Five Steps to Crafting Compelling “Content Native” Ads
In our last blog we took a nostalgic trip back to the most iconic 90s TV commercials. They were in-your-face, they were cheesy, they were never meant to be realistic, and they were unashamedly designed to disrupt whatever show you were watching. In today’s content native marketing world where fakeness stands out like a sore thumb, they are essentially a cheat-sheet of what not to do to reach your audience.
Content native ads are not designed to interrupt, but rather to blend into the platform on which they appear. Instead of jumping up and down excitedly saying, “hi, I’m an advert, watch me!”, they appear far more natural, fitting in with the look, feel and relevancy of the rest of the content on the page. Their goal is to stop the scroll and hold the viewer’s attention.
Here are some key steps to crafting compelling content native ads, as well as tips for adding user-generated content (UGC) and content creators into the mix.
Start with a relatable problem
To hold your audience's attention, start your story with a relatable problem. Show the viewer what the problem is, and how it affects your target audience’s lives. This will create an emotional connection with the viewer, and they will be more invested in your story. It needs to be a real problem or at least something other people can resonate with!
Show, don't tell
Throughout your story, use images or text on screen to show what you are talking about. If you tell but don't show, viewers are going to keep scrolling. Use visual aids to keep the viewer engaged and interested. This can be emojis, memes or showing your product or service. It needs to be clear how/why this product can make lives better.
Cut out any dead space
A good story has a constant flow and is addictive with momentum. Cut out any dead space, meaning anything that is not "giving" towards the content. No "um," "like," "as." No useless side notes, unless they are funny and trigger comments. Keep your story concise and to the point. The goal is to keep the viewer engaged and interested in what you have to say, while minimizing any risks in losing the viewer.
Create a constant flow
A good story has a constant flow that is addictive and has momentum. Keep your story moving forward by using transitions and pacing to build tension and excitement. The more invested the viewer is in your story, the more likely they are to take action.
Incorporate UGC
Ads that were far from reality made sense in the 90s, but today consumers who are tired of the spread of fake news on social media, and fatigued by the extravagance of celebrity culture, are looking for far more simple, relatable content that more closely resonates with their own lives.
This is where UGC can add a layer of authenticity and credibility that traditional advertising often struggles to achieve. When potential customers see real people sharing their positive experiences with your brand, it creates trust and social proof. It humanizes your brand and shows that your products or services genuinely resonate with real consumers.
Platforms like YEAY offer a bridge between brands and content creators, making it easy to customize content briefs and target relevant content creators of all sizes to request native UGC. Brands can target more established influencers to create content and share it across their social platforms for maximum reach, and they can also target regular UGC creators to source content that can be repurposed into content native ads.
They say every generation is a reaction to the one that came before, and you could say the same about advertising. Today cheesy, unrealistic and disruptive ads that clamor for attention won’t cut it. Native ads are made to merge with their surrounding content, and UGC is the perfect way to achieve this.
Find UGC for your next native ads 👇