Pay-per-click advertising: A literature review

Digital marketing is being widely employed to efficiently and effectively market products/services to achieve increased sales and generate higher revenues. It allows businesses to effectively communicate desired content to their consumers. Pay-per-click (PPC) is one such form of digital marketing. PPC is often acknowledged for the different advantages it offers, and at the same time, it is notably criticised for fraud and other issues associated with its use. The literature on this subject, although limited, has invested considerable efforts in unveiling the pros and cons of employing PPC as a marketing/advertising strategy. This paper reviews 50 publications on PPC advertising to synthesise their findings and arrive at a common ground for understanding the digital presence and impact of this form of marketing. Alongside discussing the findings, observed limitations and opportunities for future research have been identified and reported

Native Advertising and Disclosure

This paper reviews the growing combination of advertising and editorial content in the converged paid media form of native advertisements. Because native advertisements have the potential to negatively impact the credibility of traditional news organizations by misleading consumers through hidden persuasion attempts, this text reviews native advertisements in five prominent online newspapers for disclosure and source credibility. Through a content analysis of 130 online newspaper native ads, this paper reviews disclosure according to FTC guidelines for native advertising proximity and placement, prominence, reputation, and language. In addition, this text reviews source credibility by attribution and source status: executives, professionals, public relations personnel, workers, celebrities, organizations, and students. This paper adds to research by its application of Agenda-Setting Theory in its sorting of native ads by their newspaper category and subject matter to determine which newspaper sections are utilizing native ads most frequently and ultimately driving the editorial agenda

Keyword Search Patterns in Sponsored Link Advertisements

Over time, an online user searching for information about an idea or product may enter multiple search engine queries, thus creating a keyword search pattern from which the user’s intent may be inferable. Our research seeks to establish the relationship between these patterns and user actions, specifically their purchase behavior. To test our hypotheses, we examine a unique dataset from a large Asian travel agency; the dataset includes search engine and on-site behavior from over a million users during a one year span. We have developed a typology for the coding of search queries used and determining the level of specificity and breadth as well as content type for each of well over two million unique searches. Once coded, our analysis will allow us to identify types of patterns and test our hypotheses, thus providing important findings regarding the relationship between search patterns and behavior

Achieving more by saying less? On the Moderating Effect of Information Cues in Paid Search

Research on ad copy design is well-studied in the context of offline marketing. However, researchers have only recently started to investigate ad copies in the context of paid search, and have not yet explored the potential of information cues to enhance customers’ search process. In this paper we analyze the impact of an information cue on user behavior in ad copies. Contrary to prevalent advice, results suggest that reducing the number of words in an ad is not always beneficial. Users act quite differently (and unexpectedly) in response to an information cue depending on their search phrases. In turn, practitioners could leverage the observed moderating effect of an information cue to enhance paid search success. Furthermore, having detected deviating user behavior in terms of clicks and conversions, we provide first indicative evidence of a self-selection mechanism at play when paid search users respond to differently phrased ad copies

“It was super easy and quick to do”: Comparing the Use of Evaluative Language in Life-Style and Fashion Influencers’ Sponsored and Non-Sponsored Instagram Content

Social media platforms have created a new profession, a social media influencer. Influencers earn their income by working together with brands or companies and advertising products to their followers. It is argued that influencers can manipulate the followers’ impression of the advertised item, and thus affect their purchase intention. When influencers evaluate products on their content, they can “impose” their ideas and opinions to their followers, who value and trust the influencer and what they say. The purpose of this thesis is to examine and compare the use of evaluative language in Instagram influencers’ content. The research questions are as follows: How does the evaluative use of attitude differ between sponsored, non-sponsored, and ambiguous posts, if any? What kinds of engagement resources are used, and how do they differ between sponsored, non-sponsored, and ambiguous posts? How are graduation values applied in the content, and how does the use differ between sponsored, non-sponsored, and ambiguous posts? If there are notable differences in the use of the three domains of the framework between the three types of posts, where do they stem from? Martin and White’s appraisal framework is used as a base for the analysis. Each domain of the framework, attitude, engagement and graduation, are considered, in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of the language on this type of content. Furthermore, the targets of attitude and graduation are analyzed. The material is collected from four individual English- speaking influencers, who focus on fashion, beauty and life-style content. The material is divided into three even groups, sponsored, non-sponsored and ambiguous content, to provide an impartial comparison of the language used in the content groups. I hypothesized that sponsored content would involve more positive attitude, expansive engagement and up-scaling graduation than the other two content groups. While for the most part the language in all three content groups is similar, the results show the hypothesis to be partially correct, as sponsored content is found to involve more persuasive language in comparison to the other groups. However, it is impossible to know if the differences found are intentional, but they may influence the readers differently regardless of intention. In addition, more studies are required to see how the readers recognize or interpret such language in the content