Native Advertising: The ultimate engagement hack for brands

Native advertising is a rapidly evolving paid form of online advertising that matches the look, feel, and function of the media format in which it appears. It is popularly known as sponsored content, partner content, and branded journalism. Native advertising advantages are many as they appear in the style and format of the content near the advertisement's placement and manifest as a post, image, video, article, or editorial piece of content. In the content marketing ecosystem, the role of native advertising cannot be understated.

Unlike traditional ads that often disrupt user experience, native advertising enhances it by offering content that aligns with the user's interests and preferences, thereby increasing engagement and effectiveness. 

What are Native Ads?

Native ads are designed on various native advertising platforms to blend in with the content of the main platform where they appear. The benefits of native advertising are that its integration makes the ads appear as natural content rather than blatant promotions. Readers may find it difficult to immediately identify them as advertisements due to their ambiguous nature.

The word ‘native’ in the term ‘native advertising’ refers to this coherence of the content with the other media that appear on the platform. Unlike traditional display or banner ads, native ads blend seamlessly with the content around them, making them less intrusive and more engaging for users. In this article, we learn how native advertising helps in brand awareness and audience targeting, types of native ads, benefits of native advertising and more.

The contemporary formats for native advertising include promoted videos, images, articles, music, and other various forms of media. In recent years of the millennium, the most notable form of native advertising has been sponsored content. The popular native advertising examples that we come across in our daily lives include promoted tweets on X, promoted stories on Instagram and Facebook stating it is sponsored content, promoted posts on LinkedIn, sponsored videos on YouTube depending on the user’s search history.

Type of Native Ads

1. In-Feed Ads

The In-Feed ads appear within the natural flow of content on websites, blogs, or social media feeds. These types of native ads are designed to look like regular posts or articles, blending in with the content around them. Some of the classic examples include sponsored posts on Facebook or Instagram that appear in the user's feed, or promoted or sponsored articles on LinkedIn on a news website.

2. Native Content

The native content type of ads appears outside of the usual content stream but still have a native format that matches the look and feel of the site. They may include relevant content or visually blend with the page’s design and features. Like for example, a display ad on a website that includes elements like images and text that match the style and content of the site, hence the ad seamlessly blends into the website and looks like a part of it.

3. Social Media Ads

Social Media ads are embedded within social media platforms and appear like regular posts, stories, or videos. They are tailored to match the format and style of the platform. Like for example, sponsored tweets on Twitter or Instagram stories ads that look like user-generated content but are marked as sponsored.

4. Recommendation widgets

Recommendation widgets are sponsored stories in which the ad links appear below in the form of a widget. In this case, the widgets do not have the same appearance as an editorial content feed and look different, so it is easy to distinguish.

Brand awareness, Better Targeting & Personalisation

Native ads are highly effective for building brand awareness due to their seamless integration into the content that users are already engaging with. As native ads match the tone and format of the platform, they are often perceived as more trustworthy and relevant, enhancing brand perception and making users more receptive to the message. Native ads often allow for precise targeting based on user behaviour, interests and demographics. This targeted approach ensures that the brand message reaches the most relevant audience, increasing the effectiveness of brand awareness efforts. Moreover, the personalised native ads can create a stronger connection with the audience, making the brand more relatable and memorable.

Higher Engagement and Click-Through Rates

Native ads are designed to match the content of the platform and hence they are more relevant to the audience, leading to higher engagement rates. This engagement helps in spreading the brand message more effectively, leading to greater brand awareness. Native ads are a powerful tool for building brand awareness because they engage users in a meaningful way. This helps in higher levels of interaction, trust, and brand recall.

Studies reveal that native ads have higher click-through rates compared to traditional display ads. This is because more users are interacting with the content, leading to increased visibility and brand awareness. By integrating the brand message into content that the audience is already interested in, native ads help in creating lasting impressions and broadening the brand's reach.

While native advertising is highly effective in engaging audiences, it also presents several challenges. One of the main criticisms of native ads is that they can sometimes blur the line between editorial content and advertising, leading to potential confusion among users. Ensuring transparency by clearly labeling native ads as ‘Sponsored’, ‘Promoted’, or ‘Advertorial’ is of utmost importance as it can make or break the brand’s reputation. Also, if native ads are perceived as compromising the quality or neutrality of content, it can harm the credibility of the platform. By addressing these challenges with thoughtful strategies, brands and publishers can maximise the effectiveness of native advertising.

(This blog content created by e4m has been curated from various online sources)