When you meet face to face with a new client or vendor, you get a wealth of communication cues. Tone of voice, gestures and body language speak volumes, creating a second dialogue along with the conversation you’re having. You’re experiencing that connection on multiple levels that online interactions just don’t offer.

That doesn’t mean your blog posts, newsletters and white papers are bland monologues, though. You have a number of ways to enrich the online experience for visitors to your site. Through multimedia presentations, webinars, case studies and written content that goes beyond dry business language, users can experience what you have to offer even before they arrange a meeting with you.

Video: Seeing Is Believing

People instantly respond to video. By including video as part of your static site or landing page, you give visitors a new way to experience your content. It’s your chance to demonstrate how your product works or illustrate key concepts of what you do to interested viewers. In an increasingly mobile online society, video’s a natural way to communicate on tablet and smartphone screens.

Building a video library also gives you an entry point to two social media channels that are continuing their rise in popularity: Vine and YouTube. Don’t forget about Pinterest; it’s enjoying a meteoric rise to fame, and videos are as pinnable as snapshots. As Sarah Perez at TechCrunch reports, Pinterest also supports animated GIFs now.

Webinars: Value-Added Interaction

Conferences draw plenty of interest from industry leaders, but they aren’t always practical. Invite site visitors to sign up for a webinar, and you give them the chance to exchange ideas without taking time away from their busy schedules – or yours. When you lead a webinar, you position yourself as an authority and build the value of all your business content, including your blog and article marketing venues.

Another bonus to hosting a webinar: When you invite participants, you build a database of interested prospects who actively seek what you’re offering. Information is an incredibly valuable commodity, and by trading some of your knowledge via your webinar, you get vital data in exchange.

Social Media: Establishing a Dialogue

The worth of your content is potentially limitless. The more it’s shared, the greater its value for the original cost. Social media adds a new dimension for your customers too because it encourages a two-way discussion. You get the chance to learn from your visitors and discover what they’re really looking for while responding to their comments. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and other social media channels act as validators, showing your value to other potential customers with every like, pin and share.

Because social media’s highly mobile, establishing a higher social media profile takes you along for the ride when your customers are on the move. Your influence extends farther, helping you broaden your reach while still remaining localized.

Written Content: The Power to Move

For all the appeal multimedia campaigns have, the written word still holds tremendous power. Language and decision-making are closely linked in the brain, which is one reason why psychologists advise people facing a tough choice to write out a list of pros and cons. White papers, case studies, articles and blog posts are still fundamental ways in which people experience your content. They’re the cornerstone of a strong SEO content strategy and the foundation on which your authority can be established.

Bland writing, poor grammar and disorganization break the connection visitors feel when they read your content. It isn’t enough to have words on the page; space-filling content larded with keywords and stuffed into article-spinning software actively drives visitors away from your page. Video changes and tweets drop off the page, but a solid library of information-rich content remains compelling. Respect the power of the written word even as you add to your customers’ overall content experience, and you’ll win them completely.

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