Master Earned, Owned and Paid Media
The Simplest Ways to Leverage Earned, Owned and Paid Media
In the marketing world, “earned”, “owned” and “paid” media are a must for any social media strategy. But what do they mean? In this post, we’ll cover what each of these looks like, and how you can leverage them to build brand awareness and growth!
Earned Media
“Earned” media is obtained voluntarily or organically, through word-of-mouth! Whether it’s a Google review from a happy client or a post reshare from a LinkedIn connection, earned media is obtained for FREE, offered by people in your network.
Earned media also includes things like free press coverage, high-ranking search engine results, or social media mentions, to name a few.
How Can You Obtain Earned Media?
Create high-quality content. The better your content, the more likely others will share it!
Be active on social media. Be engaged online by responding to comments on social media, participating in meaningful conversations, and sharing others’ work. The more active you are, the more your content will be seen.
Reciprocate. If someone shares or highlights your work, return the favour!
Collaborate. Offer to create guest content for peers in your network. Build a rapport with others so you can both benefit from your respective audiences and extend your reach online.
Owned Media
Owned media is any media you are in full control of, like company websites or blogs. This content is original and unique to you and your brand. The more owned media you have, the more you can build brand awareness and growth.
How Can You Obtain Owned Media?
Develop a content marketing plan and editorial calendar
Create strong, high-quality content that provides value to your audience
Regularly update your content using marketing tools like search engine optimization (SEO) and other digital marketing best practices
Paid Media
As the name suggests, paid media usually involves promo content, like sponsored posts or advertisements. From social media and video ads to influencer partnerships, paid media lets you reach audiences that might not have come across your brand otherwise. It is a quick way to drive traffic and gain followers on social media.
Paid media (especially ads) also let you track results and metrics more tangibly, so you can see what’s working and what needs improvement.
How Can You Obtain Paid Media?
Create ad campaigns on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. Each platform has its own process for creating ads, so do some research before launching your campaign.
The common items required for each campaign are:
Target audience
Campaign goals
Budget
Ad copy + accompanying visuals
To make your ad campaign successful, think strategically, know your goals and target audience beforehand, and ensure your ad’s copy is strong. If you are creating ads for multiple social media platforms, don’t use the same copy or format for each. Analyze how to maximize each platform’s unique tools effectively.
For example, if your goal is to get more followers on Twitter, they have an ad and campaign “category” just for that purpose, where they recommend creating 3 separate Tweet campaigns (all in your budget) to get the most reach.
Takeaways
All three forms of media—earned, owned or paid—are a crucial part of any digital marketing effort. While they may serve separate functions, utilizing all three effectively can help you increase brand awareness,and create high-quality content every time!