Producing interactive video means thinking about a whole new set of factors that you may not have encountered before when producing traditional linear video: should you build your own solution, or use something that’s pre-made; how will your customers interact with your video on mobile devices; what type of branching structure will be the most effective, based upon the type of content you’re presenting?
To answer these questions (and more), we put together a guide with the best practices for creating interactive video. With this in hand, it becomes easier to produce the most engaging, effective interactive video content possible that accomplish your goals, whatever they may be.
Here’s what you’ll learn in the interactive video best practices guide:
- Planning and preparation
- Setting your goals and objectives
- Coming up with a concept
- Choosing an interactive video solution (build in-house vs. buy)
- Considering factors like scalability, mobile, and integrations
- Best practices for interactive video
- Choosing the right branching structure for your content
- Optimizing your choice points
- Optimizing for mobile and social
- Incorporating calls to action
- Testing and iterating
Download the guide now, or read more below…
Here’s a more in-depth look at a few of the topics in our interactive video best practices guide:
What are your goals?
Like any larger-scale project, clearly laying out what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it is essential for success.
Begin by listing out your requirements. Is your goal to have high viewing times? To increase leads or subscriptions? Or maybe to drive brand awareness? What you choose here will impact what Key Performance Indicators you need to track and will influence every step along the process. From here, you can identify your target audience, figure out which channels will best reach them (social channels, paid placement, your website, etc.), and choose an interactive video solution based upon those needs.
It’s important to realize that different interactive video technologies have different capabilities, so it’s wise to know the technical requirements early in the process. Download the Interactive Video Best Practices Guide to learn more about these requirements.
Choosing a branching structure
There are many ways to optimize interactive video to deliver the best performance according to your goals.
The way that your video flows has a huge impact on keeping viewers engaged with the content. There are a few branching structure options to consider and the one you choose will depend on the type of content you start with. If it’s existing content being repurposed, the structures available to you will be more limited than if you’re shooting with interactivity in mind. Learn more about branching structures in the guide.
Optimizing the experience
It’s also necessary to optimize your choice points in a way that compels the viewer to keep watching. The first choice should occur less than 15 seconds into the video for the best results. Viewers that interact at least once have been shown to go on to spend a significant amount of time with the content.
Download the guide
This is just a taste of the unique considerations of creating interactive videos. For the full details on how to get started producing your own interactive videos, check out the guide and sign up for Rapt Media’s free trial.
