How Content Marketing Is Shifting Toward Choose Your Own Adventure

The world of content marketing is always shifting and we are seeing new trends arise every year. In 2019, we expect content marketing to mimic the “choose your own adventure” content that we’ve seen major brands like Netflix trying. The streaming service has multiple interactive TV choices, such as Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale for kids and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch for the older audiences. This personalized content has been extremely popular and gives viewers the chance to interact with content like never before.

So what does this all mean for content marketing? It’s no surprise that your content should be personalized to your specific audience, but content marketing is shifting to an even higher level of customization. Let’s look at this style of interactive content in-depth and share some ways you can include it in your marketing plan.

What is Choose Your Own Adventure Content?

Many of us grew up with “choose your own adventure” books and there’s nothing quite like the thrill of becoming engrossed in the story and choosing how it ends. Your path could lead you to victory or to a quick demise (we see you, Goosebumps!). Choose your own adventure content is similar as it puts the user in control. Rather than just telling the reader or viewer what to think, you give them a choice of how they want to consume your content.

Interactive content like this is just another form of incorporating storytelling into your marketing strategy, which is one of the most effective ways to make your ideas stick. Consumers are bombarded with countless advertisements, blogs, and information to digest, so interactive content gives you a chance to stand out amongst the crowd.

How to Implement Interactive Content

While Netflix implemented interactive content into their movies and shows, even small businesses can take advantage of this trend. There are many forms of “choose your own adventure” content, including:

• Quizzes
• Flowcharts
• Games
• Website content

There are other ways to implement interactive media in your marketing strategy and the good news is that it doesn’t have to be a huge, complicated process. As long as your content is touchable, empowering, and ties your audience to your brand, you’re good to go.

Another great thing about interactive content is that you can easily track your users’ behavior and use that to your advantage. For example, if you create a quiz where users are directed to a certain outcome, you can use these results to determine where you should use more ad spend and can retarget them based on their results.

Interactive Content Examples

Brands both big and small have used interactive content in their marketing plans because it’s a fun way to mix your content marketing up. Here are some of our favorite examples:

Chex Quest by General Mills – Chex Quest was a first-person video game developed by General Mills to promote Chex products and was one of the first interactive content pieces. This hugely-successful game generated a 295% increase in sales volume, won the Golden EFFIE Award for Advertising Effectiveness in 1996, and won the Golden Reggie Award for Promotional Achievement in 1998. More than twenty years later, you can still find marketing case studies, forums, and research dedicated to this interactive game.

Plastic Calculator by Earth Day Network – This calculator shows users how much plastic they consume each year, including plastic bags, water bottles, straws, and more. While not the most aesthetic piece on the list, this interactive content example shows how you can personalize your content and directly relate it to the consumer. This particular piece also plays on the emotional response of visitors.

Bird Migration Map by National Geographic – While not a “choose your own adventure” type piece, we couldn’t help but include this beautiful visualization of the migration patterns of many birds by National Geographic. The page includes a yearly time lapse to see where different birds are observed and includes interesting facts about their migrations. Play around in this piece for a bit and you’ll quickly see why interactive content has the power to stand out and be memorable.

Interactive content is definitely a 2019 marketing trend that we want to keep our eyes on as major brands continue to adopt this technology. Not only does it provide marketers with more data surrounding their consumers, but it also helps companies stand out from the overcrowded content landscape.