February 3, 2021

Here’s the thing, if you are a company looking to leverage your content digitally and simply want to use an ad to point them in your direction, you’re going to be sorely disappointed when the results don’t show favorably. 

While the goal is to get your audience to buy your goods and services, you must do much more than place paid advertisements.

You must build a relationship with your audience that is founded on social approval, respect, trust, and earned attention.  

This is why you need to use paid media, earned media, and owned media.

Together, they improve your reputation, provide visibility and traction, and earn the attention of your audience through credibility. 

What Are These 3 Media Types?

1. Paid Media

The first, paid media, you are probably familiar with already. Digital media that is paid for and used to promote your content, your goods, your services, and your brand is paid media. Common types include

• Paid sponsored posts,
• Pay-per-click advertising,
• Display ads,
• Retargeted ad campaigns,
• And even straight sponsorships from partners.

Using paid media on social media channels is important as it places your content in front of hundreds of thousands of people. It can be re-tooled, re-fined, and controlled to pinpoint your target audience, niches, and even groups within larger subsets.

2. Earned Media

Earned media comes solely from the interactions you build with your audience. This comes in the form of

• Reviews,
• Re-posts of media,
• Direct mentions,
• Recommendations,
• Social media posts about you,
• And content posted about you on third-party sites.

The buzz that comes off these interactions will drive traffic to you and increase your conversions as consumers are more likely to trust your brand from interactions that provide a positive experience. 

3. Owned Media

Owned media is any property that you control digitally. This consists of your blog, your website, your Youtube, and your social media business pages. These are interaction points or platforms that your consumers can use to access and engage your content. 

Use All 3 to Build Excellent Content

If you have a lot of owned content, whether that is through a blog, website, or other media channel, you can use paid digital media and earned digital media to attract customers to your unique content.  How?

• If you create valuable content that is shared a lot, you generate earned media off of it.
  This earned media will have strong engine rankings and is good content that you can use (with the owner’s permission of course), despite it not being created by you. This earned media will build credibility and trust in your business. It also creates trusted visibility of you as others will see you interacting positively with your audience.
• Paid media can help you grow your base audience. This audience will consume and distribute the content that you do produce, and it will help you generate more earned content.
• Take your time to create owned media that is delivered through your own platform. Blogs are extremely popular here because they allow you, as a brand, to become a thought leader in your industry. It can position you as an authoritative and trustworthy voice.

If the end goal of your digital marketing campaign is to drive traffic to your owned platforms, whether that is your company website, blog, portfolio, or products, then leveraging paid and earned media will help. How much paid and earned media you use will be determined by several factors including your budget, your audience, and your current brand visibility. 

However, using all 3 types together will drive more traffic to you than using one alone. 

For more information on branding your business, please contact us today!