The growth of technology and digital media has created an overflow of advertisements. With all the clutter, it’s challenging to stick out and drive growth. To become a standout, brands are embracing interactive advertising—a tactic that focuses on interacting with and engaging audiences. Here are some effective methods and techniques for using interactive advertising.
College Ambassadors
An effective way to establish authentic relationships between a brand and a community is through college ambassador programs. College ambassadors support brand efforts by delivering an authentic voice, fostering engagement and building trust with audiences.
A successful example is Red Bull’s 4,000 student marketeers who lead advertising and communications on college campuses. Red Bull student marketeers boost engagement by increasing brand awareness, promoting product trials, interacting with target consumers, organizing exciting events and creating strategies to improve relatability. The use of student marketeers has played a vital role in aligning Red Bull with their young target audience.
Social Media Trends
Lionsgate leverages social media trends that enhance engagement with fans and position the brand as authentic. The brand is currently thriving on TikTok by taking part in trends such as creating movie edits that mirror fan created content, behind-the-scenes videos, humorous challenges, Gen Z lingo, live streams and using viral sounds. Lionsgate’s social media efforts have not only significantly increased impressions but also captivated its audiences.
Why are social media strategies like Lionsgate’s so powerful in amplifying engagement? The answer is clear—the core focus of the strategies are the consumers. To be successful in interacting with audiences, brands must understand their target audience and tailor messages that will resonate with them.
User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is an influential tactic where brands use content made by real consumers or users to encourage purchases and engagement. UGC can take multiple forms including video, images, audio, reviews, testimonials and artwork. The goal of UGC is to involve consumers, set up trust and build a community.
Glossier has built a substantial community by encouraging users and micro-influencers to create content and use hashtags like #GlossierPink and #GlossierGirl. Glossier takes its engagement methods on social media a step further by interacting with comments and reposting UGC across platforms. Glossier’s commitment to involve audiences is clear and the reward is valuable.
Techniques for Interactive Advertising
The first step to succeed with interactive advertising is to understand your target audience. Knowing the interests, values and behaviors of your audience will ensure that your advertising efforts are relevant. Also, audiences will be more attentive if advertisements resonate with them.
Another best practice is to consider the experience for the participants. The material should be simple, interesting and enhance the consumer experience. When consumers are given a pleasurable experience, they are more likely to remember and favor the brand.
Don’t forget that the advertisement needs to be measurable. In order to evaluate success, brands need to know what aspects were helpful and what could be improved upon. Measuring results will also offer consumer insights to help future performance.
Interactive advertising is the key to fostering engagement with audiences. Whether your brand uses college ambassadors, social media trends or user-generated content, an interactive approach creates an active audience. The constant strive for active involvement will allow for more meaningful connections to form. Brand engagement is not only a tool to drive success—it’s building lasting relationships.