Using Sponsored Content to Promote Your Products
When most companies think about marketing, they focus on big ad platforms or influencer marketing. I rarely hear anyone talking about Sponsored content, which bridges the gap between content creation and advertising.
If you are not using Sponsored content in your marketing strategy, odds are your competitors are (at least the savvy ones). So let's explore what sponsored content is, the different types of sponsored content, how to find sponsored content opportunities, and what value it adds to a business.
What is Sponsored Content?
Sponsored content is a form of advertising that blends in with the editorial content of a publisher or influencer. It is designed to provide value to the audience while also promoting a brand or product. Sponsored content can be in the form of a blog post, video, social media post, or any other type of content that the publisher or influencer’s audience consumes. The key difference between sponsored content and traditional advertising is that sponsored content is designed to be informative and engaging, rather than interruptive.
Different Types of Sponsored Content
There are several types of sponsored content that businesses can use to promote their products or services. Some of the most common types include:
- Sponsored blog posts — These are blog posts that are created by the publisher or influencer on behalf of a brand or product. The blog post is typically written in a way that aligns with the publisher’s or influencer’s content, and includes a call-to-action (CTA) for the brand or product. Here is one in dmagazine.com for Best GPS Dog Collars (notice how they even have a sub-section of the website for sponsored content)
- Sponsored social media posts — These are social media posts that are created by the publisher or influencer on behalf of a brand or product. They are typically designed to blend in with the publisher’s or influencer’s content, and include a CTA for the brand or product. Here is an example of Farmer’s Dog running a sponsored social media post to a sponsored article:
- Sponsored videos — These are videos that are created by the publisher or influencer on behalf of a brand or product. They can be hosted on the publisher’s or influencer’s website, YouTube channel, or any other platform that the publisher or influencer uses to distribute their content.
- Sponsored podcasts — These are podcasts that are created by the publisher or influencer on behalf of a brand or product. They can be hosted on the publisher’s or influencer’s website, or any other platform that the publisher or influencer uses to distribute their content.
How to Find Sponsored Content Opportunities
Finding sponsored content opportunities can be a daunting task, but with the right approach, it can be a relatively straightforward process. Here are some tips on how to find sponsored content opportunities:
- Competitor Research — As I mentioned earlier, if you are not doing Sponsored Content, odds are your competitors are. So how to find opportunities that your competition might already be using? Two handy tools can help: Facebook Ads Library, and Ahrefs
Facebook Ads library is pretty straightforward. Just search for ads in your niche and see who is running them under different ad accounts or to product review articles.
For Ahrefs, you will want to enter your competitors' URL and go to Backlinks on the left-hand side. I did this for one of our competitors, and as you will see in the image, it actually indicates what content is Sponsored and what isn’t.
- Keyword Research — Simply by taking your targeted keywords and doing some long-tail keyword searches, you can easily find examples of sponsored content. Let’s say you are targeting the keyword — Dog Beds. Start out by searching “Best Dog Beds” “Best Dog Beds for (insert breed)” “Best Dog Beds of (insert year)”. Any of those searches should produce results like this, which I can almost guarantee is sponsored content.
- Outreach to Media Companies — with the decline of print newspapers, a lot of the big print and online media companies have started shifting to generating revenue from sponsored content (notice the names on the image above — Forbes and NBC News. They typically handle it in one of two ways –
a) their internal team creates the content and uses affiliate revenue to pay for it
b) they sell sponsored content placements where you control the content (refer back to Dmagazine article listed above).
In either case, if you contact their advertising department they usually have a media kit or advertising deck that they send you which might look like this:
- Sponsored Content Agencies — If you don’t want to go the route of doing the research on your own, there are actually a couple of routes you can go –
a) Agency route — a simple Google search should pull up some companies you contact
b) affiliate plugins — this is fairly new to the scene, but we are starting to experiment with apps like Stack Commerce which matches up brands with sponsored content creators
What Value Does Sponsored Content Add to a Business?
Sponsored content can provide several benefits to a business, including:
- Increased brand awareness — Sponsored content can help to increase brand awareness by exposing your product or service to a wider audience.
- Improved credibility — With sponsored content, you are really leveraging the credibility and/or trust that the publisher or creator has with THEIR audience. This should result in higher clickthrough rates.
- Higher engagement — Sponsored content is often more engaging than traditional advertising because it is formatted to be an advertorial, product review, or must-have list.
- Backlinks — While not the primary focus, if you are creating sponsored content and linking back to your site, you are gaining some domain authority
A Few Closing Notes
Sponsored content is a marketing /advertising channel that we are doubling down on this year. When it comes to cost, you can expect to spend anywhere from $1,000 to as high as $25,000 depending upon the platform, size of the audience, what additional exposure they provide (social media, ad spend, multiple forms of media), but look at it as another form of paid ads except the cost is front-loaded.
How do you know if it is worth it for your product or brand?
- Take the total cost and divide it by the average profit per order ( average order value — the cost of goods) of whatever platform you are sending traffic to so that you know how many orders you will need to generate (there are different strategies you can use and we have tested out sending traffic to both Amazon and our store)
- Ask for case studies, analytics reports of similar content, and any other numbers they can provide that will give you a ballpark amount of traffic
- If you are creating a “Best _____ of (insert year)” type of article, make sure you plan it towards the end of the year, and plan for the following year (you want to get the most time out of the article since most sites won’t allow updates after it is posted.
- Don’t think of sponsored content as a silo. Treat it like any other piece of content and get exposure to it. Run some paid ads, share it on social, and create a couple of backlinks to it. Let Google know that it is a valuable piece of content.
- Lastly, get creative. I won’t give away all of my secrets, but there are ways to maximize the value of the content to make sure that any click generates some revenue for you.
Have you used Sponsored Content in your marketing strategy? If so, I would love to hear your feedback or results. If you found this article helpful, don’t forget to share it, like it, and comment.
Other Commonly Asked Questions about Sponsored Content:
Sponsored Content is a type of advertising that is created in collaboration with a publisher or influencer, with the aim of promoting a product or service to their audience. It is designed to provide value to the audience while also promoting a brand or product. Sponsored content can be in the form of a blog post, video, social media post, or any other type of content that the publisher or influencer’s audience consumes.
2. How effective is Sponsored Content?
Sponsored content can be highly effective in promoting a brand or product, as it is designed to be informative and engaging, rather than interruptive. When created in collaboration with a publisher or influencer that has a similar audience to your brand or product, sponsored content can help increase brand awareness, improve credibility, drive engagement, and ultimately lead to increased sales.
The success of sponsored content can be measured using a variety of metrics, including engagement, traffic, social shares, and conversions. It’s important to establish clear goals and objectives before launching a sponsored content campaign and to track and analyze these metrics throughout the campaign to determine its success.
There are several types of sponsored content, including sponsored blog posts, sponsored social media posts, sponsored videos, and sponsored podcasts. Each type of sponsored content can be customized to fit the needs and objectives of a particular brand or product.
Finding sponsored content opportunities can be done by researching publishers and influencers in your niche, reaching out to them directly, or using sponsored content platforms such as TapInfluence, IZEA, and AspireIQ.
The benefits of using sponsored content include increased brand awareness, improved credibility, higher engagement, and increased sales. Sponsored content is often more effective than traditional advertising because it is designed to be informative and engaging, rather than interruptive.
The cost of sponsored content can vary depending on several factors, including the type of content, the publisher or influencer’s reach, and the length of the campaign. Typically, sponsored content can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per campaign.
