Native Advertising – What is it? And how can VR managers use it?

Do you use Native Advertising or do you rely on organic search results to promote your business? Today we are looking at the options you have to expand your reach through various different types of native advertisement. This is the practice of integrating high quality content with the message or products of a business. The objective is to do this as seamlessly as possible. To make the adverts you produce inviting and interesting enough that they are not even seen as adverts, they are the experience.

Nobody searches for advertisements. They are an inconvenience that interrupts the content and experiences we seek out organically. We are inundated with them and have become saturated with them and cynical of them. 99.8% of banner adverts are ignored. The clicks, and then purchases from them are so minute as to render the adverts almost invisible to users. We mistrust their message. Traditional advertisements are seen as the price we pay to enjoy otherwise free content. Native advertising is viewed up to 52% more than banner ads.

We have developed a ‘blindness’ towards traditional glossy adverts. We can bypass them easily and wouldn't share or inform others about them. So, the focus of native advertising is to produce things that are engaging and enjoyable to the end user whilst featuring your business. You produce or promote features that link in with the story of your business. You could pay to promote a Facebook or Twitter post about your vacation rental business. People come to these sites for the content they enjoy, if your business is part of that then it will be seen and shared.

But there is a uneasy feeling that native advertising is somehow trickery. It can also be described as the process of camouflaging adverts within ostensibly informative news stories. Imagine an article in which a doctor or health professional describes the benefits of relaxing in fresh, mountain air. An interesting post for a vacation rental company to feature. But would you feel the same way about reading the article if you knew a vacation rental company paid to have it studied and written about?

There is a sense that by clicking an advert or following a link and seeing a company message that we paying something as a consumer. That somehow the advertisers have won. Other people have produced the things we search for and enjoy, then adverts jump in and wave in our faces as we try to enjoy it. Native advertisement switches the onus on producing the content to the companies. For vacation rental companies there are plenty of things you can produce that your potential customers will want to read, view or watch. Producing things that your potential audience actually want not only distributes your name, but also increases trust in your brand.

Think about a video guide to the local area or a written piece. This will be relevant to your potential customers, providing them with useful and entertaining material that also links back to your business. A top ten list of beaches in the area. Your own restaurant reviews. There are numerous things that you can produce that are both relevant to your customers and your business. Instagram images of the setting of your property will be appealing and shareable. Imagine the people you would reach if you sponsored content on sites such as Buzzfeed or HuffingtonPost. Sponsored posts on sites like these reach large amounts of people, feature your business but not fall into the trap of being dismissed as a boring and cynical advert. In the world of free content people want their adverts to provide them with something of value.

Would you consider trying new ways to distribute your most engaging content to reach more people?

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