Native Advertising: a seed

If you have been wondering what native advertising really is and how it works, wonder no more! Here is my WHAT, WHY & HOW of it.

WHAT? The best metaphor I have come across which explains Native Advertising in the simplest of all forms is this: a seed. Imagine a seed planted in the best quality of soils which has been carefully selected by the top farmers in the world. The seed grows out to be a strong tree producing delicious organic fruit.

The seed represents a brand’s new proposition/ offer/ promotional message that’s been carefully placed in the most relevant environment, in front of the most captive and engaged audiences. So to define it, native advertising is paid for media which aligns the ad experience with the natural flow of the user experience where the ad is featured.

In a nutshell that is what native advertising is.

WHY? Well we love a bit of news. Turns out as consumers we like to learn more about brands and products through content rather than traditional advertising. Plus, we are more likely to share native content than display advertising. Therefore, content gains more traction when it resonates with the audiences resulting in positive impact on the brand’s offerings. Word of mouth encourages even further growth, a loyal following and a strong brand perception.

HOW? Start with a content strategy or plan that goes beyond the few pieces you are seeding. The consumer journey needs to be at the forefront of this. Work towards engaging content, rich media where possible and consider the dots the consumer will want to connect when they finally land on your properties (online/ offline). Having the right level of tracking in place to measure the performance of your native advertising is absolutely vital. Consider how you will measure performance right from the onset and how it ties in with your overall goals.

Once the content strategy has been thought through, nail down the launch platforms. Native ads run in a number of ways:

within content/ news feed (like in Forbes, Irishtimes; Facebook – marked ‘Promoted/ Sponsored);
search and promoted listings (Google Search); recommendation widgets (like Outbrain/ Taboola);
social media (like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter);
and custom content (BBC StoryWorks, Journal.ie, Joe.ie).

Measure Measure Measure! Like all marketing investments, the real question is does it work? When analysing this consider the simple engagement metrics as well as the brand lift metrics that might be seen at a later stage. So track page views, click through rates, time spent, shares, likes, landing page arrivals, brand lift etc. Research before and after is always a good way to evaluate the impact of a content strategy. This doesn’t have to be an expensive exercise either.

So that’s my take on what native is, why you would use it for your brand and most importantly how it works! Here are some interesting stats on the growth and effectiveness of Native Advertising.