Are your social media posts still engaging your audiences?
If not, it’s time to refine your efforts and take your social media content to the next level.
Data shows that 88% of marketers say interactive content helps companies differentiate themselves from competitors.
The figure highlights how effective interactive content can be in raising brand awareness and recognition and driving engagement and conversions. It can also be one of the most compelling tactics to influence consumers through social media.
The big catch is that you can’t create a social media video, add “interactive” in the description, and call it a day.
You need to leverage the best interactive social media content types to engage your audiences.
We’ll cover that in this guide, so let’s jump right into it.
1. Polls
Polls can make excellent interactive posts on social media platforms because they encourage audiences to participate.
Facebook and Instagram support poll posts, making it easy for you to create spontaneous polls.
For example, create an Instagram Story with the Poll sticker, as Ben & Jerry’s does in its ice cream flavor poll below.
The poll entices audiences to interact with the content while giving the brand insights into the audience’s mind.
It’s a two-for-one strategy that helps you gain customer data while generating some sweet (ice cream joke wink wink) engagement.
Include relevant hashtags for Instagram Reels and Stories to make your polls more discoverable and visible. It helps your post reach more audiences, increasing your engagement opportunities.
Other poll ideas you can take inspiration from include:
- Customer satisfaction polls
- A quick poll on trending topics and pressing issues
- A decision-making process to involve your audiences, such as asking your followers to select your next post idea
Follow content writing hacks to nail your social media poll captions and descriptions. It helps you draw attention to your posts and entice audiences to interact with your content.
2. Fun challenges
Throw in fun surprises in your social media content by including challenges.
No, we don’t mean daring your audiences to do extreme stunts like skydiving.
Stick to doable, interesting challenges your audiences can do at home, such as trying a new style or recipe using your products.
The random recipe challenge on Instagram below is a good example.
The IG post is a great way to share a brand or industry-related content that calls for audience interaction and engagement.
Consider using challenges as recurring social media series.
For instance, you can create a 10-day challenge requiring you and your followers to develop ideas to improve a specific user or customer experience.
You can use this as part of your efforts to promote your robust UI/UX design software while interacting with and engaging your followers.
Use challenges to foster anticipation among your audiences and build a community of loyal followers.
A bit of a warning: Challenges on social media can be a hit or miss.
Assess your content’s performance by developing a solid content tracking strategy. This way, you’ll know if your social media challenges generate interactions and engagement effectively.
3. Calculators
Who knew calculators could be interactive?
When used strategically, calculators can be excellent interactive content types that widen your brand’s reach and boost engagement.
Interactive calculators can also help you generate new leads on social media and jumpstart the conversion process.
To effectively use interactive calculators on social media, start your post by answering a customer problem.
It allows you to swoop in and present your calculator as the perfect tool to help address your potential customer’s pain point.
If you offer content marketing services, share an interactive calculator that helps customers determine the costs of buying SEO articles vs. creating content themselves.
Design your calculator, create a landing page, and share it across your social media marketing channels.
Online consignment and thrift store ThredUp offers a Fashion Footprint Calculator that tells you whether your current clothes and fashion pieces contribute to climate change.
It’s a great way to help customers overcome an obstacle and share relevant information while engaging audiences through interactive content.
Interactive calculators can also expose your brand to bigger audiences, helping you get new leads and gain more customers.
4. Games
Interactive games on social media are often crowd-pleasers and engagement boosters.
After all, who doesn’t like content unique from the same old posts on your feed?
Start simple by transforming simple social media images and videos into engagement and interaction tools.
For example, the IG post from Paper Mill Playhouse below has avid fans at the edge of their seats with this “Guess what shows are in the 2022 to 2033 season with emojis” game.
It’s a simple and fun way to encourage interactions and engagement through your social media posts.
Plus, creating a gamified post like the example above is simple and only requires a bit of creativity to pull off.
5. Live Q&As
One of the best ways to break down barriers between your brand and audiences is to offer real-time interactions.
Some of the most effective approaches are through live Q&A and Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions.
Live Q&As give your viewers a chance to get answers to their burning questions quickly, encouraging them to stay on and tune in to your event.
Live sessions also help your brand come off as more human and relatable, helping you connect with your audiences better and boosting engagement.
Ensure you announce your event days before your live session.
Promote it across your social media channels like Sephora did with its TikTok Live Fall Makeup event.
You can go through comments on your event announcement posts to answer questions from interested audiences.
Doing so helps you direct people to your landing page or event page, generate comments from your promotional posts, and get more eyeballs on your live sessions.
Get interactive to boost social media engagement
Leverage interactive social media posts to stand out from other brands while engaging your audiences effectively.
Get inspiration from this guide’s interactive social media content ideas to help skyrocket your engagement rates across your social media marketing channels.