Dynamic web stories

In the past couple of years, people have grown accustomed to using story content. Mostly due to social media, web stories have become a common tool for product promotion and brand awareness. But, while a lot of companies use web stories, few use them to their full extent. The most common type of web story we can see being used is static web stories. And while there is nothing wrong with them, there are certain situations where dynamic web stories can be far more effective. So, in this article, we will explore what are dynamic web stories, why they are effective in marketing, and when to use them for maximum effect.

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What are dynamic web stories?

Dynamic web stories are web stories that contain dynamic content (also known as smart content). Essentially, if one part of a web story is dynamic (instead of static) you can consider the whole story dynamic. Dynamic, in this context, means that you can change the content on the fly. With static content, you are pretty much set in stone. Once you create a web story, it contains what it contains. If you look to change it, you will essentially create a different story. But, if you have dynamic content, your story can change based on your input and the input of the viewer.

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What aspects can be dynamic?

There is essentially no limit to what can be dynamic within a web story. Every aspect of it can be rearranged, altered and substituted if need be. While you can make every element of your web story dynamic, people usually focus on one or two. But, it is worth knowing that sky is the limit when it comes to experimenting.

Benefits of using dynamic content

A natural question that you've likely asked yourself already is "Why should I bother with using dynamic content?" Well, the fact is that there are certain marketing benefits that you simply cannot overlook. While dynamic content can be more difficult to create, it does go a long way in providing far more engaging content for your audience. And if you understand how important personalization is for modern marketing, you will soon see that dynamic content is likely going to become the norm.

Improved user engagement

The purpose of content is to engage your viewers. Yes, you can inform them, or even entertain them. But the core purpose is to have them engage with your brand. Only by doing so do you stand to gain a customer, and for that customer to return to your company.

Why is this important for dynamic content? Well, modern user engagement is largely based on personalized content. While before you could create generic marketing content and hope for the best, this is simply no longer the case. Modern customers have grown either bored or irritated by standard marketing content and will choose to ignore it by default. Therefore, to gain their interest, you need to cater your content to the customers. This can only be done if you gather customer data and outline who your target audience is, and what they would find interesting. Once you have that info, dynamic content stands as an obvious tool.

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With dynamic content, you can create customer-specific web stories that will actually cater to your customers. You can not only recommend different products to different customers but also pick how you phrase the information regarding the product. If you know which customers value which type of product, you can look to push that information to the forefront, and ensure that your customers find your web stories useful and interesting.

Effective marketing - example

What does this look like in practice? Well, let's use the example of selling sports goods. If you were to rely on standard marketing practices, you would simply pick a product and promote it. A web story here and there. A potential discount. Easy, peasy. Well, while this method may bring some customers, it is by no means effective. Not in modern marketing standards.

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If you wish to improve your marketing, you first need to learn who your customers are. Let's assume that you've researched your audience and that a third of your customers are young people, a third are elderly, and a third are family people. So, instead of promoting the same product to all of them, you opt to make your content dynamic:

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• Young people - you promote new sporting products that will enhance their athletic capabilities. You highlight that you use quality materials and that your products are tried and tested by top athletes. You use vibrant colors, and energetic language to give the impression of excitement.
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• Elderly - you highlight that your products are affordable and durable. You want to emphasize the comfort that your products bring, and how easy they are to clean and maintain. Softer tone, warmer colors.
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• Family people - you highlight products that cater to kids. Group discounts,  affordability and durability should be your main concern. But you want to push the idea that their kids will be safe and carefree while they wear your products. You include photos of kids in your content.
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Three different groups, the different types of content. By using dynamic web stories in this way, you can easily use web stories to warm up your leads, and ensure that they will convert into paying customers.

Increased customer satisfaction

One thing that may fly under your radar is that personalized web stories often lead to increased customer satisfaction. Namely, among all the obnoxious marketing that surrounds us, people are actually satisfied when a company understands their needs and offers the right product. Having a satisfied customer base should always be your main goal, regardless of what your business is about. So, don't overlook this important benefit of dynamic web stories.

Worldwide presence

If you wish to make your brand global, you will need to translate your content. The old-school way is to create content in every language from scratch. This, as you can imagine, is not only slow but can also be expensive in the long run. But, with dynamic content, you can look to automate the translation. Each web story can be automatically translated according to the region of the viewer. This is another degree of personalization that stands to bring your brand closer to your customer base.

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Before you create dynamic web stories

Creating dynamic web stories has never been easier. Platforms like StorifyMe give you a ton of customization options. And you can look to make every aspect of your web stories dynamic if need be. There are many ways in which you can use web stories, and almost all of them stand to benefit from using dynamic content. But, to actually reap those benefits, you first need to understand your audience. What we've outlined so far only works if you know how to study your customer base and outline specific segments within it. So, we would advise you to first do your homework and understand what your customers are like. You will see far more success with your web stories if you do so.

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Create your first dynamic story!