Amie Stein from Local Media Association lead the revenue breakout track at Newspapers Canada’s 2015 National Conference. In her second breakout session she talked about monetizing native advertising, social media, mobile and video.
Native advertising is about creating content that resonates with an audience, and is not about writing stories about the advertiser, said Stein.
Other types of native advertisings are organic native, which includes things like blogging, website content creation and newsletter production. The other is reverse publishing, which is when you publish online native, in print. Native advertising is surging and will generate $5.03 billion in the U.S. by 2017.
Native and social have had compounded growth in the last two years due to mobile adoption. More than 50 per cent of searches are done on mobile as everyone is plugged into their phones all the time. It is vital that advertisers optimize their websites for mobile.
When it comes to social media, it is best to know what paid or sponsored opportunities are across platforms. In her presentation, Stein recommended charging "a management fee for targeting strategy and creative development and analytics optimization."
According to Stein, one of the best practices to properly execute native advertising is to create a “go-to-market” strategy that includes both sides of the organization. The time spent on viewing videos has increased 32 per cent in the last year—50 per cent on YouTube—and this year, it is projected that $7.7 billion will be spent on video advertising.
When creating videos, there are networks and exchanges out there to supplement your video inventory. Stein suggests using your phone as your recording device along with some good editing software. There is plenty of good editing software available, many of which are inexpensive and user-friendly. Finally, start with static positions on YouTube, which can be served through AdWords.
