Five Best Practices for Native Advertising

Ad Age reports that native is one of the fastest growing and evolving areas of advertising Last year brands spent about 32 billion on native advertising an increase of more than 46 percent from 2013 According to MyersBizNetamp8217s latest report that number will continue to rise in the next five years with native content generating most of if not all of the growth in the larger 78 billion branded contentproduct placement categoryMore publications and mass media companies such as AOL Condamp233 Nast Time Inc Forbes and The New York Times are moving toward inhouse studios for native content creation which continues to threaten ad agencies During the recent DoubleClick Leadership Summit Google unveiled its own native advertising technology that allows it to work with publishers to serve custom adsAt the recent AdMonstersamp8217 OPS conference in New York City Yahooamp8217s senior director of product management Alex Linares said the digital pureplay company has seen 300 million in revenue from native More than 25 other digital media leaders discussed ad op innovation including the future of native advertising Here are five key considerations when it comes to native content strategies and tacticsFocus on user experienceWhen audiences come to content they expect to find content usually in a downstream feed a format inherent in Facebook and Twitter Native ads really all ads should be integrated as part of the reader experience said Mike Germano Chief Digital Officer of VICEIn order to drive engagement with brands native ads need to live seamlessly on the page offered Linares from Yahoo Consumers especially digital natives who spend an average of 35 hours per week on digital devices have a strong radar for when brands market to them and a low tolerance for ads that interrupt their reading experience When audiences click on a piece of content and see an ad theyamp8217re still in a content consumption mindframe Linares explained Anything that interrupts that consumption fosters a negative user experience Conversely native ads that foster this experience instead create a positive relationship with the brandamp160For example The New York Times Brand Studio teamed up with Netflix to create the native piece amp8220Women Inmates Why the Male Model Doesnamp8217t Workamp8221 pictured at top to promote the second season of amp8220Orange of the New Blackamp8221 A native ad like this one works because it doesnamp8217t disrupt the content consumption mindframe of readers It provides useful information to them which in turn makes them more interested in the showamp160However advertisers and publishers also want to be careful to not deceive their audiencesRespect your audience while advertising to themTwo weeks ago the Federal Trade Commission continued to urge publishers to clearly distinguish native ads from editorial content Editorial guidelines aside native advertising is not just about blending in with publishersamp8217 content the best native ads enhance the content consumption experienceObnoxious unattractive ads donamp8217t serve the publisher or the advertiser advised Germano Instead native ads should represent the voice and visual elements of the publisher Readers especially digital natives do not want to feel like theyamp8217re being tricked Rather the ad should follow smart design and clearly set itself apart from editorial That way theyamp8217ll consume and engage with an ad because they want to rather than tune out or even worse install adblockersTarget specific audiencesThe Internet is full of great content which makes it even more difficult for advertisers to find the best audience Native allows advertisers to create engaging content that people will find meaningful Linares at Yahoo recommends taking organic signals and user data to determine whom they are Personal data will only continue to become a more important though controversial factor when targeting audiences Cast a wide net but narrow in on who personally is the right audience for your brand especially those social influencers within a specific market Devote energy to curating your own socially viral audience amp8220You want to put out the right content that will resonate with peopleamp8221 Linares saidConsider programmatic nativeProgrammatic and native can not only coexist but also offer more for realtime dynamic creative said Curt Larson Vice President of Product Management at Sharethrough The most recent update to the OpenRTB standard allows for more manipulation of creative elements so publishers can seamlessly fit ads on their pages an advantage for mobile display advertising and infeed ads And programmatic direct platforms can offer even more options depending on the publisher With programmatic native publishers and advertisers can transact programmatically with creative optimized so it lives and breathes on the site For example with programmatic native video audiences can watch it directly on the site The user is not leaving the environment thus creating more of a true native experience Larson said Getting DSPs on board remains a challenge but publishers should incorporate more programmatic native options especially relating to RTB he addedStart with realtime content marketingFor publishers who are new to native Larson said to start with realtime content marketing The more relevant and intime the more performance advertisers will see because audiences are already searching for that contentRegardless try something Larson declared amp8220Native is not that hard You should be doing itamp8221The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage management or associated bloggers

Become a Thought Leader.
Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

Five Best Practices for Native Advertising

Author

Publish date

Channel

Leanna Garfield

Hispanic Leadership Roundtable: Inclusion, Mentorship, and Building the Next Generation (Video) - By Juan Ayala

More Videos:

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

Five Best Practices for Native Advertising

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Leanna Garfield

Hispanic Leadership Roundtable: Inclusion, Mentorship, and Building the Next Generation (Video) - By Juan Ayala

The payment was successful

Cookies

Become a Thought Leader.
Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership