Advertising on the Internet continues to progress so much that we often pay little attention to it. With ads always located in the same strategic locations, the eyes of Internet users have learned to disregard them to focus on the content itself. A new form of advertising has therefore appeared in order to make advertising more natural and therefore promote clicks. In this article, we will take a look at this new form of advertising (called Native Advertising) while comparing its performance with more traditional forms of online advertising.
The definition of native advertising
Native advertising is a form of advertising that is inserted directly and naturally into content (web pages, newsletters, videos, search results etc.). The particularity of native advertising is that it must be as “natural” as possible so as to not appear as intrusive like many traditional advertisements (display, pop-up, video ads on Youtube etc.) and to not alter user experience.
Surveys have shown that more than a third of Internet users do not even equate native advertisements with advertising. It is therefore likely that these ads will multiply in the coming years even if they are already quite present in North America.
Examples of native advertising
The most commonly seen examples are Google AdWords ads, as they appear at the top of search results based on keywords entered by users.
Although these results are clearly identified as ads, they are relevant to the specified search and do not degrade the user experience.
Here is an example of native advertising on Facebook:
In the past, Facebook ads were mostly concentrated on the right side of the page. As explained earlier in this article, Internet users have become accustomed to these ads and Facebook has had to rethink the location of its “suggested ads” by place them directly in the news feed of its members. The ads that receive the best click-through rates, however, are social ads linked with the interests of the targeted audience.
Native advertising on twitter:
As you can see, native advertising takes on the appearance of any publication. While traditional ads are losing momentum, native advertising receives 25% more clicks than traditional ads.
Native advertising vs. display advertising
For the majority of Internet users, effective advertising fits perfectly into their environment (both in terms of content and form). Advertising on a yellow background with big multiple exclamation points (or worse, with blinking text!) will be immediately identified as spam and will be rejected by users. By using specific graphics, advertisements should be confused with the content of the site that integrates them. We are now in a new era, totally opposed to the former traditional methods. Now it’s all about making advertising as discreet as possible. Surprising as it may seem, studies show that 42% of Internet users exposed to native ads will tend to click on them, as opposed to 29% with regard to conventional banners. These rates depend of course on the relevance of the message conveyed in relation to the expectations of the target audience.
Native advertising, on the other hand, requires more time and effort than display advertising because its success largely depends on its discretion. Where traditional banners directly integrate reserved placements on ad network sites, native advertising requires highly targeted audiences and a message that is perfectly suited to not appear out of context.
Conclusion
This article was not intended to give you all the tricks and tricks to create a native ad but instead to introduce you to the concept of “native advertising”. As I’m sure you’ve understood, the new advertising trend is no longer focused on mass display but instead on selection. You need to choose your audience, your broadcast media and your message so that your ads are as natural as possible. In the world of web marketing, it is common to hear of SEO experts that create content to “look natural.” Perhaps good practice is not “to look natural” but to be simply “natural” in spreading our messages, whether they are ads or not.
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