Digital Media Management: Native Advertising, Legal Issues and Trends

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of native advertising within the context of digital media management. It begins by defining digital media and highlighting its significance in modern life, particularly through the use of social media platforms for marketing purposes. The essay delves into the concept of native advertising, explaining its various forms, such as print advertorials, online video advertorials, sponsored content, and single sponsor issues, and how these strategies are employed by marketers. It then explores the ethical and legal considerations surrounding native advertising, referencing scholarly sources to discuss issues of transparency and potential for consumer confusion. The essay concludes by suggesting potential regulations and guidelines to ensure ethical practices in native advertising, emphasizing the need for content verification and penalties for misleading information to protect both organizations and users. The essay also provides references to support the arguments.

DIGITAL MEDIA
MANAGEMENT

Digital media can be referred to as the content that is encoded and can be
transmitted over the computer. In simple words, it includes websites, social
media networks etc. It has become an important part of life for the
individuals. It has changed the life of the individuals drastically. Through
the social media network all individuals have become connected to the
world. For example, Facebook have become the important source for
carrying out the native advertising. With the use of increasing social media
technology, organization has been using these platforms for promoting their
products and services. They are promoting their products through video
which can lure people as well as attract them towards their services. Native
advertisement has been adopted by the content marketers as this is the paid
form of advertisement where the focus is on the content.
The reason it has become popular is that due to digital media most of
the individuals visit these sites and it has become easy for the marketer to
built trust and relationship with the customers. Besides this, there are
different types of native advertisements which can be adopted by the
marketers. The most common is the print advertorial in which a general data
has been printed in the online. The reason it has became important because
now the audience are finding more interested in reading the content then by
just watching the advertisements. Another is the online video advertorials in
which the marketer with their content designs the video to attract the
customers towards their products. Due to their likeliness only it has been
predicted that the business is likely to increase. This native advertisement
helps in building effective relationship with the customers that helps in
establishing competitive advantage. On the other hand, another is the
sponsored content which is created by the publisher and the brand pays to it.
This is basically for creating the brand awareness among the individuals.
Another is the single sponsor issue in which a single advertiser sponsors all
the issues. These are some of the native advertisement which has been
adopted by the marketer to market their product and develop the brand
awareness.

This way the life of the individuals has changed drastically. Digital media
have overpowered the traditional marketing ways and they are focusing on
the content rather than advertisement. This has happen because of the
changing trend in the customers only. They have been more inclined to the
digital marketing so the marketers as well as brand are also emphasizing on
using these platforms for their business.
According to Hallahan (2014), native advertisement is ethical if it
does not create confusion in the mind of the customers. Due to the false
content, the publisher creates issue which is not right for the advertisement.
If the content is used for entertainment or education then only it has be
projected as correct. According to the federal trade commission, they said
that by giving the appearance of news or article an unbiased view is made by
the public (12 examples of native ads (and why they work), 2017). So the
marketers should specify that it is only advertisement not the new articles.
There are certain legal issues which are to be focused by the marketer for
raising their content on this platform.
According to Manic (2015), it states that the marketers are required
to first differentiate between the editorial as well as advertisement. Due to
the small yellow label of the “sponsored content” the visibility is less and it
is not clear for the audience to differentiate between them. The marketers are
required to effectively state that it is the advertisement. Due to some of the
issues it misleads the audience which is not ethical. According to Lee and
Kotler (2011), native marketing is not ethical because there are several
loopholes which misguides and mislead the audience. Even the marketers as
well as the brand do not focus on taking the corrective action because they
are benefited through it.
This technique can be made ethical by suggested some of the rules
and regulations’ so that the consumers can get benefit from the native
marketing. It can be recommended that the content needs to be checked
before uploading on the sites and heavy penalty can be raised on the content
writer or the sponsor for misleading information. This will somewhat help in
making it beneficial for the organization as well as the users.

REFERENCES
Books and journal
Hallahan, K., 2014, March. Publicity Under Siege: A Critique of Content Marketing, Brand
Journalism, Native Advertising and Promoted User Endorsements As Challenges to
Professional Practice and Transparency. In 17 TH INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC
RELATIONS RESEARCH CONFERENCE (p. 391).
Manic, M., 2015. The Rise of native advertising. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of
Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series V, 8(1), p.53.
Lee, N.R. and Kotler, P., 2011. Social marketing: Influencing behaviors for good. Sage.
Online
12 Examples of Native Ads (And Why They Work). 2017[online]. Available through:
<http://www.copyblogger.com/examples-of-native-ads//>[Accessed on 6st May 2017].