Millions of people who barely gave much thought to “native advertising” were given a one-sided (albeit humorous) point of view on the topic by John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
His segment detailed the very worst practices in native advertising, parodying the practice with fake endorsements on his own show. It also mocked the attempts by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for trying to regulate native ads and discussed the dangers that brands can incur by promoting unethical ads as a means of revenue generation.
You can watch the segment from John Oliver by clicking the image below:
While some consider the segment as a black mark on the industry, it was actually a learning opportunity that clarifies for advertisers, publishers and ad providers how to improve native ad disclosures. The segment was also a call to focus on quality content, not trickery.
Advertisers should work with native ad providers that keep native ads honest by utilizing disclosures that are conspicuous and use language to immediately tell the viewer “this is an ad.” Companies that adopt these practices will very likely not receive the same number of clicks as one that tries to be sneaky, but the increase in viewer trust is immeasurable. Ask yourself if you are trying to drive up clicks or trying to generate valuable results.
According to data from the IAB, less than half (41%) of respondents recognized that information they were reviewing was sponsored content. This statistic was also included in Oliver’s critique of the practice, stating that it was a core problem with the industry, which often contends native advertising is not conspicuously labeled.
What follows are the best practices you can put into place to ensure your native ads don’t damage your brand.
Best Practices for Native Advertising:
- Use the right headers. Simply stating “Sponsored Content” might seem to be sufficient from the perspective of advertisers and publishers, but the problem is many readers don’t fully understand what the term means. Some might believe that the content is simply “sponsored,” meaning it is actually editorial and just has a title sponsor. Confusion about the origin of content can lead to frustration for readers, which is not the state of mind publishers want to leave their readership. Use clear words such as “advertisement” to avoid any confusion.
- Make it conspicuous. Including a disclosure that reads, “This is an advertisement” is good. Writing it so only those armed with magnifying glasses can read completely defeats the purpose. The point of the FTC’s “clear and conspicuous” guidelines are to make sure the reader knows sponsored content is an ad before they read it. Therefore, the disclosure should be displayed in a prominent font and shaded properly so the wording stand outs from the surrounding content.
- Strive for relevancy. Advertisers should only promote sponsored content that is relevant to the outlet and its readers. Offering a headline of “Ten Tips for a Perfect Fashionable Outfit” to a site that explores the best gear in kayaking is not a good match. This kind of content stands out in the worst way. This isn’t to say that native advertising content should try to be tricky and mimic the style of the outlet’s headlines. But, the overall content should make contextual sense. It is more likely to be relevant and interesting to a publisher’s audience
- Don’t trick the reader. Content marketers should hold the highest ethical standards in terms of advertorial content or they risk alienating their audiences and gaining negative attention. Marketers need to avoid content which tries to pass as unbiased editorial, but is in fact an ad that is suspiciously written with glowing words for a corporate partner. Don’t try to trick the reader to engage with sponsored content. Simply share useful relevant messages, and use quality content and well-written headlines as the hook.
In spite of the problems facing native advertising (and the buzz created by John Oliver’s show), it remains an attractive way for advertisers to deliver a message, customers to consume content, and publishers to earn revenue. Content marketers can keep using native advertising and retain a loyal audience if they prominently display disclosures to present the audience with honest content.
About the Author: Ash Nashed is the CEO and founder of Adiant, which owns two ad networks: Adblade and IndustryBrains. Adiant has more than 1,000 relationships with publishers, including Digital ABC News, Hearst, Bloomberg, and Bizjournals. Nashed can be contacted at sales@adiant.com