The definition of Native Content is: Commissioned or paid content to be placed on an external website, where the content fits the form and function of the site that hosts it.
While marketing lingo can be intimidating, it’s easy to learn all the bits and pieces that bring an all-inclusive marketing campaign to life. So whether you’re seasoned in several forms of marketing, or are a newbie looking to enhance your brand efforts, Native Content can serve as yet another marketing venue where your target audience can find your brand!
Native Content vs Branded Content
Native Content is designed for publishers. It’s paid for, by the advertiser, and promoted on the website or social media channel owned by the publisher. It usually comprises of the following characteristics:
- Fits the publisher’s content and purpose
- Curated for a Publisher’s Audience
- Content is not posted on the advertiser’s website; only the publishers.
Branded Content is designed for the brand itself to use on its own channels.
Video created to distribute on a company’s profiles or website is considered Branded Content. This is designed to advertise the brand, specifically, and create a sense of trust and know-how in the consumer’s mind.
- Content is posted on the company’s websites/social media channels
- Curated for your target audience
Why use Native Content?
Ultimately, all marketing venues are another channel to get eyes on the brand. This one is not necessary, but can be part of an all-inclusive marketing campaign. During the advent of ad-blockers and consumers simply being turned off by paid advertising, it’s become important to ensure that you can get more eyes on your brand, through creative venues.
Examples of Native Content
Articles are one of the most common forms of native content, though it can expand to videos, sponsored social media posts from influencers, and more! Some of the best content pieces tell a story, or demonstrate use of a product.
Here are a couple of examples of written native content, designed to appeal to the audience in which it was published.
BBC Future is one of the BBC’s sites where they focus on storytelling, and this one happens to connect brands to an audience by creating content relevant to their interests. This 2017 article created a face of the “average American politician”.
This is achieved by using technology to perform “face averaging,” creating composite images of all American politicians to deliver an “average” result of their looks. This article is focused on using an open-source computer software called Open CV. At the end of the article, they link to the programmer that created it; Satya Mallik.
Business Insider published this piece, that tells a story about this remarkable, colorful corn. While this feels like a normal article from the company, this Glass Gem Corn became a variety that more people discovered as a result of native content like this, and created a surge of popularity in 2012.
In this article, they demonstrate the origin of this colorful corn, retelling the story with stunning visuals. The end of this article links to an organization called Native/SEARCH, a not-for-profit conservation company that now owns the product and sells the heritage seeds.
Native Advertising Tells a Story
Native Advertising is a fairly advanced venture to consider in your overall marketing efforts. While it is not an essential form of marketing, it’s yet another way to ensure that public interest is generated on a large platform, in articles that are eye catching, appealing, and shareable.
What are some excellent examples of Native Advertising you have come across?