Why Is Everyone Talking About Native Ads?

If you work in or around technology, then most likely you’ve heard talk of native advertising. There are people rating against it, some arguing for it, and new rules and regulations coming out about it. So, why is everyone talking about native ads and why are the arguments getting so heated?

What are Native Ads?

Native ads are advertisements that match the “native” format of the platform or publication. So maybe you’re reading your daily news and you click on an article you think is written by the publication’s editorial staff, but it’s actually an article written by a brand promoting their product.

This type of ad can be seen on social media in the form of Twitter’s Promoted Tweets, Facebook’s Promoted Stories, and Tumblr’s Promoted Posts.

Why are Native Ads Controversial?

Since native advertisements are meant to blend in, many think this is misleading to the consumer; therefore, the FTC said native ads must be labeled as such. Now you’ll see “Sponsored Content”, “Ad Sponsorship”, “Promoted by (Company)”, etc. The problem is that a study found that about a quarter of readers didn’t realize an editorial staff member didn’t write the content, even though it was labeled in a clear way.

What is the Future of Native Ads?

Native ads are not going anywhere anytime soon:

• 62% of publishers currently offer native advertising.
• 66% of brands say they create their own content for native ads.

These numbers are going to rise. And while for now the big companies are taking advantage of this trend, there is opportunity for smaller businesses as well. Inc. Magazine wrote an article on how the smaller companies can get in on this trend. Since native ads depend heavily on strong content, small- to mid-sized companies with talented writers can also have success with native ads.

Native ads are a big source of revenue for media outlets. Forbes for example requires that advertisers spend at least $250,000 on native ads. However, the company claims a money-back guarantee that refunds the advertisers cash if the native ads don’t work. Most likely more publications will offer guarantees such as this one in order to hang onto the big checks coming from big brands.

Is the Future Uniformity?

The FTC continues to give brands regulations on what a native ad entails, but so far there is no uniformity between the publications. So if a reader views an article on one publication called “Ad Content”, they may not realize the label “Sponsored Content” on the next publication means the same thing. It will be interesting to see if the FTC tackles the non-uniformity in order to make native ads more known to their viewers. For now, however, publications are under no obligations to label native ad content like everyone else.

Since we see no movement there, we should then focus the discussion on making relevant content with accurate ads. Native ads should allow the reader to understand that this is promoted content and still engage them to read on or view this promoted content because they are interested in the content itself.

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4 ways brands can tell an authentic story

People are instinctively drawn to brands that are considered more authentic than their competitors. How can your brand win?

Authentic stories help you build emotional connections with customers. But how can you relate your stories back to the target audience?

Below are four tactics that can help add a layer of authenticity to your content marketing.

Start with a clear purpose

Many writers say that there is really only one rule for good writing: show, don't tell. It means that in order to convince your readers, make sure to demonstrate what you offer with details. But before you add detailed information, you have to think what you want to convey in the story.

Similarly, when you create a story for your brand, you need to start with a clear purpose and then build content around that purpose so readers can imagine and care about your story.

“The clearer brands are about their purpose, the more they can use that as a filter for decisions and interactions in advertising. If brands do not have a clear agenda, consumers will not know how to evaluate them,” says Brandon Murphy, chief strategy officer at agency 22squared.

Refinery29, a hybrid of content and e-commerce shopping, is a good example in this regard. The company positions itself as a destination for stylish women. Then it develops content around subjects that this demographic cares about: fashion, living, beauty, health and entertainment et cetera.

The site had 15.9 million unique visitors in March of this year, up 9.2 million from the same period a year prior.

In 2014, 83 percent of Refinery29’s revenue (approximately more than $50 million) came from native advertising, according to the company. It shows that Refinery29 readers and shoppers really buy into the brand’s purpose.

Encourage consumers to get involved

Once you have a clear purpose, you should study your audience’s behaviors and develop content that benefits the target community.

“When we develop authentic content for our clients, we do lots of research to build cultural footprint to understand what’s happening in their target community and where we can provide value,” says Trevor Guthrie, co-founder of agency Giant Spoon that handles GE’s media strategy and execution.

Guthrie gives an example of GE’s 12-foot brisket smoker in South by Southwest (SXSW) last year. The giant BBQ cooker was designed to demonstrate the connection between GE’s high-tech industrial systems and data analytics in an easy-to-understand way.

Inside the smoker, five sensors constantly measured the temperature, humidity and smoke velocity. These stats showed up in real time on a nearby screen. Attendees could tweet out their experience with the hashtag #BBQqscience.

Can science and data influence the future taste of BBQ? We found out on Day 3. #BBQscience pic.twitter.com/dvpQqxQuMl

— General Electric (@generalelectric) March 17, 2015

“How could GE communicate with SXSW attendees? We figured that everyone in Austin knew BBQ,” Guthrie says. “GE researchers and scientists gave their point of view around craft BBQ and we saw authentic conversations happening there.”

Of course, you may not have the budget to build a big eye-catching project like GE. But you can use consumers’ social footprint to promote your products and services. For example, you can ask consumers to submit photos on social, or encourage them to share whatever they are passionate about.

“It doesn’t necessarily need to be a big complicated ad campaign. Sometimes you just need to think ‘what are the reasons people may want to talk about us?’ and then give them the trigger,” 22squared’s Murphy says.

Unleash the power of influencer marketing

In order to connect with consumers more directly, more organically and at scale, you need to make sure your voice is not just yours. One way to do this is influencer marketing.

A May 2015 study by marketing research firm Schlesinger Associates shows that 69 percent of more than 600 marketing professionals said that that their influencer engagement strategy was effective, and 84 percent expected to launch at least one campaign involving an influencer in the next 12 months.

Many major brands have adopted this tactic. In June of this year, Dr Pepper collaborated with social-influencer marketing startup Speakr to launch an influencer marketing campaign across Vine, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Periscope.

The campaign tapped into popular show "Lip Sync Battle" to celebrate #OneofaKindLipSync. Speakr’s social influencers posted on different platforms and invited their followers to join them at the Lip Sync Booth in Times Square.

The campaign generated more than one million social engagements within a week after its debut.

Performing Who Let The Dogs Out for @DrPepper at #OneofaKindLipSync battle in NY! 😂🐶🎤 #sp pic.twitter.com/Na5EVnJVg7

— Hannah Stocking (@HannahStocking) June 23, 2015

 Other brands like Sour Patch Kids and Nine West also teamed up with influencers to disseminate content to the people who care.

Honesty helps

When you have a clear purpose and build content around that purpose, you need to be transparent about how to live up to your purpose. In other words, it’s fine to admit your weakness and mistakes.

“Most of the time consumers feel more loyal to a brand when the brand is honest about its problems,” Murphy says.

Honesty gives a brand a human touch. Car-rental service Avis’ iconic “We Try Harder” tagline lasted for 50 years before it was replaced by "It's Your Space” in 2012. “We Try Harder” didn’t hide the brand’s number two status at the time.

The campaign was a huge success for Avis, helping the company go from losing $3.2 million to turning a profit of $1.2 million for the first time in 13 years.

People are instinctively drawn to brands that are considered more authentic than their competitors. In order to stand out, you have to be clear on your purpose and give your audience the ability to tell their own stories about your brand. And, of course, you will get more business with honest marketing.

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Is Native Advertising Content Marketing?

Industry leaders have different feelings on whether native advertising is content marketing, but maybe the answer lies in the middle: it can be, but more conditionally than as a rule.

Native advertising is designed to blend seamlessly into any given platform, almost as if its regular, non-sponsored content. So that means it's content marketing, right?

It does, according to Jeff Soriano, senior director of demand generation at user-generated content (UGC) marketing platform Offerpop. In his opinion, the rise of social media led to an explosion of UGC that has transformed the consumer into the marketer.

He offers McCormick as an example. A few years back, the seasonings brand tapped consumers to take pictures of the recipes they made with the company's products. They shared their pictures on Facebook, for other users to vote on. After the campaign, McCormick's sales increased 34 percent year-over-year.

"That's really native to a social experience because that's what we do," Soriano says. "We look at our feeds, we see what our friends have posted, we see what other people we don't even know have posted and for some reason, we're really interested in that stuff, more than what a brand would say."

Because more and more consumers are creating content that's ultimately used by brands, it's Soriano's opinion that the line separating content marketing and native advertising has gotten completely blurry. Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, couldn't disagree more.

No, It Isn't!

ClickZ wasn't able to connect with Pulizzi due to his busy travel schedule, though he directed us to an August CMI blog post entitled, "Native Advertising Is Not Content Marketing." Pulizzi believes the distinction is important, as consistent language creates an industry standard.

"If you pay for placement, it’s advertising," he wrote. "If you pay for placement of valuable, relevant content in a format similar to the third-party site, it’s native advertising. If you don’t pay for placement, the content is not advertising. If that content is valuable and relevant, designed to attract a clearly defined audience, and posted on your own or other unpaid platform, it’s content marketing."

SEO company Moz also believes there is a line between content marketing and native advertising, having done research comparing the two earlier this year with Fractl, a Florida content marketing agency. Analyzing Fractl content marketing campaigns and native ads on BuzzFeed, the research found the content marketing generated significantly more links (an average of 27 versus an average of 1) and shares (847 and 373, respectively). These numbers are despite BuzzFeed's massive volume of traffic - the site is the 38th most visited in the U.S. and 111th in the world, according to Alexa rankings - and big-name brand partners.

Middle of the Road

Scott Severson, president of Minneapolis content marketing agency Brandpoint, has a more moderate approach to the separation between the two tactics. Severson believes that native advertising is content marketing, but that content marketing isn't necessarily native advertising.

"I think content marketing refers to a broad spectrum of tactics that are all about having that direct connection with your audience through developing and publishing your own content," Severson says. "Within that big umbrella of content marketing, native advertising is certainly a tactic within that, but I don’t see them as being synonymous."

Severson considers native advertising to be content marketing when it's just one tactic deployed in a larger marketing mix. A native ad in isolation, he doesn't think counts as content marketing.

"If it's good, consumers don't care that it's sponsored content," he says. "They care more about if it's providing value and if it's quality, versus whether or not it's sponsored content."

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