What Is Native Advertising? And How Can It Help Your Business?

In a nutshell, native advertising is a form of sponsored content that looks and feels like the rest of the media on a website. It's not typically disruptive or invasive, and it blends in seamlessly with other types of content. For this reason, it can be harder to recognize and avoid, which makes it that much more effective when compared to other advertising. One study found that native ads drive up to six times more engagement than banner ads. So what are the fundamentals of native advertising, and how can it help your business? Keep reading to find out!

What is native advertising?

Native advertising is an online advertising format usually created to look like the type of content a person would find on a publisher's site. It blends in with the other content and typically is accompanied by other ads from the same advertiser. Native ads can be text, image, or video. They are intended to mimic the style of content being served on a particular site.

They're often called "in-feed" ads because they appear within the content of the site or app users are already reading or viewing. The key is to make sure that the content you post is relevant to your audience so that they're more likely to click through to your main website.

This year, spending on native advertising is expected to reach nearly $44 billion. Mobile placement is becoming increasingly popular, accounting for 85% of all native ads in US markets. Additionally, advertisers are shifting more of their display ad budgets over to native ads, up to as much as two-thirds. Facebook remains the most popular platform for native ads.

What is native content?

Native content is any content that has been specifically designed to be posted on a social media platform. Publishers often host native content on their websites, which is any brand-sponsored content commissioned or paid to look and feel like a natural piece of the publisher's website. It can include anything from videos and articles to infographics and social media posts.

Why is native advertising so important?

First, native advertising offers users a choice in what format they would like to view an advertisement. Additionally, native advertising is less intrusive than other ad formats, such as banners. Contextual relevance is another plus; it can result in high click-through rates and boosted conversions.

What makes native advertising effective?

In short: people are attracted to the content they enjoy and will pay attention to it. It is also easier to consume content from a site you're already familiar with. Native advertising, so, builds trust and loyalty between brands and consumers. Here are a few examples of native advertising that you can find in digital media:

1. Video Commercials
2. Sponsored articles/posts
3. Banner ads and other display advertisements on blogs and websites.

There are three types of native ads:
Sponsored content:

It is typically a blog post or article written by a sponsor and labeled as sponsored content. That may compensate the writers somehow, but they're not working for the company that's spending money on advertising. That can help provide better quality content with higher engagement rates because it's written by people who genuinely care about the product or service they're writing about.

Display ads:

These are images or videos usually square and designed to blend in with other media on your site. They often include text and logos. You can use it to promote something like an event or item for sale.

Video ads:

These advertisements play before a video starts when someone clicks on it from another page on your site. They have more engagement than banner ads because they capture more real estate on a user's screen and often contain richer media, such as sound and motion.

But what is the best type of native content for your business?

The type of content will vary based on your company's goals and how you want to use it. For example, an eCommerce-focused article would increase sales, while a personal blog post might not. Once you find the type of content that works best for your business, go ahead and experiment with different formats!

How can native advertising help your business grow?

The main goal of this advertising is to make the advertisement look like it's part of the site's content. It should not be seen as an interruption to your experience. It is also referred to as sponsored content, and you can find this type of ad on many websites.
But, you need to ensure that your content has high quality for business use. The key here is a great topic that would fit perfectly into the website's content. You can also consider writing about a topic unrelated to your business but still has great potential for sharing and expanding your audience.

Benefits of native advertising that can help your business grow

Here are some of the benefits of native advertising that can help your business:

• It provides you with an opportunity to reach new audiences
• By using native advertising, you will be able to target specific users that may not have visited your website before. It helps you reach your target audience
• You will be able to advertise your product or service to people who are most likely to be interested in it. It increases the number of conversions.
• By providing relevant information about your product, you will increase the number of conversions. It helps you to gain a new audience.
• It also helps to boost engagement rates on social media posts.
• By providing relevant information about your product, you will get more traffic from people who were not aware of your business before.
   

How it can help your business, even if you don't have a website

Many people don't have websites, but that doesn't mean they don't want to grow their business. If you don't have a website, but you still want to increase your company's exposure, you can use a platform like Facebook to promote your business.
Rather than spending money on a website, spend that money on advertising on Facebook. You might not be able to attract as many customers on the social media platform as you would with a site of your own. Still, it is much cheaper and more effective than traditional advertising methods like newspapers or TV.

Choosing the correct format for your business growth

People have different preferences when it comes to receiving content. Some people like short, concise messages, while others prefer long-form content. The same is true for ads: some people are happy with a smaller ad that takes up less screen space, while others prefer full-screen ads. Sponsored content can take on many different formats:

1) Notification ads:

These are short, text-only ads that appear in the notification bar at the top of your screen and typically follow an action you've just taken (e.g., clicking on an ad).

2) Interstitial ads:

These are full-screen ads that show up before or during video playback or between pages of content.

3) Banner ads:

These rectangular box placements appear at the top of web pages and may contain text alongside images or videos.

4) Text links:

These hyperlinks can lead to either a webpage or an online store (e.g., Facebook Marketplace).

5) Native videos:

These are sponsored videos that blend into the rest of your feed, making them look natural in the environment they were posted in (source).
How to implement native advertising on your site or blog
The first step to implementing a native ad is deciding the type of ad you want to run.
Next, think about where you want to place the ad on your site or blog. For example, if you have a lot of social media posts with pictures, consider placing an image ad there instead of inserting it into text-heavy articles. You could place it at the bottom of every page where visitors spend their time reading your content so that they'll see it every time they scroll through an article or click through to the next page.
Choose the right platform for your needs.
The platforms where you advertise your business are essential; they give you the ability to reach potential customers differently. Facebook and Instagram, for example, have a diverse audience that includes people on every rung of the economic ladder.
When you choose a platform, you want to make sure you choose one with good traffic that aligns with your target market.
For instance, if you're targeting Hispanic women in their late twenties who live in Texas, Facebook would be a good choice because it has a large number of those audiences on its site. But if your target market consists of 50-60 years old and lives on the East Coast, Instagram would be better.-
Monitor your metrics
Another reason native advertising is essential is that it can help you check your metrics. If you're starting with digital marketing, it can be challenging to know what works and what doesn't because there are so many different ways to advertise. But with native advertising, you can be more sure that what you're doing is working because the metrics are built-in.
For example, if your ad has a click-through rate of 2 per cent, you know that for every 2 visitors to your site or social media page, 1 will click on your ad. It can compare that to banner ads with a CTR of .1%. With native advertising, it's easier to measure engagement.
The drawbacks of native advertising
Native advertising is an excellent way for small businesses to get their name out there. But, it would help if you were careful about how much native advertising you use. The more you use it, the less creative your campaigns will feel, and people are less likely to click on your ads.
Another drawback of native advertising is that people can't always tell which content they are looking at is sponsored. There have been cases where editorial-style content has been sponsored without being labeled as such. Because of this, readers don't trust what they read and fail to engage with the content.
Conclusion
Native advertising is also a form of advertising designed to look like editorial content. It is often used to promote brands or products without traditional advertising methods, like banners or pop-ups. It can be a great way to grow your business, as it allows you to reach new customers while also building trust and credibility.