Outbrain Releases Amplify API for Smarter Content Marketing


One of the rising trends in blogs and websites has been the idea of content marketing – you know, when articles or posts appear that say “sponsored content.” It’s a new version of “advertorial,” when articles are served up to readers with the dual purpose of providing something interesting to read while serving brand interests. What’s interesting about content marketing is that the folks who make those pieces are getting better at providing content that’s actually worth reading, and the people at content marketing firm Outbrain have launched the Amplify API to help keep that trend of solid content going strong.

The Amplify API is a set of tools that Outbrain has provided to its marketing partners – brands like General Mills and Mazda, for example – to better connect with consumers in such a way as to provide an actual tangible benefit. Case in point, Amplify has already been used by General Mills to make the lives of its customers better.

Said Gilad deVries, senior vice president of product & strategy at Outbrain:

“General Mills has been amplifying its best-in-practice hub Tablespoon, driving traffic to recipe pages, with conversion goals to increase newsletter signups, coupon downloads and recipe printing.”

The Amplify tools give consumption data back to marketers so they can better target their campaigns at potential readers. The process of creating and distributing that content has also been simplified with Amplify as well, meaning that campaigns can be changed on the fly to quite simply be made better.

I’ve had to write some content marketing material in the past, and it can be a tricky business. It’s a tough line to walk, trying to create content that fulfills the needs of the people holding the brand while also making a piece of writing that people will actually want to read. The fact that Outbrain has made this process simpler with Amplify is pretty huge, and will hopefully lead to a web that’s filled with more quality content overall.