muscle Music” video (allowing people to play instruments and create their own songs) got 8.5 million plays. Meanwhile, IMDB recently launched an x-ray feature which can roll over actors to display their profiles, and YouTube (with VidCon functionality) now has an “info cards” feature, programmable video annotations that can add context and click through to merchandising and crowd-funding campaigns. Fuisz Media just developed a proprietary algorithm to identify and track people and objects throughout videos, creating item-level interaction in each frame. The interactivity is scalable and available on any player, and companies like Nike, Target and Walmart are already on board. Though Fuisz (pronounced “fuse”) is currently focused on proprietary brand videos, the feature is portable to other players, including YouTube.

So why do brands need to go interactive? The Creative Grid reports that interactive video receives five times the engagement of normal video ads. In addition, 70-90 percent of viewers interact with the video, and retention is twice as high. If you’re convinced, let’s map out your own interactive video strategy!

Just published on The Next Web blog, Erika Trautman shared “11 tips for creating a successful and engaging interactive video,” and we’ve summarized and generalized them below.

Define and establish your objectives: Think of everything you want to accomplish with an interactive ad. Do you want to boost online purchases? Increase your email newsletter subscription base? Is this intended for the desktop or mobile user (modified slightly for a smaller screen) – or both?

Create an objective-setting concept: With your goal in mind, think about how can you get your consumer to the end point. The journey (aka the click through) means everything. This interactivity should be relevant and fun.

Lock down your technology platform right away: Before you choose your technology solution, you better know your technical requirements inside and out.

Pay attention to the mobile experience: The mobile audience is a force to be reckoned with and cannot be ignored. Make sure you have the right technology provider with the functionality you need.

Look for scalable interactive video technology: If your brand wants to update existing videos with a couple small changes fairly frequently, look for existing technology platforms that make this process simple.

Spell it out – early: If you have something that you really want your customers to hear, be sure to say it during the “prime” window of between 5 seconds – 45 seconds into the video. If you sell your story in this crucial introduction, you might just find you have your customer’s ear for the whole spot.

Limit the choices: Don’t offer more than three choices or interaction at a time. Why? If your potential customer gets overwhelmed, your interactive video will be deserted.

Plan smart distribution: Where should your customers experience your interactive video? On your website? On Facebook? Or in a strategic pay-for-play spot? Map it out!

Change course as needed: If you’re not getting your desired results, edit your video to get you closer to your goal.

Remember, mobile service is not always reliable: Limit plug-ins, add-ons, massive images, and JavaScript that might make content difficult to load in a WiFi-weak spot.

Be shareable: The best content will be shared, improving your visibility and potential to sell. Make your video absolutely effortless to pass along!

Interactive branded videos are not created in vacuum. Regardless of your medium (whether it’s video, social media ads, or even television spots), your message should always reign supreme. Make sure you are on-point in all of your branding collateral, especially something as shareable as an interactive video that has the chance to go viral!

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References:
Dickey, Josh. “Any Video Can Be Interactive — and Soon, They All Will Be.” Mashable. July 1, 2014.
http://mashable.com/2014/07/01/fuisz-interactive-online-videos
Trautman, Erika. “11 tips for creating a successful and engaging interactive video.” The Next Web. July 13, 2014.
http://thenextweb.com/dd/2014/07/13/11-tips-creating-successful-engaging-interactive-video/
http://contently.com/strategist/2013/01/11/the-magic-of-interactive-videos-video
http://www.trendreports.com/article/interactive-marketing-strategies