Native Advertising Predicted to Be Big in 2014

In 2014, Content Marketing is still the key to a powerful SEO campaign and an active, engaging social media presence. The opportunities for content placement are growing because online publishers need to make money!

The banner ads on newspaper and magazine websites are not doing the job; the average click-through rate is about .1 percent. (Source: DoubleClick). Online publishers, including such big names as The New York Times, Buzzfeed and Vanity Fair, are hoping Native Advertising will boost click through rates and increase revenue.

The objective of Native Advertising is to supplement an article with helpful information from a paid sponsor. Like other forms of content marketing, native ads do not directly promote the sponsor’s product or service. The expectation is that a reader will want to engage with the sponsored content because, unlike a banner ad, a native ad contains information that is relevant to the article that has already attracted the reader’s attention.

While a small business probably can’t afford a native ad placement on The New York Times website, there are affordable options—73 percent of online publishers and media companies offer some kind of native advertising program. (Source: eMarketer)

Google Goes for a Ride

A study by J.D. Power found that in 2012, 47 percent of vehicle owners indicated they used a downloaded app on their smartphone for navigation in their vehicle, compared with 37 percent in 2011. Notably, 46 percent of owners indicate they “definitely would not” or “probably would not” repurchase a factory-installed navigation system if their smartphone navigation could be displayed on a central screen in their vehicle.

Who wants to pay for an old style navigation system when we have smartphones with free map service? And a pricey built-in DVD package when we have hand-held devices to keep passengers (i.e., whining kids) occupied during car trips? Car manufacturers are on the losing end of these advances in technology; they’ve seen the future and they want a piece of it.

In June 2012, BMW, GM, Mercedes, Jaguar, Audi, Land Rover, Toyota, Chrysler and Honda teamed up with Apple to incorporate “eyes free” Siri-compatibility into their cars. Using a voice command button on the steering wheel, Siri Eyes Free enables the driver to make and receive calls, select and play music, audibly send and receive text messages, access Maps and get directions, audibly receive notifications, set reminders and more, all without looking away from the road.

This month, Google, along with technology and auto industry leaders, announced the “Open Automotive Alliance” (OAA). The OAA is committed to bringing the Android platform to cars, with the goal of making technology in the car safer, more seamless and more intuitive for everyone.

Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer of NVIDIA said, “The car is the ultimate mobile computer. With onboard supercomputing chips, futuristic cars of our dreams will no longer be science fiction. The OAA will enable the car industry to bring these amazing cars to market faster.”

The first cars with Android integration are expected to be delivered by the end of 2014.

Image Recognition Coming to Pinterest

In an August 2013 interview, Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann said, “The big-picture assumption of the company is that there is a direct link between the things you pin and the things that you eventually spend money on. In there, we think, lies a model where we can actually make Pinterest more useful. And we can help businesses by bringing in more customers and helping them sell things and connect with people.”

Pinterest’s investors have helped boost the company’s value to $3.8 billion and now the pressure is on to start generating revenue. Though it has experimented with Promoted Pins, Pinterest has yet to develop a viable advertising product. That could soon change.

Earlier this month, Pinterest acquired VisualGraph, an image recognition and visual search platform. Currently, Pinterest’s search functionality relies largely on user-generated, haphazard descriptions of pinned images. In theory, with VisualGraph’s image recognition technology, Pinterest could detect items in the pinned images and deliver ads to users based on the products and services represented in their pins.