Native Ads: The 4 Essential Formatting Elements

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As the traditional banner ad continues its fade into obscurity, native ads, which coexist more naturally and comfortably with both the flow of editorial content and users’ sensibilities and interests, continue to grow in prominence. The most well-publicized examples are Sponsored Stories in Facebook, Promoted Videos on YouTube, and Promoted Tweets on Twitter. Other editorial sites that trade in native ads include Gawker Media (Sponsored Posts), Reddit (Sponsored Links), and Huffington Post (Sponsor Generated Post).

But as the native ad phenomenon grows, it expands beyond advertorials and paid links. Technology is enabling publishers to stitch together content that appeals to their readership and that fits within the confines of an ad spot. The same technological tools also now allow a small design team to create native ads that match the look and feel of the site, and that even include the types of entertaining and informative content that can be consumed and engaged with within the ad itself.

While its forms vary and innovation continues unabated, there are four  essential elements of a native ad format that performs well and fulfills publishers’ expectations:

  1. Native ads conform to site aesthetics.
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Owned Media vs Earned Media vs Paid Media: Definitions

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In the digital advertising and marketing industries, the terms owned media, earned media and paid media are becoming increasingly popular as the approach and potential outcomes of each of these content marketing segments are quite different. Each provides its own value but should ideally work synergistically, making the most efficient use of common campaigns and creative assets, and maximizing audience reach. Let’s start with some definitions:

  • Owned Media: placements on properties which you own and/or control. This can include your sites, landing pages, and microsites, hosted press releases, your blog, and your Twitter account and Facebook page (assuming these are monitored and moderated).
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