BIG Digital Interactive Brand Experiences for Better Engagement: What Is Brand Engagement and Why Is It Important

How does your brand engage consumers? Social media can only go so far, and many audiences skip over brand-generated content when they’re online. There have even been predictions that the era of social media is in decline, or at the very least, plateauing when it comes to user number growth.

While social media has been the easy answer for brands for years, brand engagement can be far more impactful when you meet consumers out in the real world.

Interactive brand experiences are the key to unlocking better consumer engagement. They can take place at in-store locations, out in public, or as part of your brand’s sponsorship campaigns. They bring something valuable to audience and consumer experiences. They can be integrated into your contests and promotions, generate leads, drive revenue, or focus on raising brand recognition and loyalty. Most importantly, they’re an opportunity to do something different.

BIG Digital is your partner in interactive brand experiences. We deliver turn-key solutions for interactive kiosks, portable digital billboards, and consumer engagement to our partnerships. We’re going to dive into the ins and outs of brand engagement, why your brand needs it, and how BIG Digital can help.

What Is Brand Engagement?

At its simplest, brand engagement is the relationship between your brand and consumers. It’s an emotional connection that consumers feel about your brand, and it’s all of the methods you have in your toolbox for creating that connection. Brand engagement looks like:

• Brand activations
• Event sponsorships
• Social media interactions
• Contests and promotions
• Extending your online reach to retail
• Digital and offline advertising
• Newsletters and emails

According to research and consulting firm Gartner, the four key attributes of consumer engagement involve:

• Creating emotional consumer engagement through trust and transparency.
• Increasing individual consumer engagement through all marketing channels.
• Targeting rational consumers through greater information and knowledge availability.
• Engaging consumers through partnerships and community.

Brand activations are one of the best ways that brands can meet any and all of these four objectives. With the right interactive experience, you can create a moment that consumers are going to remember. Design a brand activation, event or immersive retail experience that will give your consumers something valuable. It doesn’t have to be a prize or anything of monetary value. In fact, a fun, innovative, and unique experience can go even further in making your brand stand out in their memories.

Getting out into the world and interacting with audiences is also a great way to move out of digital and traditional marketing channels and make a deeper impression. People are constantly bombarded by digital ads. According to one study, the average person sees 5,000 ads a day. Meeting people in person breaks through the barriers that they’ve put up to contend with the overload. If you’re looking for a way to make sure your brand cuts through the noise, start thinking about brand experiences that take place in person.

Sponsorship fulfillment can be an incredible tool for fostering brand loyalty and showing your brand’s commitment to a community. From local events to national sports leagues, picking the right event to sponsor creates a connection. A sponsored activation builds a powerful association between your brand name and your partner event or organization. It brings your brand into a meaningful connection that audiences already have.

If it’s information and knowledge about your brand that you’re trying to spread, there are multiple ways to pursue consumer engagement. Activations at trade shows and conferences are great ways to engage professional audiences, such as businesses focused on the B2B world. For B2C engagements, in-store lift-and-learn kiosks are an effective way to activate around new product launches, but there are plenty more ideas.

Why You Need Better Consumer Engagement for Your Brand

Why does consumer engagement matter for your brand? The relationship you build with consumers is a valuable asset. Consumer engagement fulfills several major goals:

• Building loyalty with your customers.
• Introducing new consumers to your brand or familiar consumers to new products.
• Influencing consumer decisions in the physical world, where 80% of purchase decisions are made.
• Keeping your brand top of mind among audiences, boosting sales and generating leads.

Consumer loyalty leads to customer retention, and that can have a direct impact on sales performance. According to one study, you’re 14 times more likely to sell to an existing customer than a new one. Improving your customer retention rate by just 5% can improve profits by anywhere from 25% to 95%. Successfully fostering brand loyalty makes a major long-term difference on your sales.

Give consumers a good reason to come back, and you’ll find more and more consumers trying you out for the first time. The thing about brand loyalty is that it also has an impact on referrals. Long-time customers also turn into your biggest brand advocates. A personal referral can have more impact on a person’s decision-making process than all the advertising in the world.

How BIG Digital Supports Interactive Brand Experiences

BIG Digital is your solution for interactive kiosks that engage consumers in fields as wide-ranging as retail, events, sports, golf, trade shows and conferences, entertainment, and more. We meet brands’ technology needs so that they can go anywhere they need to for their brand activations. With our lineup of portable interactive kiosks and digital billboards, you can set up an interactive self serve kiosk anywhere, indoors or outdoors, without having to worry about where you’re going to plug in. Choose between battery- and solar-powered kiosks and plan any kind of engagement, knowing that your digital billboard is built for the environment.

Our brand engagement solutions are ideal for retail marketing, advertising, and experiential advertising campaigns. Our solutions offer next-generation consumer engagement to help your brand make an impression when you’re out in the physical world. Work with us to integrate the most innovative technology in brand engagement, including:

• Gamification stations and kiosks
• Interactive AI avatars
• Augmented reality mirrors
• Brand activation kiosks
• Interactive indoor totems
• Lead generation stations
• Self-serve kiosks
• Portable outdoor digital billboards

BIG Digital’s software and portable, interactive technology can play a major role in making sure you achieve your brand engagement objectives.

BIG Digital partners with all kinds of brands on to build event networks, pop-up activations, donation kiosks, and interactive brand engagements. Talk to us about creating better brand experiences and consumer engagement.