There’s nothing more frustrating for consumers than scrolling through an app or website and getting sidetracked by pop-up ads—especially when they can’t find the exit button. Avoid the headache (while still reaping all the benefits) by switching to native ads.
What is Native Advertising?
Native ads are advertisements that fit—and function—naturally within the user experience. Designed to be neither intrusive nor disruptive, they appear organically within the content, catching your customers’ attention without distracting them.
Technology Changes the Face of Advertising
Advances in technology require advertisers to change the way they think about attracting customers. In an eye-tracking study conducted by Nielsen and Sharethrough, traditional banners placed at the bottom of the feed didn’t get seen as often because of their placement and the way our eyes scan the screen. Native ads, however, were viewed more often since they’re already placed in our line of vision as part of the content.
Banners also have limited scalability, which limits their amount of content and images. On the other hand, native ads scale to fit their parameters—allowing for more text and images and creating a more natural appearance on screens of all sizes.
Consumers Engage with Native Ads
Consumers are 25% more likely to view native ads, and 53% of them will look at the same native ad more than once, according to a Forbes report. On tablets, in-feed native ads appear to receive twice as much visual focus as in-feed banner ads. Consumers are looking for stories and to engage your brand, not just purchase a product. Given native ads’ scalability, brands can provide more valuable content and longer headlines that create sought-after storytelling.
Native Ads Are Seen Every Day Across Social Media
If you’ve ever clicked on or read a suggested post on Facebook, or viewed a sponsored image on Instagram, you’ve engaged with a native ad without even realizing it. They fit so seamlessly into social media newsfeeds that viewers often think they’re shared by one of their friends. This makes native ads more shareable than banner ads; and in fact, 32% of people said they would share a native ad with a friend or family member vs. a banner ad, according to Sharethrough.
And native ads aren’t just used on social media: Google also uses a form of native ads by placing paid advertisements at the top of search results. Other than the yellow “ad” symbol, they appear completely naturally above the rest of the search results.
Native Ads Increase Trust Between Brands and Consumers
The subtler nature of native ads gives your brand the chance to build relationships with consumers using their own language and content. They can also be used to improve brand perception: According to Sharethrough, the use of positive language in the headline and text will trigger positive subconscious associations to the brand. In fact, 71% of people who bought a product after viewing a native ad said they “personally identify with the brand” after viewing the ad.
This post is sponsored by GasBuddy