How do you make interactive videos that people want to share?

Interactive videos are videos that allow viewers to choose their own path, answer questions, or perform actions within the video. They can increase engagement, retention, and conversion rates, as well as create a memorable and personalized experience for your audience. But how do you make interactive videos that people want to share? Here are some tips and best practices to help you create captivating and shareable interactive videos.

1 Choose a clear goal and audience

Before you start creating your interactive video, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and who you want to reach. Do you want to educate, entertain, or persuade your viewers? Do you want to collect feedback, generate leads, or drive sales? Do you want to target a specific niche, demographic, or persona? Having a clear goal and audience will help you craft your message, tone, and style, as well as choose the right platform and format for your interactive video.

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Osama Madlom

Pharmacist and sometimes I like to make films 💊🎬 1 million + views |
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It’s all about adding value to people’s lives. Either that or provide some sort of entertainment factor. If you could do either one, you’re onto a winner.

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Joshua Nolette

Sales Director
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Evoke strong emotion. We live in a time when people are bombarded with content that demands their attention. It’s never been more challenging to get someone’s attention than now. The clearest way to stand out, is to either make people really mad or really happy. Anything in between is just noise.

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2 Plan your storyboard and branches

Interactive videos require more planning and preparation than linear videos, as you need to create different scenarios and outcomes based on the choices and actions of your viewers. You need to map out your storyboard and branches, and decide how many options and paths you want to offer. You also need to balance the complexity and length of your interactive video, as too many choices can overwhelm or confuse your viewers, and too long videos can lose their attention or interest. A good rule of thumb is to keep your interactive video between 3 to 10 minutes, and offer 2 to 4 options per branch.

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Sandy De Jesus

Developing social media systems that grow you authentically and profitably | Modern day Pocahontas | CEO @Anomalous
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→ Define Key Scenarios: Outline the main scenarios and potential outcomes of your interactive video. → Map Out Branches: Visualize how each choice leads to different paths, ensuring clarity in storytelling. → Limit Choices: Offer 2-4 options per branch to maintain engagement without overwhelming viewers. → Balance Complexity: Ensure a good balance between interactive complexity and narrative coherence. → Consider Video Length: Aim for a 3-10 minute duration to keep viewers’ attention and interest. → Test Flow: Before finalizing, test the flow of your interactive video to ensure smooth transitions and logical outcomes. → Adjust as Needed: Be ready to adjust branches and choices based on test feedback for optimal viewer experience.

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3 Use interactive elements and features

Interactive videos can include various elements and features that make them more engaging and interactive, such as buttons, menus, quizzes, polls, forms, sliders, overlays, links, and more. You can use these elements and features to guide your viewers, provide feedback, collect data, or offer incentives. For example, you can use buttons to let your viewers choose their own adventure, quizzes to test their knowledge or preferences, polls to gather their opinions or feedback, forms to capture their contact information or preferences, sliders to adjust the video speed or volume, overlays to add extra information or context, links to direct them to your website or social media, and more.

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4 Test and optimize your interactive video

Before you launch your interactive video, you need to test and optimize it for different devices, browsers, and platforms. You need to make sure that your interactive video works smoothly and seamlessly, and that it is compatible with the platform or channel where you want to distribute it. You also need to monitor and measure the performance and results of your interactive video, and use analytics and feedback to improve it. You can track metrics such as views, completion rates, engagement rates, conversion rates, shares, comments, and more.

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5 Promote and distribute your interactive video

Finally, you need to promote and distribute your interactive video to reach and attract your target audience. You can use various channels and strategies to spread the word about your interactive video, such as email marketing, social media marketing, influencer marketing, content marketing, paid advertising, and more. You also need to optimize your interactive video for SEO and social media, and use catchy titles, thumbnails, descriptions, hashtags, and captions to entice your viewers. You can also encourage your viewers to share your interactive video with their friends, family, or network, and offer rewards, discounts, or incentives for doing so.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How do you make interactive videos that people want to share?

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1 Choose a clear goal and audience

2 Plan your storyboard and branches

3 Use interactive elements and features

4 Test and optimize your interactive video

5 Promote and distribute your interactive video

6 Here’s what else to consider

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