Content Marketing

Sponsored Content 101: Advertorial vs. Native Content

Posted by | Advertorial, Content Marketing, Native Content | No Comments

confusedThere is a pervasive perception that native content is simply a new word for advertorial – perhaps a higher quality version of advertorial but advertorial nonetheless. Then there’s the ambiguous “sponsored content.” Let’s clear up the differences.

Sponsored Content

First: sponsored content. This term is a catchall for any content paid for by a brand that appears in a media property that the brand does not own. Simple! It applies to both native content and advertorial.

When executed well, the tone and look seamlessly fit into the media property. Detractors believe that this is deceptive, but it actually serves both the reader and the sponsor. Not only does it help sponsors leverage the trust readers have in the publication, but it is also far less disruptive to the reader’s experience than ads, pop-ups, etc.

Advertorial

Now for the oft derided advertorial content, named for being the advertisement/editorial hybrid that it is. The phrase is associated with those horrible, text heavy pages in magazines hocking weight loss drugs and pharmaceuticals. That’s hardly high-quality or engaging content.

The truth about advertorial content, however, might just surprise you. There’s actually nothing inherently low-quality about advertorial – it’s simply paid content that explicitly promotes the company that is paying for it. Horrific execution has given it a bad rap. But well-written, beautifully designed advertorial is actually a great tool for many brands, especially ones that need to educate the market – for example beauty brands that are using a hot new ingredient many consumers aren’t yet aware of.

I was recently speaking to a sponsored content pro at a major publishing company who said that he regularly pushes brands that think they want native content towards advertorial instead. These folks want to reach a magazine or website’s audience by using engaging, sponsored content that actively touts their products or services. They’re actually asking for advertorial! But they don’t know it because they’ve fallen into the trap of thinking native content is synonymous with good advertorial.

Don’t fall into the same trap. Advertorial can be awesome and absolutely has its own place in the marketing mix.

Native Content

Native Content is the new kid on the block in content marketing and almost universally considered to be the wave of the future. But, thanks to its cool factor, the phrase also gets thrown around frequently and inaccurately, leading to mass confusion.

Native content is sponsored content that does NOT explicitly promote the brand that it is purchased by. Sounds weird, right? But it actually makes a lot of sense when you consider the fact that today’s consumers see the brands they use as part of their identities. A great product isn’t enough. Brands need to fit into a target consumer’s self-image or the image they aspire to.

The content has two goals: (1) to be valued by target customers and (2) to reflect the values of the brand. It is brand-aligned but not promotional. The desired outcome is to take the reader’s enjoyment or utility and strengthen its association with the sponsoring brand. While the brand’s name isn’t mentioned in the content, it is marked as sponsored by the brand and branded imagery may surround the content.

The line between advertorial and native content is indeed a fine one to many. But, for marketers, they are quite distinct from one another and appropriate under different circumstances.

Wondering what’s right for your brand? Let’s chat: drop us a line at info@storiocreative.com.

Stop Obsessing over SEO!

Posted by | Content Marketing, SEO | No Comments

SEO - Search engine optimizationSEO is an industry unto itself. There are a zillion software companies and consultants who have built businesses around pushing companies up in Google search rankings using techniques like content farming, backlink purchases and keyword stuffing. But there’s a little secret they don’t want to tell you: traditional SEO is all but obsolete.

Google knew that an entire cottage industry was gaming their system and they didn’t like it. It devalued Google’s paid search products and it was damaging the quality of search results. So they did something about it.

Hummingbird, the version of Google’s search algorithm that launched last fall, was a game changer. Hummingbird was more than a simple algorithm update – it’s a total replacement that focuses on contextualization of information instead of keywords. Keyword-stuffed pages that lack valuable content have been kicked to the curb and those scammy SEO techniques are no longer rewarded.

This isn’t to say keywords don’t matter. They do. But Google parses when keywords are being used in a way that serves its users as opposed to as a technique for driving traffic.

We tell clients every day that it’s time to stop obsessing over SEO keywords. SEO is an entirely different beast today than it was three years ago or even a year ago. Businesses that want to climb the search rankings need to prioritize high value, relevant and engaging content above all else.

And it’s not just producing great content that’s important – how your business shares its content matters, too. A carefully constructed social media strategy for readers to enjoy, value, and share content is absolutely essential.

Surf the wave of the future by getting your priorities in order: quality over keywords. Want to know more about revamping your approach to SEO? Reach out to us at info@storiocreative.com.

Making Your Content Work Harder

Posted by | Atomization, Content Marketing | No Comments

workContent marketing is hugely cost efficient. And no, we don’t mean free. Content marketing only works with engaging, quality content, which absolutely costs money. But, when executed properly, you get a huge amount of bang for your buck.

Atomization of content is the key to making your content marketing budget go the extra mile. When you tweet about an awesome blog post, what are the chances that everyone you want to see that tweet will be on Twitter at the exact right moment to see it (or a retweet) among millions of other tweets? Virtually non-existent. But you also can’t send the same tweet out over and over. Atomization is breaking down that post into small pieces of unique content that all lead back to your original post without feeling repetitive.

The premise is simple but the execution is nuanced. For example, if your piece of content is an opinion piece tied to recent news, the timeline for rolling out your atomized content strategy may take place over the course of only a day or two. On the other hand, if your content is evergreen, you can have an atomization plan that takes place over the course of days, weeks or even months. In some cases, content can actually have legs for more than a year.

Content snippets also need to be tweaked depending on where they will appear. What works on Twitter doesn’t work on Facebook; what works on Facebook won’t resonate on LinkedIn. You also must consider the visual element of the content to take advantage of platforms like Pinterest and Instagram.

We see the same problem time and time again though. Small and mid-sized businesses are the folks who most need to squeeze this type of efficiency out their content marketing budgets, but they are also the companies that don’t have the in-house resources to efficiently and effectively atomize content.

There are two solutions here. (1) Dedicate the dollars to a social media manager with experience atomizing content (2) Work with a content firm that will provide social media headlines and recommended spacing along with each piece of content.

Want to hear more? Drop us a line at info@storiocreative.com.

What can we create for you? Let’s get started.