What is Native Advertising? | Digital Media Marketing Term

This is a ‘buzzword’ term that’s been picking up waves in the digital media marketing industry within the last several months, but what on earth does it mean? Native… what? To be honest, our team over here had no idea at first, but then we realized, “Oh yeah, we see it all the time!” It just didn’t occur to us that everyone was calling it that. After you read this, you’ll probably be feeling the same way.

Native Advertising

is paid media that follows the natural form and function of the content the ad is placed in. The whole idea is to not interrupt the flow of the user experience and to continue to engage users with ads that remain relevant and consistent with the look and feel of the site or platform the user is on.

You’ll see native ads on social media sites, content portals, news sites, and video sharing platforms. Some examples are a Promoted Tweet on Twitter or a Sponsored Ad in Facebook. BuzzFeed is also a site where you’ll see many articles that are well-written, high quality stuff that feel like they belong on the site, but are actually sponsored by brands. Think of native advertising as filling the gap between brand publishing and banner advertising. It’s a subset of content marketing since it uses content to build trust, credibility, and engagement with prospective consumers, however it’s a little different. These ads are a bit more selective and it takes bit more work to build and manage them. They’re more tailored and more custom fit to match the context they’re put in.

How Effective are Native Ads? 

For the most part, according to sources like eMarketer, pretty effective. Since many folks are on mobile and tablet devices, they’re flourishing on content streams that people love to access on their on-the-go devices. And it’s estimated that native ad spending on social media alone is expected to grow from $3.1 billion this year to $5.0 billion in 2017. It’s a great opportunity for media publishers that are seeing a decline in print ad spending and a big opportunity for brand marketers looking to stay ahead of the curve with competitors. Native ads a great alternative to traditional display advertising, which, by the way, is now seeing a .2% click through rate (99.8% of banner ads are ignored).

According to a study conducted by ShareThrough in August 2013, native advertising works best to build awareness, branding, and brand affinity for brands and additionally musters customer acquisition and lead generation as well. The only challenge for native advertising is its difficult to measure at this point. There aren’t any standards or performance benchmarks set yet for this advertising category.

To get on board with native advertising initiatives, it’s important to invest in a long-term, high-quality content marketing strategy and to establish relationships with great content writers and designers through creative agencies, content marketing companies, etc.

About Small Screen Producer

Small Screen Producer is a full service, marketing firm located in Houston, Texas that specializes in online digital media marketing through a 4-step process. Step 1: WE PLAN a custom web presence strategy for your business through website design and development, mobile development, social media account creation and branding. STEP 2: We then POSITION your brand through Pay-Per-Click advertising and search engine optimize tactics that include on-page and off-page SEO that are Google and Bing approved. STEP 3: We then PROMOTE your brand using an Inbound marketing strategy or a content marketing strategy to help you accomplish your marketing goals. We do this through blogging, video production, infographics, call-to-actions, landing pages, and free educational offers. We help you build trust and rapport with your customer base. STEP 4: We then PROTECT your brand’s web presence with a reputation management program that monitors social media and on line reviews. Get started today with a free online marketing assessment of your company’s web presence. Your company deserves it.