Discover the Difference Between Earned Media, Owned Media & Paid Media
If you’ve been around the digital realm, you may hear these words buzzed around, but what’s the difference between earned owned, ‘owned’ and paid media? And what is it to how you approach digital marketing?
Consider owned media, earned media, and paid media in the same way as the tripod. Each is an essential element of the total and contributes to the overall strategy of digital marketing. The image above illustrates the roles of each element and how they play a role to create a cohesive marketing mix.
Earned, Owned , and Paid Media Defined
What exactly is Earned Media?
Earned media refers to exposure or publicity gained through techniques other than paid advertisements.
In the event that owned media is the goal, for you, then earning media can be the tool to help people reach their destination. What’s the point of a website or social media platform when no one is viewing it or using it? This is the reason earned media is important. Earned media is simply word of mouth. It’s typically as viral trends, mentions, reviews, shares, reposts and recommendations or any other type of content that is picked up by third websites. A major and powerful earning media’s driving factors is usually a combination good organic rankings on Search Engines, and content that is distributed by the company’s brand. First page rankings and quality content are often the main contributors.
First-page rankings on search engines put your owned websites and content links in a position for greater engagement and more shares this is the reason the use of a solid SEO strategy is essential. When it comes down to brand content, engaging, useful content is available in all forms and sizes. Be it an infographic, blog media release webinar , or an e-book The bottom line is that it has to be valuable for it to be able to earn the benefits earned media. This is why having a solid strategy for content is essential.
What exactly is Owned Media?
Owned media refers to any web property that you are able to manage and that is exclusive to your company’s brand.
A very well-known types of media owned by a company is a website however blogs and social media sites are also types of media owned assets too. Channels like social media or blog sites are actually extensions to your site and they are all extension of the brand in general. As more of your owned content you own the better chance you’ll have to expand your brand’s reach on the internet. (Check out our blog post about SEO for blogs in order to achieve higher rankings!)
What exactly is Paid Media?
Simply simply put pay-per-click is the type of advertising that you pay for. In general, it’s used to promote content to generate earned media and also drive visitors to owned media properties.
Paid promotion of content can to get things moving and increase the exposure. Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn provide paid media advertisements that can increase the visibility of your content as well your website. Another option to get more publicity for the content that you create is paying influential individuals to promote your services or products which can impact the amount of exposure and attention your work receives. Retargeting using retargeting, Pay Per Click (PPC) and display ads is a successful and efficient method to bring visitors to your owned media websites like your website and help boost visitors and/or converts.
Important Takeaways on the Trifecta
The three components that are earned media, owned media, and paid media, are crucial to the plan for digital media. It’s your responsibility to analyze these three elements and decide on the best way to put your resources in order to create the best value for your business.
Owned media websites are an extension of your brand , and provide more avenues for users to engage to your company. In the case of owned media, the more you are able to keep up with the upkeep, the better.
Earned media is equivalent to the online equivalent of word-of mouth. It is the engine that drives the flow of traffic, engagement and sentiment about an organization’s brand. There are a variety of methods for a brand to earn earned media, search engine optimization and content strategy are most effective and efficient.
Paid media can be a fantastic method of promoting content and create more earned media. It can be used to direct visitors directly to your own media properties.
While each component is different and function, combining Earned, Owned and Paid Media in combination will result in a digital media strategy more efficient.
