What Native Advertising Means For Content Marketing?

Native advertising is on the rise especially given the lower conversion rates with banner advertising.
According to Solve Media and Column Five –

Native advertising is, in technical terms, “a specific mode of monetization that aims to augment user experience by providing value through relevant content delivered in-stream.”

So examples would include sponsored posts, long form videos, photo streams, sponsored stories, promoted tweets, infographics interactive graphics etc.

According to the infographic a poll taken indicates that a 12.6% average increase in spending on native advertising in 2013 as compared to 2012. Other figures that make us take note of native advertising are that 34% of publishers are likely to add native advertising to their website menus, while 57 percent of private equity firms, venture capitalists and angel donors say they are likely to invest in companies selling native advertising.

One of the implication for content marketing is that native advertising requires more creativity than traditional disruptive forms of marketing. In fact a lot of thought will need to be given to developing a wide range of content from serialized videos to in game ads, meme jackets and even branded music playlists for example.

For most businesses this will mean engaging with their audience through long term content strategies, augmenting content creation efforts by bringing in new talent including journalists, designers, copywriters etc. It may also mean outsourcing or contracting work to content marketers or agencies to supplement or drive content marketing strategies with native advertising. The infographic below provides a great snapshot of some of the data captured from the poll.

Do you believe that sponsored posts will continue to remain the best means for native advertising this year?

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