Native advertising which is often referred as content marketing is a form of advertising where a text-based ad or a display ad matches the format and context of the surrounding content.
Native ads appear to be very popular on our social media feeds and especially display ads for products and services that we may have searched for.
Personally speaking, my Facebook feed has been displaying ads for Taft boots. A few weeks back, I searched for boots and between the time I spent on Taft.com browsing their products using my mobile phone I now became a potential prospect. Of course, Taft would love for me to buy a pair of boots and I actually believe that Taft makes a great pair of boots but they are pricey. Facebook, Quora, CNN do a great job on selling ad space to advertisers like Taft who are able to display ads in social feed.
What makes native advertising so great?
For one, they provide a seamless experience for the viewer. Instead of pop-up ad that appears in the middle of an article or totally disrupting the flow of a social feed, native ads fit right into the content people are already viewing.
Technology partners in content marketing such as Taboola and Outbrain are considered leaders in this domain and advertise content on sites such as CNN.com, ESPN.com and Fox news to name a few. The advertised content is laid out is a way that doesn’t disrupt the readers flow instead only shows content that’s interesting to the reader.
Look at the image above. You’ll notice that CNN.com sells part of their website real-estate to content marketer like Outbrain. Outbrain pushes content under CNN’s paid content section that resonates with what you probably searched for in the past or content that an advertiser wants you to consume. Both Outbrain and Taboola can target an audience based on their search pattern.
How effective is native advertising?
According to Outbrain, native content that blends seamlessly on the page to give the same look and feel as all the content articles and hence doesn’t stick out has a higher chance of click through then advert or a display banner.
Banners pop-up everywhere and most individuals have stopped clicking / viewing banners since the click and bait tactic has been well understood by the majority who surf the net. The relevancy of a banner ad have becomes lesser compared to content that’s blending in on sites which is laid out or perhaps very close to the format of the page itself.
Outbrain and Taboola pitch themselves as content discovery channels, meaning they distribute content ads rather than direct links to product-based landing pages. If you’re a marketer and looking for prospects to consume your content, give Taboola or Outbrain a try. You might see engagement and can nurture those site engagers with relevant content in the future.
