What is native advertising & why is it important
In recent years, native advertising has become increasingly popular and is now one of the most effective ways to reach consumers. Native advertising is a form of digital advertising where a paid ad matches the form and function of the platform on which it is displayed.
What makes native advertising unique is that, instead of trying to stand out like traditional ads, native ads try to fit in, blending into the surrounding environment to deliver a less intrusive, and more organic and enjoyable user experience.
What is native advertising exactly?
Native advertising is a strategy that tries to camouflage itself into the surrounding content so that the ads don’t appear disruptive to a pleasant user experience. These ads can take many forms, including sponsored content, promoted listings, and in-feed ads, and in each case, they are specifically designed to match the appropriate platform in terms of form and function.
One major benefit of native advertising is that they are often cited as more effective at engaging consumers than the more traditional display ads. Due to the fact that native ads are designed to fit in, they often do fit quite successfully. This results in users seeing them as part of the website’s content, driving up the probability of these same users interacting with the native ads and the brands behind them.
When should you use native advertising online?
As mentioned and explained above, native advertising can be a highly lucrative advertising strategy for businesses across multiple industries. Whether you want to increase engagement with your current audience base or reach new groups and individuals, native ads can be the key to success.
When you are trying to promote content to drive user engagement, native ads can be very useful. Native ads that feature engaging content – including videos, articles, infographics, and more – are extremely effective at directing traffic toward that business’ website or social media channels.
Native ads can be used to promote any form of content that you believe your audience will find interesting, engaging, or worthy of a click or follow-up.
Similarly, if you are trying to tap into new groups and attract attention, native advertising is a great way to generate buzz around a new product or service. By crafting engaging, informative, and interesting native ads, the buzz you generate will likely bring in a massive boost to brand awareness, brand engagement, and conversions.
What are native ads and how can businesses utilize them?
As we’ve said, native ads come in many shapes and sizes, and it all depends on the platform on which they appear. Some of the most common types of native ads include:
Sponsored content
Sponsored content is content created by a business or brand and promoted across third-party websites or platforms. Some examples of sponsored content are blog articles, videos, and infographics.
Promoted listings
Promoted listings are native ads that appear in search results or on eCommerce websites. These are typically displayed at the top of the page, positioned to catch the visitor’s eye as soon as they land on the page.
In-feed ads
In-feed ads are native ads that display within feeds on social media platforms, such as Twitter, and Facebook. They are created to look identical to posts on the relevant feed, but they have a “sponsored” marker on them to make it clear to users that they’re looking at an ad.
Run native advertising campaigns that convert prospects
Getting the most out of your native advertising campaigns means fully understanding the process, how and where to deploy your ads, and how to optimize and maintain them throughout their lifecycle.
This article introduces native advertising, but to maximize your paid advertising returns, contact inSegment, the full-scale digital marketing agency with dedicated paid advertising experts and a track record of delivering for partners.
