Behind Buzzfeed’s Success with Native Content

In 2001, Jonah Peretti, Buzzfeed’s founder shared an email with his friends detailing the conversation he had with a NikeID customization store representative in a failed attempt to get ‘sweatshop’ printed on his custom sneakers. In a world pre-social media, the conversation spread like wildfire and reached major media outlets. This incident lead Peretti to start thinking about media and the motivation behind people sharing his story; five years later Buzzfeed was born as a ‘viral lab’ side project.

A couple of weeks ago, we attended IAB Canada’s seminar series, The Business of Digital, where the discussion was focused on the disruptive force that content in the advertising space has become. Among the various speakers, we had the chance to hear Joe Puglisi, Buzzfeed’s Creative Director, talk about the model the company uses when it comes to creating sponsored social content.

The advertising model is broken and in this current ad-saturated landscape, savvy consumers have learned how to spot an ad from a mile away. Buzzfeed is one of the media companies that has managed to consistently rise above the noise with both their original and branded content.

The Rise of Native Ads

Before we get into Buzzfeed’s secret for content success, we have to take a look at native advertising.

Display ads have changed since the early days of the web when advertisers relied on banner ads to reach consumers. Sadly the ads, more often than not, had little to do with the content on the publisher’s website. As a result, visitors’ trust eroded and it lead them to start ignoring these right-rail display ads, a phenomenon also known as ‘banner blindness’.

According to a blog post from Hubspot on display ad statistics, 54% of users don’t click banner ads because they don’t trust them, 50% of clicks on mobile ads are accidental and only 2.8% of people consider banner ads on a website relevant.

With ad blocking growing 41% globally in the past 12 months, it doesn’t come as a surprise that most publishers and media companies are offering some kind of native advertising program nowadays.

So, what is all the buzz about native advertising?

As digital media consumption habits have changed, native ads present an opportunity to reach audiences in a non-disruptive way. How? By creating experiences that match the same format consumers have become accustomed to reading on publishers’ websites.

Sharethrough’s Director, Tyler James, shared this definition before starting his Keynote presentation on the science behind native ads.

“Native advertising is a form of paid media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed.”

Research conducted by Sharethrough shows that people tend to consume native advertising the same way they consume editorial content and they are 32% more likely to share a native ad with their family and friends than a banner ad.

In the past decade, display advertising was dominated by search ads but in the past few years, the model has shifted to sponsored content with expenditure in this category reaching $7.9 billion this year, close to a 70% growth from 2013 (according to data from Business Insider).

Although native advertising has provided a fresh opportunity for both brands and publishers, not all content is created equally. Sales call-to-actions that are made to mimic content modules are not going to fool readers even if they are shown in-feed. Well-executed sponsored posts have put thought behind the content and the tone used to reach the audience. The trick is crafting content people will actually want to read and that is where unique content environments such as Buzzfeed shine.

Buzzfeed on Branded Content

Last week, Buzzfeed’s Joe Puglisi shared with the audience the question behind the company’s thinking: why would anyone share this content?

Buzzfeed owes its success to a mix of news, funny videos and listicles but what makes Buzzfeed truly unique is its ability to understand content for the social web, and their approach has paid off.

According to the latest statistics, the company currently boasts over 200 million monthly unique visitors, an average of 5 billion content views, and 1 billion video views with 75% of visitors coming from social networks.

The company is truly committed to making all of its content shareable. Wired UK reports that Buzzfeed employees are given a set of ‘Golden Rules of Shareability’ such as:

• Don’t use tricks. People don’t like to feel stupid.
• Be yourself. Content should reflect your own identity, not anyone else’s.
• Make content you would be proud to share.
• Experiment. No ideas are bad ideas.
• Have a heart.

In the native advertising space, Buzzfeed has managed to translate their learnings into successful sponsored social content campaigns. Shifting away from the key brand messaging, Buzzfeed focuses on the ‘little truths about the brand that are recognized by consumers’.

The company’s success with native content ads goes back to the question, why would anyone share this ad with anyone else?

Campaigns like Dear Kitten or Puppyhood for Purina targeting new pet owners go well beyond format and ad placement. These are experiences that consumers enjoy engaging with, even if they are well aware that these are sponsored posts.

The proof is in the pudding:

“A Motorola campaign involving ‘custom social posts’, such as “10 Places You Need To Visit Once In Your Life” had a 6.1 percent click-through rate. A Virgin Mobile campaign involving 190 branded stories such as “27 Cats That Just Can’t Handle It” generated 9.7 million ‘engagements’, with that particular story seen 600,000 times after social-media sharing.”

– David Rowan, Wired UK.

On top of their ‘Rules of Shareability’, Buzzfeed has also identified three main triggers behind why people share: Identity, emotion, and information.

Buzzfeed detractors who attack the platform’s credibility, often point out to the cat listicles and memes even though that only accounts to one small portion of their traffic. Animals are much needed because they provide the human element that people can relate to and at the heart of Buzzfeed’s viral empire is telling human stories.

The Key to Native Content

Native advertising is the most talked about ad format at the moment, but going beyond content modules, running a successful sponsored campaign is more about the content than about the format used.

Following Buzzfeed’s best practices, sponsored content has to be created with a ‘shareable content first’ mindset in order to avoid banner blindness.

If considering native advertising as a good fit for your next campaign, keep in mind these tips from Buzzfeed’s president, Jon Steinberg:

• Ensure the story has a human aspect
• Give people the chance to engage
• Let them react
• People shouldn’t feel awkward sharing it
• Be authentic

Do you have any tips for success with sponsored content? Join the conversation on Twitter!

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