Frequently Asked Questions
What is Native Lift?
Native Lift was founded in 2013 by digital marketing veterans with extensive backgrounds in performance media, sponsored content, community management, streaming media, and search engine marketing. We’re focused on paid content amplification, and provide a direct media management service to brands, publishers, and agencies. In addition to overall online campaign management, client partnerships often include strategic consulting engagements that range from basic sales training to developing a full stack, in-house content marketing practice.
What is paid content amplification?
Paid amplification leverages auction-based advertising to promote content beyond the website where it is hosted. These ads drive traffic and engagement to specific pieces of content or owned digital assets. Once a campaign is active, performance is optimized as a portfolio across the selected distribution partners.
How does paid content amplification work?
A bespoke ad campaign is created for each URL or asset that is promoted including ad creation, vendor selection, audience targeting, and optimization. Native Lift develops ads for amplification by leveraging the headlines, content, and images from your active assets to promote them. These ads are then edited to fit within each distribution partner’s specific parameters and character limits.
Ads are targeted to defined audience segments based on the nature of the content and the goals of the campaign. When you create high-quality content for your specific audience, it is by nature highly-targeted based on how it is written and for whom. The visitors driven to your content from those ads have enough interest in the subject matter to actively click through, and are predisposed to be highly engaged once they reach the content itself.
Why is paid amplification important? I’m already reaching an organic audience...
Investing budget and increasing development of high-quality content are great initial steps for brands and publishers. After packaging those messages in the ideal format, the content must also reach the target audience at scale to be impactful and create a return on investment.
Posting content to reach existing followers via social profiles is a great (and free) way to share articles, videos, podcasts, etc. However, organic reach of targets on social platforms is in a steady decline due to ever-crowding user feeds and algorithmic changes. At any given time, the relevant audience for your content is active across multiple channels online, and no matter how heavily trafficked, no single site captures everyone you’re hoping to reach. They’re messaging, searching for information, keeping updated on their social streams, and browsing news and content across other sites. Native Lift’s approach to paid amplification can help your content reach its desired audience wherever they’re most active online.
After investing in content development, amplifying that content to the largest audience possible is the most effective way to achieve a return on investment. And optimizing based on engagement will continuously improve performance and provide valuable intelligence around the most effective content themes and formats.
What if nobody clicks on my ad? Do I still pay for the ad impressions?
No. Native LIft’s paid content amplification is exclusively managed on a cost per click (CPC) basis, so you are only charged for pre-qualified visitors that are actively interested in your content enough to click the ad itself. Views of your content are guaranteed by the clicks that you pay for, and the number of clicks determined by budget size and distribution partner selection.
What types of advertising partners will Native LIft work with to amplify my content?
Native Lift’s preferred vendors are segmented across 3 categories, all of which are purchased on a cost per click (CPC) basi
- Search, where users are driven by intent - purposefully seeking specific information and content
- Social, where users are actively participating with trusted sources and self-defined interests
- Content Discovery, where users are browsing contextually relevant content
We typically distribute to a select group of preferred partners: Google, Bing, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook/Instagram, Outbrain, and Taboola. These partners have been vetted and approved based on factors such as traffic quality, data access and availability, mechanics of campaign launch/management, and CPC pricing for ad inventory. Inclusion of additional partners can be discussed on a case-by-case basis.
Where exactly will my ads appear? Can I pick specific sites?
All ads are displayed within the native environments of the distribution partners that serve them.
- Outbrain & Taboola: Ads are contextually matched and served on the pages of similar articles on network publisher sites including CNN, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company
- Google & Bing: Ads are displayed on keyword-driven search results pages of Google and Bing
- Twitter: Ads are displayed in-stream within user Twitter feeds
- Facebook/Instagram: Ads are displayed in-stream or on the right-hand side of Facebook pages
- LinkedIn: Ads are displayed in-stream or on the right-hand side of LinkedIn pages
Where applicable (Outbrain and Taboola), websites can be blacklisted from distribution but cannot be whitelisted. If there are specific websites that should not be included for distribution, please provide them in advance of a campaign launch and they will be blocked.
If I already have a direct relationship with one of the distribution partners, what’s the benefit of using Native Lift?
Not all content performs the same across different distribution channels. Diversifying distribution provides flexibility for optimizing budget towards the top-performing content for each partner. Individual distribution partners are incentivized to increase investment on their respective platforms, with minimal focus on performance. Having a third party as a performance management layer provides a holistic approach to budget management, casts the widest net for amplifying your content, and alleviates the operational headaches of managing several distribution channels on your own.
What if I only have one piece of content to promote?
Native Lift recommends promoting multiple pieces of content whenever possible, as performance varies based on audience interest. If you are looking to promote a single piece of content, optimization opportunities are limited. We can often promote that content, but will want to discuss an estimated forecast/plan after reviewing it.
Can I promote older (or archived) content or only new content?
You can promote any content that is directly accessible through a URL (i.e. no pop-ups, registration requirements, interstitials). Content that is newsworthy or timely should be promoted as quickly as possible once published. Content that is evergreen in nature can be promoted at any time, which is often a cost-effective way to create a content portfolio by using existing articles.
What if my content is only an image?
Our distribution channels work best when written content is included on the landing page that contextualizes the image, or if the image itself is an infographic. If neither is the case, we recommend distributing the image through your owned social profiles such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Where available, we are able to manage paid promotion of those social posts if desired.
What if my content is video?
Native Lift can promote video, and use images from the video itself to create the ads. As with images, we recommend including written content on the landing page to contextualize the video if you are hosting it as well. We also offer distributed solutions via Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.
What kind of targeting is available?
Targeting capabilities are dependent on individual vendors and include geography, interests, user demographics, and more.
How does Native Lift work with clients?
Partnering with Native Lift is easy. An umbrella MSA dictates all terms and conditions between our two organizations with no financial commitments or obligations. When it comes time to launch a specific campaign, a one page insertion order (IO) is issued that covers flight dates, budget, and any other required details related specifically to that campaign. Once the content and any additional assets (images, performance tracking codes, etc) are accessible, the campaign is ready to launch.
Do I need to put a Native Lift pixel on my site for campaign analytics and reporting?
Native Lift integrates with the current analytics package in place on your site, and we do not require any code or pixel implementation. As such, the campaigns are also fully integrated with GDPR and any other compliance requirements built into your site, as we never collect or store any additional user data.
Performance reports are typically issued on a weekly basis and include both front and back end metrics (when available).
What is the minimum paid amplification budget commitment per month?
Minimum campaign budgets are typically $15,000/month. We recommend promoting at least 4-6 pieces of content. For client requests that fall below the minimum, please contact Native Lift to discuss.