I recently attended a seminar with a variety of different presenters and topics. I was really excited about all the different workshops I’d chosen to attend, but at the end of the day, one really stood out from the rest. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in a good way!

All the workshops followed a somewhat similar formula: there was a presentation, followed by an activity, ending with sharing among the participants. All the workshops except for one, that is. In that workshop, the presenter simply gave a lecture without any interactivity or sharing. And despite dealing with a fascinating topic, the consensus was that particular workshop stood out as weak and boring in comparison to the others. Attendants felt that interactivity and sharing within their groups, on any level, made the workshops much more rewarding.

The appeal of interactivity is especially strong in the web world. Think about it: even little things like mouse-over effects or drop-down menus somehow make your visit to a site just a bit more personalized and interesting, don’t they? And consider having the opportunity to express your opinion — whether in the real world or in the social media world, being able to express yourself makes a visit more meaningful, compared to just watching or listening, right?

So when one of our clients asked the other day if there were ways they could incorporate more interactive elements on their website, we were happy to help!

Social media is one of the handiest ways to integrate interactivity and sharing on a website. For this particular client, we took their twitter feed and integrated it on the home page. It’s a great way to keep the site fresh and relevant with news and information specially selected to entice their target audience. More than just the feed, though, we added a button that allows users to easily share and comment on the twitter feed, providing an even more interactive experience.

Other ways to increase the interactivity of your site include incorporating a blog with comments; social media links and feeds; feedback forms; call-to-action buttons; bookmark functions; and mouse-over or hover effects.

Don’t be that website that stands out for the wrong reasons — by being boring or stale! Integrate interactive web elements to engage your visitors — and see how visitors become friends! Contact us if you’d like to find out how Sanmita can help get your site more interactive.