Putting fresh ideas in the public sector is a huge task; it is like convincing your parents who are in their 60s to switch to Apple smartphones after they have been using Android for the past 15 years. It feels weird, chaotic, and occasionally fills your WhatsApp chat with surprising selfies.
Still, the change you have dreaded does get things moving, and you are now more connected with your parents than ever before. Now imagine a world where government offices aren’t powered by fossilised papers, where every request, complaint, and report gets locked in, never to be heard or escaped. Think how much better a world can be when all the potholes are suddenly getting filled, filing complaints becomes as easy as ordering pizza online.
One of the latest innovations that government bodies can quickly adapt to is creating interactive videos for the public. With this blog, we are going to show you how interactive videos can be a technology which makes the government embrace new ideas and innovation. We will show how accepting and using interactive videos can become their secret sauce for making governing feel less “stuck in the past” and more “ready for the next big thing.” So let’s begin!
Why Does the Public Sector Need Interactive Video?
The public sector needs interactive videos in their marketing campaigns because they help them transform traditional ways of communication into more dynamic, engaging and accessible experiences.
Furthermore, Interactive videos help public organisations to clearly explain complex policies, programs, and services to diverse audiences, thus creating a sense of understanding and trust.
On the other hand, traditional means of communication will feel dry and one-sided, just like Monday morning hurdles. Governments can use them as part of their citizen engagement tools that make people actively participate rather than passive viewing.
In short, the public sector has a huge potential to turn its unprecedented “blah-blah-blah” into more of a “Let’s chat, let me know what you will do in this situation.” Thus, making government communication smarter, friendlier and more impactful.
Benefits of Interactive Video in the Public Sector
Here is the full list of benefits that someone working in the public sector can enjoy once they use interactive videos in their awareness campaigns:
1. Enhanced Citizen Engagement
Interactive video in the government sector makes passive viewers into active participants. With the help of interactive video tools like Lifeinside. In, citizens will be able to directly interact with the content provided by the government in the form of clickable elements, polls, quizzes, and even a feedback form, all of which will be embedded in a video.
In addition to this, you can use interactive videos to curate personalised experiences based on user choice, thus making information more relevant and accessible.
2. Improved Training for Government Employees
By using the power of interactive videos, government employees can add quizzes, simulations, and decision points to keep training employees attentive throughout the video.
Also, training employees can learn at their own speed; they revisit complex topics and solve questions that were part of the video lesson when they feel like it, which results in pushing self-paced learning to a whole other level.
Interactive videos could easily replicate real-life scenarios on which the government needs to train their employees. Using this form of video will make employees practice their decision-making while being in a risk-free environment.
3. Cost-Effective Communication Tool
By deploying interactive videos, you can make viewers engage with your content digitally and eliminate expensive in-person experiences. One interactive video that the government creates could be used again and again by millions of people with no additional production cost.
Interactive videos also reduce the requirement for constant follow-ups because, as you use interactive videos for training officials, you will grab their attention span, which makes it easy for them to comprehend the crux of the video in one go.
4. Real-Time Feedback and Data Collection
Users can interact immediately with surveys and forums that are part of the interactive video. In addition to this, a user can interact with a specific part of the video to show their interest and personal preference, which helps in generating valuable data on user engagement.
Interactive videos are mostly backed by powerful analytical tool which help video owners analyse each step taken by their viewers, for example, how many times did user click replay button, which specific interactive segment of the video people liked the most, and other forms of interactions which users complete while watching the video, all of this will be combined with the insights to showcase user interests and pain points.
5. Better Transparency and Public Trust
Interactive videos in the government sector can be used for informing citizens about the latest government schemes, laws and policies with clickable sections, Q&A pop-ups, or even creating scenario-based storytelling. Citizens can explore those parts which they feel are more relevant in terms of the information they wish to access. As a result, it leads to less confusion and misunderstanding of the latest government policies.
6. Accessibility for All Citizens
Interactive videos that are part of the E-learning platform of the public sector can have subtitles, voiceovers, or clickable language choices such as English, Spanish, French, and others. Thus, viewers can engage with information in the language they prefer and feel most comfortable in.
On the other hand, interactive video tools can create closed captions and audio descriptions automatically. This will help people with hearing problems to understand video captions and follow through with them.
7. Personalised User Experience
With interactive videos, users can input their pin-code from where they are watching the content, and based on their pin-code, the video will show region-specific data, such as a list of hospitals that are part of the government health scheme, a list of roads that are being developed by the local government or state-wise subsidy details.
Likewise, a public sector interactive video can also include branched storylines where if a user clicks on “I am a student,” the education scheme shows up, if they click on “I am farmer,” then the video will show them all the agricultural support programs, and so on.
Instead of dumping large amounts of information and documents, the video can pause and let citizens click on the pop-up questions, such as: “How do I apply?” “What documents are needed?” “Who is eligible?” This will create a personal advisor experience inside the video.
8. Greater Reach Across Demographics
Young people are more interested in having gamified versions of things, and at the same time, elderly citizens prefer slower-paced videos which include narration and large texts. By using the interactive branches in video-based public services, government bodies can make content which adapts to the different age groups.
So young people can watch content which is fast-paced and comes with FAQs and other things which feel like they are playing a game. At the same time, the same video will have a much larger font, and it will also include slow narration so that senior citizens can understand the video context clearly.
9. Encourages Civic Participation
Traditional videos come with a one-way communication format, but with smart governance tools, which include interactive videos, citizens can respond, click and choose, thus making them part of the process instead of just viewing the content.
Whenever the government comes up with new policies, the entire documentation is long and tiring to digest. With interactive videos, government officials can break large policy documents into more digestible, bite-sized information, which have clickable stories.
For example, users can click their way through budgeting videos to see how their funds are now allocated in different government sectors like health, education, and infrastructure.
Also, when citizens are able to interact with information provided by the government, they feel decisions are more transparent. It helps in building trust and making people more involved in civic programs conducted by the government.
10. Data-Driven Decision Making
Every single click, every single response and the choice which the user makes in interactive video will lead to the generation of data that defines citizens' preferences, concerns, and priorities. Besides this, interactive videos, when used as a government's digital outreach, can help in revealing patterns across demographics because the user engagement data can be analysed by segments.
Real-Life Examples and Case Studies
Here are a few real-life examples where interactive videos helped in spreading crucial information to the public:
1. CPR Training by Resuscitation Council UK
They came up with an interactive video called “lifesaver” which simulates real emergency scenarios, citizens will be prompted to take actions, and based on their actions, they will get feedback on how well they performed the CPR. With this engaging format, the UK government was able to improve public competence in life-saving CPR techniques, which increases survival rates from cardiac arrest.
2. Virtual Campus Tour Provided by University of Melbourne
The University came up with the idea of an interactive 360-degree video campus tour, which has clickable hotspots, and when a viewer clicks on them, an entire new page of information will open, depending on the hotspot which they clicked.
3. Government Recruitment Videos Developed by Deloitte
With interactive video integration, Deloitte made sure that every candidate is able to explore different roles and departments depending on their experience with real-time feedback. This resulted in an increase in engagement and attracted quality talent as they were able to bring an authentic glimpse of what working in different sectors will look like once a candidate joins.
Best Practices for Implementation of Interactive Video in the Public Sector
Given below are some of the best implementation practices which you must include to smooth out the process of interactive video development:
1. Define Clear Objectives
One of the most crucial aspects of creating an interactive video is first to ask yourself, what goal does your interactive video serve? Chalk out the aims you wish to achieve; it could be as simple as improving citizen engagement, training employees or disseminating information. Defining goals is the very first step that you have to finish to move ahead.
2. Find Out Your Audience
After finding out the objective of your interactive goal, the next important practice which you should never miss is performing a thorough research of the targeted audience based on their demographics, language preference, digital literacy levels and more.
3. Keep Your Videos Simple Yet Intuitive
When creating an interactive video, make sure video navigation and clickables are well labelled and are accessible to all users, including those who are differentially abled.
4. Use Relevant and Accurate Content
During the time of content development for your interactive video, just make sure that all the information you put in the video is factually correct and it is up-to-date. Also, the provided data needs to comply with public sector policies to ensure the highest level of conformity.
5. Ensure Mobile Compatibility
96.3% of internet users access the internet using a mobile phone, which is a clear disclaimer for you to make your interactive video mobile compatible. This will allow your video to reach an audience who are primarily using their smartphones to access the internet.
6. Plan for Data Security and Privacy
When creating an interactive video, you will also be developing a data analysis system which will store user information. You need to make sure that the data fetching system complies with government policies and regulations. At the same time, you should be as transparent as possible about data collection techniques to build trust among viewers.
Challenges and Considerations
When creating interactive videos as part of public sector digital transformation, you need to keep a few things in mind, which are mentioned below.
Your interactive video must cater to a wide range of demographics, languages, and digital literacy levels to get the best results possible. Still, in order to do that, you must have a big team that caters to the requirements of separate demographics and language priorities. This is something only big companies can do; small businesses can’t even outsource this type of work because it will be too expensive in the first place.
Apart from this, even if you create a video in 4K resolution, there is a high chance that no one will be able to see it in its true glory because of variability in their devices and internet connection that affects the video performance, along with accessibility.
If you do not have an advanced analytics tool to measure and track engagement numbers, then all the hard work and money you put into the creation of the video will go to waste. So make sure you have an analytics tool which is compatible with the interactive video creation platform.
Future of Interactive Video in Governance
Here are some of the key points that outline the future of interactive videos in governance:
- Interactive videos are set to become more immersive and personalised, and content will be tailored dynamically based on viewers’ preferences.
- Real-time feedback and responsive data analytics will enable faster, more informed decision-making to improve transparency.
- Increase in citizen involvement with the facilitation of remote public consultations, virtual town halls and participatory democracy.
- Integration of interactive videos with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) that deepens the experiential and training format for government bodies.
Finally, interactive videos will make governance more responsive, efficient and people-centric as they will be used to bridge gaps between the government and a diverse population.
Wrapping Up: Turn Bureaucracy Into Blockbusters
From this blog, we are quite sure you now get the idea of how interactive video can be a transformative tool in the public sector. It can truly change how the public sees the government and the way both parties are able to communicate with each other.
By combining both visuals and storytelling with interactive elements, the government has the potential to make videos that are easier for citizens to understand, and it can also be used to break down bureaucratic walls in order to make information far more accessible to the general audience.
From the above list, you can clearly see that the benefits of interactive video go far beyond engagement; it empowers the government to be more informative, connected, and available to create more proactive communities, ensuring governance evolves to match the pace of digital society.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Can interactive video work with low internet speed?
Yes, low interactive speed won’t hinder interactive video’s performance if you are able to optimise it carefully with the design considerations like adaptive streaming, lightweight interactive elements, preloading critical content, use of efficient compression models, and progressive loading.
2. Are interactive videos mobile-friendly?
Yes, when creating interactive videos, it is necessary to make them mobile-friendly by integrating touch screen compatibility, fast loading times, responsive UI design, cross-platform support, and adding mobile-specific features.
3. How long should an interactive video be?
It depends on the requirement, but the general rule suggests that the duration should be in-between 6 - 9 minutes. Videos that are more than 9 minutes long may end up causing fatigue if the content provided in them isn’t that interesting to viewers.
4. What are the costs involved in making one?
Interactive videos can cost between $1000- $5000, depending on how many interactive elements you put in, the scale of your production, the number of viewers, and the data set you want to acquire from it. On the other hand, there are tools like Lifeinside. in that provide subscription-based plans starting from $99 a month. They provide interactive video creation and marketing platforms to their users.
5. Can interactive video replace in-person training?
Interactive videos can enhance and complement in-person training, but in the foreseeable future, it is very unlikely that they can completely replace in-person training.
