Earned media corresponds to the visibility a company enjoys by chance, that is to say without having requested it. Earned media earned are any free publication about your business generated using organic methods. It is usually published by third parties and is neither paid nor created by you or your company. This is one of the best forms of advertising a business or website can get that could build your brand’s reputation.
What is Earned Media
Earned media earned takes many forms . It may include mentions or being published in online articles, third party articles, links to your content by unaffiliated sites, and reviews from unaffiliated third parties. It can even come in the form of a tweet or a review on Yelp.
The traditional earned media
What is Earned Media and how do I measure it?
Earned media is also widely present in traditional earned media, such as in magazine or newspaper articles and even word of mouth. Acquired media versus owned media and paid media. To better understand acquired media, it is good to know the differences between owned and paid media
The traditional earned media
Media memberships are all online assets that you own and control, such as blogs and websites . Having more media channels owned gives you more reach in terms of audience.
This in turn can give you a more extensive brand presence. Any extension of your brand, such as social media pages, is considered owned media. Paid
media Paid earned media refers to the media channels you pay for to reach customers. This could be promoting paid content , ads on social media, paid engagements with influencers, or PPC.
These three types of media are needed to create a complete digital marketing strategy, with each element working together to create results such as better traffic, improved content sharing and engagement, and better visibility.
What Are the Different Types of Media Coverage?
To help you understand what is meant by the term “earned media”, we first need to define the four types of media:
Earned media: This is a type of media that you, well, earn. It’s attention that is organically generated for your brand’s content that you didn’t create or pay for. For instance, when someone mentions your brand or posts a photo or video to social media that you didn’t create or pay for.
This type of media is incredibly effective for rapidly growing a company and increasing sales. It exists across a broad range of platforms, including print media, online and broadcast media, and even in personal interactions.
Owned media: This is media that your brand owns. Online, owned media includes the company’s website, blog and mobile apps, as well as their social media presence on sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. Offline, owned media includes retail stores, brochures, flyers, billboards, etc.
Shared media: This is when someone shares a video or article of yours across social media without you prompting them to do so. We’ve all seen this type of media in the form of viral content that’s on the internet. That said, it’s much more difficult for companies to go viral as opposed to individuals. So you should always track results and you can use the Whatagraph advertising dashboard to do so.
For instance, if an (unpaid) influencer tweets their thoughts on a blog post that you wrote on issues related to your industry, that is an example of shared media.
Here is another example of earned media:
Paid media: This is also known as bought media. Online, paid media is where you invest in paying for reach, visitors, or conversions through a variety of methods, including search, affiliate marketing, influencer marketing, display ad networks, etc. Offline, it can include traditional media such as TV advertising, print advertising, direct mail, etc.
Keep in mind that paid media can sometimes be structured as a variable expense if a company bases it on actual placements, so you’ll need to monitor progress carefully.
The key to understanding the differences:
Understanding the differences between these three types of media is simple:
- You “earn” earned media;
- You “own” owned media.
- You “pay” for paid media; and
- Someone else “shares” your media content.
Unlike owned and paid media, earned media is not controlled by brands, and this makes it a lot less biased – and ultimately more trusted by customers.
Important Note: Sometimes the lines between earned, owned, and paid media can be blurred. As you can see from the image below, theories often overlap between the different media categories:
For instance, videos don’t often go viral by accident. A lot of careful planning is involved in kick-starting the video’s exposure using paid media which stops at some point — when earned media gains momentum.
Another great example of how owned and earned media can overlap is if you write a blog post that gets picked up by media outlets and other bloggers in your industry.
Earned media doesn’t always result from owned media, but owned media can be very helpful in getting your brand more attention from third parties.
