• by Jerrid Grimm , Columnist, April 6, 2018

Over the past few years, the “how-to-guide” on advertising has been in a constant state of revision. Intrusive and aggressive approaches have fallen out of favor. Meanwhile, investing in more tailored, native advertising was up around 600% from 2014 to 2016. Businesses are allocating more and more ad dollars to sponsored content because, for many, it’s perceived as more personal and trustworthy. 

As the industry continues to refine its tactics, creators of sponsored content have long pondered how to find a balance between more subtle content and the old-school, heavy-handed approach to advertising. 

We set out to answer that question by studying just how often a brand should be mentioned in sponsored content. We measured  engagement levels for over 330 pieces of sponsored content created by top brands and publishers, and found some interesting results:

One mention helps, not hurts

Many publishers have often assumed that any mentions of the sponsoring brand are bad. But alas, the numbers indicate that such assumptions are overly cautious. Articles in the study with one brand mention outperformed articles with zero brand mentions — and showed reading times that were, on average, six seconds longer.

If this finding surprises some content marketers, it affirms the suspicion of many others: when done well, integrating the brand into sponsored content can add the value of the company’s expertise, making the piece more informative and authoritative.

But still, less is more

The study also indicated that when it comes to the number of times a piece should mention a brand, the key is to not overdo it. Articles with more than one mention resulted in readers scrolling through less of the content, with percentage scrolled dropping from 80% to 76.8% in articles with two mentions. What’s more, each additional brand reference drew shorter reading times. In fact, in articles containing a second brand mention reader engagement time was down by over eight seconds.

The moral of the story? When brands are mentioned in sponsored content more than once, readers begin to lose trust in what they’re reading— and, well, the content’s effectiveness suffers.

Placement is critical

Just as the number of mentions matters, where you make the mention is equally important. Mentioning the brand too close to the start of the article — within the first 100 words — meant a shorter reader engagement time and a lower scroll rate: on average, only 72% of the article was scrolled through. When brands are mentioned later, within the 300-600-word range, reading time is 12 seconds longer and readers scroll through 80.5% on average.

This indicates that brand mentions coming after, not during, the introduction portion of the piece allow for added insight without giving the impression the brand is intended to be the central focus.

Mentioning a brand name is like walking a fine line for sponsored content creators.  When references are poorly placed, or placed too often, the article risks coming across more like a traditional ad than actual content. Working in the brand reference sparingly and strategically, then, is the key to maximizing value.