Not So Sneaky Native Advertising

In the last 5 years, Facebook has increasingly become the platform for people to promote their original content, driving traffic and awareness to their personal and professional blogs and websites. If I'm scrolling through Facebook, I often see The Odyssey Online or Thought Catalog articles that have a catchy title that will bring me to their site.

Just last week, I was on my Facebook timeline, and I found my way to an article that really struck my interests. (as I was most likely in the target audience.)

This is How I Afford Luxury Travel on a Super Low Budget

As a broke college student with a deep desire to travel the world, I thought this article would be super insightful and give me great insights to go on adventures without having to break the bank.

It turned out, that the article was merely a 250 word promotion for Honey, a Google Chrome add-on that automatically applies discounts and promo codes to your cart before you make an online purchase. Basically, it has nothing to do with travel, but you can use it for traveling.

Native advertising is a great way to drive traffic to your website, however, if your native advertising isn't relevant or subtle under engaging content, you can run the risk of your audience feeling like they fell victim to click-bait.