People talk a lot at the moment about the power of interactive content--quizzes, assessments, choose-your-own-adventure infographics, etc--and the potential for sparking reader engagement this way. This is particularly the case in the light of Facebook’s algorithm change.
It’s true that interactive content is great for driving conversation and is increasingly straightforward to produce. The proliferation of tools offered by companies such as Ion Interactive, Arkadium, SnapApp, and so on has been wonderful.
That said, it’s important we don’t sour on so-called passive content too quickly. Traditional “2D” editorial remains perfectly capable of generating Mark Zuckerberg’s gold standard of “meaningful interaction.” Just make sure your content is produced with a mindset that is genuinely open to promoting and sustaining an audience conversation after the point of initial publication.
And remember that interactive elements--quizzes and surveys, for example--can be a great way of making traditional editorial more interactive in and of itself. It needn’t be either/or.
As so much in the marketing mix, it’s never really one approach or the other: it’s striking the right balance for whatever goal you are addressing.
“Remember that interactive elements—quizzes and surveys, for example—can be a great way of making traditional editorial more interactive in and of itself.”