Interactivity and interactive content: The lost link of communication

6 minutes
Written by: Margarita González del Hierro

The search for the missing link began relatively recently. It wasn’t that long ago that humans became conscious of being a species with an incredible amount of cultural and biological diversity developed over time.

The way we communicate has evolved with us. Over time, humans have developed diverse systems of communication that have been adapted to the social needs of each moment in history. Now, with everything changing so quickly, it can seem like there’s a “missing link” in this evolving communication.

Effective communication in the 21st century requires new elements to adapt to the needs of our world as it is now. Want to discover the link you need for effective communication?  Don’t lag behind, and catch up with the communication of the future through interactivity.

What is interactivity?

We explore digital creations intuitively through interactivity, an element that taps into our ancient explorer instincts.  We’re attracted by what we like, and we relate to content in the same way we relate to the real world. Interactivity is able to greatly influence how we consume digital content by immersing us in a world of its own.

Genially offers us a digital structure where we can distribute information in layers and add interactivity through tooltips, windows, linked pages and links. With it, we are able to create a communicative environment similar to the real world which helps contextualize information, maximizing memorization, critical thinking and creativity with visual metaphors that captivate your audience.

The evolution of content

In the evolution of the communication of content, cave paintings, written texts, photographs and audiovisual content have added the necessary links to form a foundation for the communication of the future in which we live today.

In a given day, we receive thousands of messages. The speed and quantity of information that reaches us challenges our ability to process and take it in completely. We’re in the era of an explosion of digital information. This means that how we receive information has changed from traditional reading to a  cognitive strategy based on navigation. We want information to reach us in a way that’s quick and intuitive instead of linear.

The content that we pay attention to stands out from the rest. It’s different, communicates information quickly, kindly and in layers by importance and can be shared easily with our social circles. Our audience is looking for this kind of content. In this post, we’ll tell you more about creating the content your audience loves.

Is interactivity for me?

Interactivity adds value to your creations. Want to know how interactivity improves your everyday work? Here are a few of the main benefits of interactivity, according to your sector:

If you’re part of the education sector:

Interactivity lets your students become proactive in their own learning.  Design lessons that teach through instructive didactic units made up of learning landscapes. Create an explorable, adaptable and flexible world your students will be excited to be a part of.

Transform a simple image into a universe of knowledge. Try adding interactivity to a historic photograph or an image of lab instruments, Design motivating challenges and fascinating breakouts. The possibilities are endless!

If you belong to the world of marketing:

Reel in your audience with real interactive experiences through stunning enriched content. Launch your website or blog with infographics, interactive images, quizzes, lists, and more and analyze its success! With Genially you can learn about and monitor how your audience interacts with your content.

Interactive Content

If you’re part of an organization:

Present your products innovatively. With interactivity as your secret weapon, you’ll create the most stunning, visual and effective content you’ve ever made. Turn a photo of your products into an interactive catalogue, create interactive presentations that make an impact, dossiers and sales reports that your audience will want to read, captivating infographics, and more. Take your content to the next level and get your audience hooked.

5 great reasons to add interactivity to your creations

Haven’t made up your mind yet? Here are five great reasons to start adding interactivity to your creations.

Reel in your audience

With interactivity, your audience will be actively involved with your content, and the time they spend in your creation will increase, improving engagement.  Make sure your message captivates.

Communicate efficiently

The generation of interactive layers of content helps to place information in a hierarchy, making it easier to digest and understand. When you transform your concepts into interactive content that’s made to be explored in layers, you clarify the message you want to communicate. Take your communication to a whole new level.

Make it memorable

Interactivity is the link your creation needs to achieve a lasting impact with your audience. By generating an immersive, explorable environment, your audience can “stroll around” your creation, making concepts easier to remember over time. Send memorable and meaningful messages.

Create new connections

Go your own way and make something different than typical linear, flat creations. Interactivity allows you to create innovative and creative formats that work in multiple directions and connections between ideas flow easily. Strengthen your visual communication and your message. Link pages to one another to create fluid navigation through your creation. Communicate in a way that is quick, intuitive and multidirectional.

Tell stories that teach

Interactivity helps you to communicate your ideas through a story. Create entire universes of knowledge by generating interactive content. Allow your audience to navigate their way around a narrative world with infinite stories where the spaces, characters, roles and esthetic work together to create a framework of reference for the knowledge you share. Use storytelling easily through interactivity.

Creating interactive content

Now that you’ve discovered the missing link for effective communication, it’s time to add interactivity to your creations.

There are several ways to apply interactivity to our digital creations. We can create content that is intrinsically interactive like an image, infographic or interactive video, or we can transform a static document like a PowerPoint, into a truly interactive creation. Both are easy tasks thanks for digital tools like Genially that offer us a structure for distributing our information in layers and applying interactivity through tooltips, windows, linked pages and external links.

Plus, Genially’s Editor includes fantastic interactive elements: buttons, markers, and icons for Social Media. These are some of the dynamic resources you’ll find that are intrinsically interactive. They come with a small animated effect to catch your audience’s eye and draw them towards areas where you’ve placed extra content through interactive elements.

Next, we’ll present you with four awesome creation types you can use to give your creativity full reign while you explore interactivity.

Interactive image

A good example of interactivity is an interactive image, a really useful creation type for communicating ideas quickly and concisely. Here, your interactive elements are the stars of the show,and a picture is worth a thousand words!  Learn how to create an interactive image in just one minute with this post.

Interactive presentation

Turn your talk into an interactive communication experience that’s fun and entertaining with stunning design and animations in your next Genially presentation.

Interactive guide

A guide is the perfect format for explaining, showing or putting together content that has different, easily differentiated sections. Create immersive communication experiences for your audience. You can make travel guides, how-to instructions, tutorials, video game stages, and more. You choose!

Breakout

Breakouts are an awesome tool for helping our audience, students or employees, develop capabilities like group work, research, critical thinking and personal motivation, while attending to a diverse audience group. Take the plunge, and try out Genially to create an immersive learning environment with challenges that make it memorable, active, meaningful and cooperative.

We hope this post motivates you to add interactivity, the effective missing link for great communication, to your creations.

If you have any questions or suggestions, don’t hesitate to get in touch through social media or by commenting on this post.

Warm wishes from everyone on the Genially team!

Margarita González del Hierro
Margarita González del Hierro
Biologist, Designer, Maker and Teacher. Specialized in Scientific Communication. I combine my passions working as VP of Creative Sector
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