Have you ever noticed some brands show up on your feed when scrolling through your social media account even if you don’t follow them? You might also notice, the word “sponsored” and why do they blend in with the other posts in your feed? Well, that type of sponsored content is called Native Advertising. This may or may not sound new and if you’re still wondering what native advertising is, then this article is for you!
What is Native Advertising?
Native Advertising is the usage of paid or sponsored advertisement that matches the platform’s user experience. This includes the platform’s feel, look and function. You can usually spot these native ads in any website and especially, social media platforms.
Compared to banner advertisements that you might have seen in website, native ads are not that noticeable. They blend into platform’s natural form. They match its way of posting and style. Native advertising comes in different forms.
Here are some examples of the most common native advertisements to further explain what is Native Advertising:
1. Search Engine
Notice the word “Ad” inside a small box before the website’s URL? This is an example of Native Advertising. It matches the search engine’s format of showing results when an item is being searched. The ads are designed to look to look like the organic search results.
2. Sponsored Advertising
This example of native advertising can be seen in almost every social media platform. You might notice the word “sponsored”, when it’s an ad on Facebook or Instagram. It is also known as “promoted” on Twitter. This type of advertising is also called CONTENT MARKETING. If you’re not familiar of content marketing, it is the creation of content or online materials such as photos and videos to attract a certain audience. It is intended not to directly promote a brand but to spark the user’s interest in the a goods or services.
Notice that it matches the layout and style of a person’s post in your feed. They are styled to blend in the platform’s user experience.
Aside from that what was mentioned above, YouTube is also one of the well-known sites that uses Native Advertising. Most advertisements appear before every video that you click at, making it part of the user experience as well.
3. News Feed Ads
If you love to read articles on the internet, we’re sure you’ve seen many of these. You might have also probably clicked on links similar to the ones above. They usually match the text and layout of the actual articles. As it is obvious with the name, this example of Native advertising is common when it comes to news websites.
4. Advertorial Ads
Its classic is called “print advertorial ads”, the one you see in magazines and newspapers. It is now also being applied in the digital world. You might have seen an article that looks like a how-to, DIY or the writer that did a write-up about cars then ended up endorsing the car in some sections of their article. This is known as an advertorial ad is a blend between “advertisement” and “editorial.”
This ad example mimics the look and feel of a blog post. A reader would not know that it’s a sponsored content unless,
(1) the blog says it,
(2) they figure it out on their own,
(3) they see the words “sponsored”, “promoted”, “ad”, or anything of the like, or
(4) they finish the entire article and figure out that the content is sponsored.
The example above is an article from Forbes.com. A person reading this will only know that it is a sponsored blog when they hover over the word “BRANDVOICE” and a small pop-up will show saying “paid for by the brand”. They will also be able to know that it’s an ad when they are familiar of how it works and it looks like.
Those are just the examples, but you might also be thinking, what are the types of Native Advertising?
There are six types of Native Advertising according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and these are the following:
1. In-Feed Units
An in-feed ad is within the platform’s content. It is usually in a story form where the content has been written in partnership with the platform’s team. You may look at the advertorial ad as an example.
2. Paid Search Units
These are the ads that you see on top of the search engines. They will look exactly as the same as the organic search results. The only difference is that they are labeled as an ad.
3. Recommended Widgets
A widget is integrated to the page of a website or a website’s article. These are usually located below or on the side of the page. They do not mimic the appearance of the editorial feed, but there are suggested or recommended on the sidebars or below the article. You will usually notice this when there are languages such as the following, “you might also like,” “more from the web”, “recommended for you”, and more.
4. Promoted Listings
This type of native advertising usually does not have editorial content. This type of native advertisement is mostly used by e-commerce sites to promote the products or services that they offer.
5. In-Ad with Native Element Units
This is placed outside the editorial as well. The ad has to be relevant with the publisher’s platform. Here’s an example, a travel blog with a banner ad of rental apartments that a user might be interested when they’re looking for a place to stay in Venice.
6. Custom / “Can’t Be Contained”
When it comes to custom ads, these includes the examples that does not fit into the said types above. These are the ads that take onto many forms and will be custom to a specific site.
Now we’ve discussed the examples and types of Native Advertising, you might be thinking, how effective is Native Advertising?
With today’s internet status, and the continuous development in social media, Native advertisements can be effective as long as you have the right strategies for it.
In 2017, the amount spent on native advertising is at 25.12 billion US dollars, and this figure is expected to reach 41.14 billion US dollars by the end of 2019! Native advertising enables marketers to make full use of digital marketing when communicating with their audience. This helps the brand customize their experience to become user-friendly as well. It can help enhance you business’s awareness and engagement.
The key to having an effective Native Ad is to value user-experience since that is the number one thing you are going to deal with when it comes to Native advertising. Native ads has a more higher rate to be clicked by a user compared to traditional banner ads. Native advertising is fresh, new and is tailor-made for user experience.
Check out the infographic below for the complete list of what you need to know about native advertising!
If you are looking for a digital marketing agency that can help enhance your online experience, talk to us today!
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