Which of the following is the best example of earned media?

If you’ve been privy to the digital world you may have heard these buzzwords tossed around, but what is the difference between ‘earned’, ‘owned’ and ‘paid’ media and what does it mean for your digital strategy?

Think of earned media, owned media and paid media like a tripod. Each element is an important part of the whole and all contribute to a complete digital marketing strategy. The illustration above outlines each element’s role and how they work together to form a cohesive marketing mix.

Earned, Owned and Paid Media Defined 

What is Earned Media?

Earned media is publicity or exposure gained from methods other than paid advertising.

If owned media sites are the destination then earned media is the vehicle that helps people get there. What good is a website or social media site if no one is seeing or interacting with it? That’s where earned media comes in. Earned media is essentially online word of mouth, usually seen in the form of ‘viral’ tendencies, mentions, shares, reposts, reviews, recommendations, or content picked up by 3rd party sites. One of the most effective driving forces of earned media is usually a combination of strong organic rankings on the Search Engines, and content distributed by the brand. First page rankings and good content are typically the biggest drivers of earned media.

Rankings on the first page of the search engines place your owned media sites and content links in a position to receive higher engagement and shares, which is why a good SEO strategy is crucial. When it comes to brand content, interesting, informative content can come in all shapes and sizes. Whether it be a blog, info-graphic, video, press release, webinar or e-book, the bottom line is that the content has to be worthwhile in order to receive the value of earned media; which is why a great content strategy is also important.

What is Owned Media?

Owned media is any web property that you can control and is unique to your brand.

One of the most common examples of owned media is a website, although blog sites and social media channels are other examples of owned media properties too. Channels like social media and blogs are extensions of your website, and all three are extensions of your brand as a whole. The more owned media you have, the more chances you have to extend your brand presence in the digital sphere. (Check out our post on SEO for blogs to earn better rankings!)

What is Paid Media?

Simply put, paid media is marketing you pay for. Holistically, it is used to promote content in order to drive earned media, as well as direct traffic to owned media properties.

Paying to promote content can help get the ball rolling and create more exposure. Social Media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn offer paid media advertising that could potentially help boost your content as well as your website. Another way to gain more exposure for your content is to pay influencers to rep your products or services, impacting the reach and recognition your pieces receive. Retargeting, Pay Per Click (PPC) and display ads are an effective form of paid media and more direct way to drive searchers to your owned media sites like your website, to help increase traffic and/or conversions.

Earned media shouldn’t be confused with paid media, which would be paying influencers or running social media ads. It is distinctly different from owned media as well, which is the attention your company’s website attracts.

Earned media is getting in the news and bringing attention to your brand.

Money can’t buy organic attention, yet it’s so valuable to a company.

Earned media is all over the internet and viewed throughout the day, and you may not even be aware that’s what you’re seeing! Some of the most common types of earned media take the form of news coverage or interviews, product reviews or influencer shoutouts, and of course, social media movement.

The peak of earned media, however, is with something referred to as “brand synonymity” or “brand equity.”

Being “brand synonymous” means people use your brand name as the catch-all description of a generic product. This is a pretty powerful position to be in, and most people don’t realize the product they are mentioning isn’t called what they’ve called it their entire lives. Do you refer to your tissues as Kleenex or your cotton swabs as Q-Tip’s? Did you know their ‘names’ were just the most popular brands creating the product all along? Consider moving this even further to verbs, such as Xeroxing papers and Googling something.

Brand synonymy is powerful, and it is the pinnacle of earned media.

Step one to seizing earned media is truly understanding the differences between earned, social, owned, and paid media. For help with this, check out this infographic outlining the differences.

What are examples of earned media?

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Which is an example of earned media group of answer choices?

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