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Digital marketing is a vast concept, and digital advertising is an excellent tool for reaching out to the target audiences. As people have become smarter and intellectual to inspect and interact with the content they see on the internet. Therefore, native advertising is one of the vital keys that help engage the potential customers and receive the message that the particular brand has been trying to convey; the audience is seeking the same message.
In this editorial, we bring you a refined walkthrough to get acquainted with native advertising and let you know whether it is a form of marketing. Herein, we guide you about: what native advertising is, how it is essential, its works, its type, and the process that ultimately makes it reach the business goals.
What is Native Advertising?
Native Advertising is simply a form of advertising that is paid. It is coherent with user experience, and native advertising is a categorical advertisement that matches social media platforms’ form and function and is paid but is likable to the audience!
Native Advertising is visible almost everywhere, from your favorite social media platform to the publisher’s site you must be following. The best thing about native advertising is that it does not irritate people like other display ads. Instead, it fits perfectly in the contextual format that keeps the audience engaged.
Unlike other ads that pop up at the top or the bottom of the content, native ads appear related to the things you have been looking for. Hence, it builds trust between the audience and the brand. They plunge more into it, searching more about the same.
Today, native ads are becoming popular among the masses and play a significant role in connecting the people and the brand/product/services.
Most common types of Native ads and their work
Native advertisements are gaining popularity for their benefits. It is not beneficial for the companies but also for the customer. According to IAB, i.e., interactive advertising bureau, there are typically six types of native ads, each offering different sets of advantages with its ad formats. These include:
Paid search ads
Native advertising is a binge-used advertising method that search engines apply. Those pages appearing at the top of the google search are actually a form of native advertising that brings the target audiences to the website. It is a paid media that appears like an organic result. Well, this is how customers call to action and provide brand awareness to themselves. Paid ads depend on the user searches and the location that helps the search engine recommend accordingly.
Content recommendation widgets
Content recommendation widgets come under content marketing, and recommendation engines are seamlessly used in editorial content or social media posts. Often, when people go through a particular article, they are recommended with the same posts that may you like reading, and those recommendations are a form of native advertisements. It generally appears on the side of a web page or at the end of the article. Recommendation widgets are excellent for the publisher as it keeps the reader engaged in the real-time and returns, endows the reader to learn more about the things.
In-feed ads unit
In-feed ad units are the sponsored posts that surface while going through the post on social media platforms or websites. This ad is paid placements specifically inclined to appear as sponsored posts while reading the articles, editorials, or posts. It is marked as sponsored and comprehensively fits into the index of the sites. It emerges differently in different sites, depending on the publisher’s style and preferences or the readers.
Promoted listings
This form of native advertising is usually used by e-commerce sites like eBay, Amazon, and flip kart. Promoted listings are the featured sponsored products that look similar to the products that a user is already looking into. It generally aligns according to the browsing history of the user. It helps the seller in generating leads and conversion rates for their business. For example- when people search for a shoe, several sponsored listings might appear in the list. Thus, this is a part of paid placements.
Custom ads
According to the interactive advertising bureau (IAB), custom ads are essential types of native advertising that go well with the business and with the users. It doesn’t necessarily adjust with the specific format. For instance- if you create a playlist for a dance performance, custom ads may aid you with other types of music soundtracks. Another example would be filters that people use these days on social media platforms like Instagram or Snapchat that are also a part of custom ad units.
In-ad unit with native elements
In-ad units with the native element may look like what people see online. It can be seen in banner ads or ad containers. It is their contextual relevance that makes them a part of native advertising. For example- if you look for a recipe dish but on the side of the page, you might see a collection of the menu of foods you may like to order. Herein, you are looking for a recipe, but the page also offers you a menu of some different food. It is not what you have been looking for, but at the same time, it flawlessly fits the category of what you are browsing.
Why do we still use native advertising?
Content on social media platforms has become a center of attraction. It has evolved as a central part of our lives. Right from the time people wake up to the time they rest in bed, people are hooked up with content, including news articles, posts, pictures on social media platforms, etc. Everything has indulged people with content.
And to convey your message to your potential customers, placing native advertisements on this content is a logical approach to meet the marketing goals. Native advertising is composed like an advertisement but in such a way that doesn’t annoy the audiences. They spread awareness, engage people, and present relevant content that people often like.
A final thought to the fact if Native advertising is the same as marketing or different
Native advertising is different in regards to its work, but it ultimately promotes marketing. Yes, its functionality is a bit different but is ultimately a part of marketing. In short, advertising is not marketing but a part of marketing, which interestingly makes them the same.
Native advertising may be termed as one of the branches in the tree of digital marketing, bestowing amazingly great results to the marketers and the audiences.
Today, businesses are seen rising high and doing exceptionally great in serving their customers. And this why marketers look for a flourishing route that makes them reach their desired customers.
Native advertising plays an impeccable role in conveying those messages in advertising, arriving in different shades and formats. These advertisements bind the customers and allow them to learn more about the brands or other content they must have been looking for.
Native advertising can lift the brand value to more than 80% compared to the usual methods. Also, it’s earning a splendid response from the audiences as it has been found, 53% of audiences’ native ads more than that of traditional ads.
If native advertising is used correctly, i.e., providing the right messages, it can convincingly result in successful marketing goals. Thus, using all the mediums genuinely and authentically boosts the business game and presents colossal conversion rates.
Native ads are versatile, credible, and reliable. It complements marketing activities extensively when used appropriately.
Considering all the works it does, it is clear that it is different but the same enacting the same destination.