Native advertising: how it works

What is native advertising

There are a lot of advertisements on the Web and it mostly annoys users. Generic ads do nothing more than get a person to buy a product or service. But there is also a format that advertises the product with restraint. The user either does not understand at all that it was an advertisement, or does not understand it right away. In our article, we will talk about what native advertising is and what its advantages are for a marketer and an affiliate.

What is native advertising and what does it look like?

Native ads are ads that match the content of the media source. It disguises itself as a search result, a post on a social network feed, or an article on a featured list. A video with a review of a new phone or an article about a car is also a kind of native advertising.

Due to the similarity with regular content, native advertising achieves better results, a higher CTR and the number of conversions. However, legislation in most countries still requires this format to be marked with watermarks or “Advertisement” captions.

Types of native ads

Ads in feed or content. Ad units in the social media feed look like just another post. There may be some differences in it, like “buy” buttons, but you won’t see them with a cursory examination. And in-content ads are directly embedded in the text of the article. They imitate the design and even the editorial policy of the resource.

Announcements with recommendations on content. This ad unit looks like a recommendation widget. It is designed in such a way that it is somewhat different from the content of the site, for example, there is an offer to go to the page in the style “You may like it.”
Branded content. This is a full article or video from the brand, published in the same format as the rest of the content in the source. This could be an unboxing video from a well-known blogger, or a piece about where to spend your vacation from an airline ticket aggregator. Such advertising not only does not cause irritation among users, it even has benefits. Large companies can attract opinion leaders to become the face of the brand, then, in fact, any of their actions will benefit the promotion of the company.

Benefits of native advertising

The format of such promotion is good for several reasons:

Who benefits from native advertising

To simplify, everyone benefits from it. Let’s analyze the advantages of this format specifically for each group of people.

Advertisers. Large companies and start-ups equally use native advertising. For them, this format means higher reach and growing loyalty. If you try hard, you can turn the post into a viral one.

Site owners. The placement of advertisements has a negative impact on user behavior. They tend to close the site faster or enable ad blocking. But native advertising does not affect the performance – people are quite loyal to it.

Users. Native advertising does not cause negative emotions. It is similar to the content and corresponds to it quite well. A well-chosen ad can also be useful for a site visitor.

How to make native advertising

In order to make good native advertising, you need to understand the specifics of the site on which it will be placed. This format requires several steps:

Main Points