If ‘content’ was king, then ‘rich media content’ completely overthrew the monarchy. These days every big advertiser, website or media house is moving from producing plain old textual content to rich content. Rich media content is video, audio or something unique that allows users to interact and engage better with your content.

From voting polls to 360 degree videos, gamified ads, clickable videos, memes, animated GIFs, content seems to pushing all boundaries and popping out on our screen like never before.  This begs the question that why are websites, advertisers and media giants spending so much effort, time and money on creating rich media content?

Rich Media helps with SEO

When the images and videos on your website have been optimized and labelled correctly, they will fare better in organic search results than plain old text. By optimizing we mean that both the image or the video has to be of high quality, size & resolution. It should be well-described in terms of its type, subject, caption, location or license.

Higher interaction & user engagement 

In today’s world of constant distractions and disruptions, getting someone to read something for very long is a task in itself. Anything that is presented in a more dynamic way gets those eyeballs on your product or offering.

Its all about measuring clicks & data

Nothing converts to customer leads and traffic better than rich media. Rich media also provides you with a way to measure and track your customers, conversions, lead generation. It also helps you see what content is working, for how long, and whether you need to stick to your content strategy or evolve it further.

The pitfalls of rich media

Of course, rich media isn’t all roses and rainbows. It comes with the disadvantage that your web page could become slower. For a small company creating rich media content can also seem exhausting difficult and expensive. Also, when rich media isn’t done right, then it can look, feel and perform worse than plain old textual content.

Choose rich media according to your audience

When you are jumping on the rich media bandwagon, one thing to keep in mind is your audience. Not every audience will fall in love with video, some may appreciate something as simple as audio. Younger audiences might appreciate games, augmented reality and other creative forms of rich media.

Timing is important

Like with all the content, textual or rich, publishing at the right time can get you a higher ranking and engagement. Always remember to capitalize on trends, news updates for maximum virality. Humorous rich media seems to have a big effect on engagement rates.

Don’t forget to promote rich media

You spend time, effort and money on producing rich content, now don’t think that organic reach will do all the work. Promoting your content on the right channel with the right audience is important.

How do I get started with rich media?

While there are tons of rich media content providers and agencies available online, you can get started with your own small team as well. You can browse through Lynda tutorials to explore this topic further.

Did you know that our app Lama allows you to create your own rich media content such as video interviews which can easily be shared on your website or social media for higher engagement? Sign up now to get started!

Photo by Jenna Day on Unsplash