Direct VC Native advertising: which format to choose on Telegram

While foreign social networks were losing their users in Russia in the blocking conditions, Telegram, a Russian-made messenger, was only increasing its audience. Forbes, a publishing company, with reference to various analytical sources, published summary data for 2022, where the figures were as follows. Over the past six months, Telegram's audience has grown by 66%, starting from 25 million users in January to 41.5 people per day in July this year. The main growth was in February (from 27.5 to 40.6 million users).
 
Then, opinion leaders from other social networks began to “move” to the platform. According to Brand Analytics,  42% of Instagram* bloggers and 89% of bloggers from TikTok switched to Telegram in March 2022. Later, at the end of April, the messenger started leading in the growth of authors among all social networks in Russia. In general, they have increased by 23% compared to the beginning of February 2022. Also, the average daily reach of users increased by 13% (it was 21% and became 34%), as well as the time spent by audience on social network did (from 20 min to 35 per day).
 
All this suggests that Telegram in 2022 is one of the leading social networks in Russia in terms of the growth of subscribers, new authors and the total amount of content, including advertising. Since many advertisers actively started using the platform to promote and find new customers.
 
There are several options to carry out campaigns on Telegram, starting from using the Telegram Ads service, creating your own Telegram channel and ending with integration with channels of popular bloggers. In the first case, it is referred to targeted (within the service) advertising, which has its advantages, but requires a significant budget. In the other two, successful promotion directly depends on the independent search for channels for integration and creation of high-quality content for them. Let's talk about this in more detail, since many companies often have a number of the following questions.

• How should effective ad posts look like on Telegram?
• What to write about and in what format?
• Should the ad be native or use a more familiar, direct nature of the advertising message?

RMAA experts answer these and other questions about advertising on Telegram.

Choice in favor of advertising integration
Ad promotion format on Telegram directly depends on the chosen promotion strategy: integration, seeding or posting messages through the Telegram Ads platform. At this, there are a huge number of messenger channels, in which you can easily get confused. Plus, thematic user chats are gaining popularity. Of course, there is a great temptation not to waste time studying channels and just buy targeted advertising in Telegram Ads. However, from our experience, there are particular cases when only advertising integration is strongly recommended for brand promotion.
 
The first particular case is if the brand does not have its own Telegram channel or bot. But it is in dire need to promote the website in the “the faster, the better" mode. In this case, only advertising integration will be appropriate. Connecting ad platform will not work quickly (it can be done only if there is a bot, channel and published content). And creating Telegram-channel will not be fast either, judging by successful cases of other companies.

For example, the famous Russian beauty blogger Adele Miftakhova spent several years on the “promotion” of the Don't touch my face channel. The success of the Mash news channel is also the result of continuous work on it since 2017. In short, if the promotion requires operational work, it is better to use integration with existing telegram channels, and, at the same time, work on your own Telegram channel.
 
Since, its presence without content and a bot will still not allow you to launch a campaign through an advertising platform. The point is that Telegram Ads has its own restrictions with regard to channel topics and content. It should be at least 5-6 published posts in terms of content. Everything, related to bans, is much more complicated. Advertising of alcohol, tobacco products, even fast food, etc. will definitely not pass moderation. And, if a company is under EU sanctions (for example, Sberbank), there will be also rejection.
 
In addition, there are limits on the content. Ads on the official platform must contain up to 160 characters, without links to third-party resources. In case if a company needs more detailed longreads with transitions to the website, then it can be possible only through integration with bloggers or seedings in other channels.
 
And there is another important point that became relevant in the summer of 2022. It is related to the premium subscription of Telegram users. The messenger will not show ads published via Telegram Ads for such accounts. That is, if a brand already has its own channel and wants to launch promotion through this advertising service, you need to be sure that its audience does not consist of premium users. Otherwise, it will be a waste of the advertising budget and lower results from the campaign compared to the above mentioned integrations and seedings.
 
By the way, the cost of an advertising campaign in Telegram Ads is so much more expensive than any other type of promotion on Telegram (the initial budget is about 3,000 euros). Therefore, before working with the platform, you need to be confident in all aspects (budget, audience, compliance with general advertising requirements, channel content, bot, etc.).
 
Or use another tool - launch an effective Telegram campaign by selecting advertising integration. Before that, it is worth taking the time to analyze the channels. At a minimum, the number of views, as well as other important criteria as the percentage of bots among subscribers, engagement rate (ER), cost of view (CPV). All this data can be found in the exchanges that provide a catalog of channels (for example, telega.in ) or request directly from the owner of a particular source.

Let's say that you have already had a list of selected channels for integration and they all have good indicators. The next step is to work out the advertising integration. From the perspective of the format, it will look like a standard messenger post, but with its own features. Let's talk about this in more detail.

Advertising post on Telegram

In general, it almost does not differ from posts on other social networks. It consists of 4 key parts.

Heading, the main task of which is to draw the user attention to the post. The most effective format for it is a question (How to study online for free?) or an interesting fact (News for those who want to study. And for free.). You can also add emojis here or highlight the text, for example, in italics. The main thing is not to overdo it and that all the elements of the message look harmonious with each other.
 
Main part with offer details and the advantages of the product can contain up to 4096 characters, providing that there is a graphic image at the bottom ( if an image is at the start of the text, then the limit of the main part is 1024 characters) or no image at all. Note that when creating the main part of the message, there is no “recipe” for how to make it more effective. It all depends on various criteria. On the one hand, Telegram is a news resource, therefore long posts with lots of characters are not bad, they are read. On the other hand, it depends on which audience they will be written for. If the integration takes place in a channel where the main part of the posts contains about 500-700 characters, then most likely subscribers will not read the 4000-character text. But, again, each situation needs to be considered individually.
 
Сall to action is usually written after the main part of the post. It contains a link to the resource that is advertised (for example, a link to the official website of the company or webinar registration) and may look like a short, motivating phrase. Moreover, in the post there is an opportunity to place several links at the same time. It means, one of them can be a phrase, the other goes separately. And add a UTM tag to analyze the effectiveness of advertising after the entire campaign.
 
Image, as we said above, can be at the start or at the end of the publication. It is required  to highlight a post in the channel feed and “grab” the attention of users.
 
How does it all interact with each other? When creating any ad post, there should be the following logic: a user sees the image, he is interested in it. After, he looks in more detail, starting with the topic in the heading. Then, he reads the main part. If he is into the product involved, he will use a link to a third-party resource. Besides, the heading and image can be optional, and the post can start straight with the main text without an image. And all these cases can be effective, which is not insignificant.
 
In addition, all Telegram ad publications are conditionally divided into two main types, depending on the ad objectives and nature.

Native post and its features

This type implies the adaptation of the text to the channel style, the objective of which is to attract attention and get more traffic to the advertised resource. It means that it can be both an audience that is already interested in the product, as well as new users. The main feature of a native publication is that the brand mention is minimized (a link or short explanation of the offer).

Example of a native post in the Telegram channel of Sergey Minaev, a popular Russian TV and radio presenter and writer. Source: t.me/minaevlife/10041

One of the advantages of such publications: a high degree of user confidence in the post, a diverse number of formats (depending on the content of the channel), higher memorability and value.
  
But there are also disadvantages. Native posts are more challenging to create and adapt to the main content of the channel. In addition, such a publication contains much less information about the product itself and its advantages. Besides, if a blogger publishes native content for various brands quite often, the degree of trust in the author decreases. Therefore, it is worth carefully choosing channels for integration and checking the number of views of each published piece of content.

 
Or use direct advertising.
 

Direct advertising appeal post

In comparison with the native format, direct advertising immediately stands out among the channel information. Because nobody is trying to hide it. Such posts are usually written from the 3rd person and aimed at solving a specific advertising task – to get as many leads as possible from the description of the product's benefits.

Example of a direct advertising appeal post

The post turns out to be effective as a result of the direct nature as it openly calls for the purchase of goods or services. If, in this respect, it is aimed at the audience that is interested in the product, the integration has every chance of success. In direct advertising, the description of the product and its advantages are generally described in more detail. But this does not mean that you need to write according to standard templates – there is always the creative. You can also try different formats here. For example, create a short publication with a link to a detailed product description in a longrid.
 
When publishing direct advertising, it is worth considering the fact that it can become intrusive for a number of reasons. For example, if a post is published using the same template in several channels at the same time. Or the content of the channel consists exclusively of advertising messages. Also, the decision will be wrong if the brand cooperates with the same channels on an ongoing basis. It is better to avoid such situations to make promotion more effective. Also, it is better to make a separate creative for all integrations.

Tips for effective integration

Regardless of whether you choose native or direct advertising, there are some general recommendations for publications.

Budget: think about payback of your posts. The cost of placement in a telegram channel, as a rule, depends on how long the ad will be in the feed (and in a pinned form, if the channel uses such a function). Usually the most intense traffic falls on the first 3-6 hours after placement. Therefore, we advise you to  pay attention to such formats as 1/24 and 2/48 (1-2 days). In other cases, advertising may be ineffective: hardly anyone will read a week-old post. In addition, if there is a lot of advertising in the channel, then the activity may be minimal and occur only in the first hours after publication.
  
Unique content for different platforms is necessary for two important reasons. Firstly, users are often subscribed to several channels with different topics at the same time. Moreover, you will never guess where this part of the audience may “intersect". But if a user sees the same advertisement in at least 2 sources to which he is subscribed, he is unlikely to be interested in the product. On the contrary, your message will be ignored. Secondly, different content is necessary for a better understanding of which advertising format is best suited for business. Especially if the brand plans to launch Telegram campaigns systematically.
  
The design is based on the principle “the more logical, the better". This aspect affects the main part of the post. Split it into paragraphs in case of a long text. Highlight the main ideas in bold, use a motivational ending. Eventually, the visual design and the semantic part of the product description should be an integral whole, as well as understandable to the user. If the post looks like one large array of the text, then it is hardly be read.
  
Focus on the heading: add either useful information or provocation to it. In the first case, your target audience will be interested in the publication, in the second case, advertising will work to increase coverage.
  
Several links in one post for a longrid, which not everyone reads to the end. There are several hypotheses with regard to  the choice between a direct link and a “sewn” one in the text. Actually, you can use both options, but with one caveat: when clicking on a direct link, the user immediately goes to the site, but when clicking on a “sewn-in” link, the user will first be asked if he is sure that he wants to go to a third-party resource.
  
For nativity: use figures and statistics, because confirmed facts, research, and personal observations are most trusted. If the advertisement should tell about a specific solution through the use of the product, you can start the post with the statement of the problem. For example, in the medical or beauty segment, this will definitely work.

A native post, which is advertising sunscreen, begins with a description of the problem of stains on clothing from various products in this line. Source: t.me/donttouchmyface/2331

To accurately hit the target users with direct advertising, it is better to write a post on behalf of the brand with an emphasis on the content expertise. Again, the aim is to increase the trust of the audience. Plus, if you add bonuses and gifts to this, then the user will have additional motivation to perform a targeted action after reading the publication.

This advertisement talks about the advantages of the Aviasales More service on behalf of the Aviasales brand itself. Also, the company adds additional bonuses that the user can receive after clicking on the link at the end of the publication. Source: t.me/aviasales/5769

  
In conclusion

The year 2023 is a time when it is impossible to imagine promotion on the Russian market without advertising on Telegram. The audience of this service is constantly growing, as well as the effectiveness of campaigns with it. At the same time, the formats of promotion on the messenger vary depending on the brand budgets. Since the use of the official Telegram Ads advertising platform requires significant costs from advertisers, many of them choose the format of integration with popular telegram channels. Publications in this case may differ from each other in advertising messages – hidden or direct.

It is also important to understand that any integration has an individual character, taking into account many factors. Product properties, campaign goals, specifics of the selected telegram channels, etc. Both native and direct advertising have their pros and cons. However, there is no doubt that today Telegram advertising holds a firm position in the marketing stack of many companies and at the same time perfectly copes with its tasks.

Learn more about Telegram channels in our previous article: 

• Advertising on Telegram. How to analyze the results
• How to get Telegram channel analytics.Popular services 2022

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