Native Advertising: Can It Be Ethical?
When I'm scrolling on social media and see a sponsored ad on my feed, my immediate reaction is to skip over it and continue on my way. With traditional ads being easy to ignore because of their tendency to stick out, native advertising, a type of ad that is designed to blend in with other content, has made it's way to the forefront of advertising tactics.
While it’s an effective marketing tool, especially in content strategy, native advertising raises a few ethical concerns. Mainly regarding whether users can tell the difference between regular content and ads. However, when used transparently and responsibly, native advertising can be a useful tool for brands to utilize in their content strategy plans.
What is Native Advertising?
Native advertising is the creation of ads that match the the content that surrounds them. Instead of standing out like regular ads, native ads blend into the platform they’re on. Examples of these types of ads include sponsored articles on news websites or paid posts on social media that look like regular posts. Overall, the goal is to present ads in an organic manner, making them feel like a natural piece of your feed.
Ethical Concerns
The biggest issue with native advertising is that it has the potential to deceive users. Since these ads look so much like regular content, people may not realize they’re engaging with an ad. Which in turn, raises ethical questions. If the ad is not clearly labeled as sponsored content, it could mislead the audience causing the loss of trust between a brand and its consumers.
What Are The Guidelines?
Believe it or not, there are actually set guidelines that advertisements have to follow to ensure that ethical standards are being met. Organizations like the Federal Trade Commission have set rules to ensure native ads are clearly identified as advertisements. Social media platforms and websites also have their own policies to make sure these standards are being met.
Best Practices for Ethical Native Ads:
Transparency: Always use clear labels to identify paid content.
Value: Provide useful, entertaining, or relevant content.
Relevance and Context: Align the ad with the surrounding content.
Choice: Be transparent about the sponsorship relationship to give audiences the choice to interact or not.
1. Transparency is Key
For native advertising to be considered ethical, it must be clearly labeled as paid content. Including labels like “Sponsored” or “Ad” help make it easy to recognize the difference between regular content and ads. Transparency helps build trust and ensures that the audience isn’t being misled.
2. What's the Value?
Ethical native advertising provides value to the audience, such as useful information or entertainment. For example, a sponsored article that offers helpful tips or advice related to the brand’s product can be valuable to the reader while still promoting the brand. So it's worth asking yourself, what value does this ad provide?
3. Relevance and Context
The most ethical native ads are those that match the context of the platform they’re on. If the ad is relevant to the content people are already engaging with, it feels more natural and less intrusive. For example, an ad for flour on a baking page makes sense, unlike an unrelated ad that feels random.
4. Reader's Choice
Audiences appreciate transparency and having control over what kind of content they engage with. By being upfront about its paid nature, native advertising allows users the chance to decide whether they want to interact with it or not.
Native advertising plays a crucial role in a brand’s content strategy by seamlessly merging brand material with content that aligns with the audience's interests. It allows brands to deliver valuable and relevant information in a format that feels organic, helping boost engagement without disrupting the user experience.
When native ads are created to match the platform's style and tone, while being transparent and clearly labeled, they boost the brand's content strategy by building trust with the audience. This not only increases brand visibility but also enhances credibility. By sharing content that connects with users, native advertising strengthens a brand's overall content efforts, leading to higher engagement and long-lasting loyalty.