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What Is Earned Media?
Generally, there are three types of available media, these are:
- Paid media: This is where you, the brand, pay for the space or time. For example, bidding on Google or Facebook ads or running a paid social media campaign.
- Owned media: This media is anything that you create and publish on your owned media channels. This includes your website, blog, or social media platforms.
- Earned media: This is coverage you didn’t pay for and didn’t create yourself. As earned media, it’s considered “free mentions” given to you by customers, influencers, or other 3rd parties.
Paid and owned media are both within your control. You decide what appears when it’s published and how it’s presented to your audience.
You have no direct control over the message or messenger with earned media. Many brands work hard to cultivate an effective earned media strategy because it can yield impressive outcomes for your business.
Is It Worth It To Invest in Earned Media?
Short answer: YES – Definitely!
Many forward-thinking marketers consider investing in this marketing strategy a top priority. Here’s why:
- Cost-effective solution: This type of media is free so there are no associated costs with running an earned media campaign.
- Global reach: With paid and owned media, you’re limited to only your existing followers or website visitors. But, with earned media, you have the potential to reach a much wider audience.
- Establish Trust and Authority: When customers or influencers give you free publicity, it helps build trust and credibility with your target audience.
- Sustainable: In today’s digital world, earned media is more critical than ever. And, as social media usage continues to grow, so does the potential for earned media.
Different Forms of Earned Media
Many forms of earned media are known to the public relations and marketing industry. All forms of media have the potential to be an outlet for paid, earned, and owned media.
We rounded up five great earned media channels used by many marketers.
Newspaper or Publication
A popular newspaper or magazine mention can do wonders for your brand. This type of media earns you press mentions, which improve your brand’s reputation and authority.
You can look for free media coverage opportunities by submitting press releases or pitches to editors. You can also create a list of targeted journalists and publications to deliver your pitch.
TV Segment
TV segments are a great way to reach a broad audience and improve brand awareness. This type of earned media can come from a televised news segment, talk show, interview opportunities, or product placement.
Social Media
Social media is one of the most popular forms of earned media today. This is because it’s easy to use and share content on these platforms. Social media posts, especially on Twitter, can be quickly retweeted or shared, which helps to amplify your message.
There are many ways to get social media mentions, such as working with influencers, taking part in online discussions, or creating shareable content.
“Best Of” Blog
Many people use Google to look for products or services before purchasing. Therefore being mentioned in a top blog can be extremely valuable for your business.
A “best of” blog post roundup is a wonderful way to receive earned media coverage from popular blogs in your industry. You can even pitch your products to bloggers for consideration.
Industry Publication
Industry publications are a fantastic way to reach your target audience and earn credibility. Getting featured in one of these publications can help you build trust with your target audience.
To get featured in an industry publication, you can submit articles or whitepapers, participate in interviews, or become a columnist.
How Do You “Earn” It?
These days, capturing audience attention is more demanding than ever before. With so many brands vying for attention, it can be challenging to stand out from the crowd.
Earned media is highly valuable because it’s an efficient way to reach your target audience organically. Here are some tips to help you reach your customer’s attention and amplify your brand voice and visibility.
Creating Valuable Content
One of the best ways to earn media coverage is by creating high-quality content. This could include blog posts, infographics, eBooks, or helpful tips and tricks.
When you create valuable content, people are more likely to share it with their networks. This helps to amplify your message and reach a wider audience.
It also helps to build trust and credibility with your target audience. After all, if you supply valuable information, people are more likely to believe that you’re an expert in your field.
Positive Customer Experience
When researching a product, customers look for social proof because it is one of the most potent deciding factors. People scale their purchases based on how valuable a product is to other people with similar problems.
Creating a positive customer experience is one of the best ways to generate social proof and earn media coverage. If your customers are happy, they’re more likely to write a positive review or talk about their experience with their networks.
Furthermore, a brand constantly engaging with its customers is more likely to be seen as trustworthy and credible.
Putting Your Services “Out There”
For people to take notice of your brand, you need to be visible. You can accomplish this in two ways: by using traditional media outlets or online platforms.
Some ways to increase your visibility and earn media coverage include participating in trade shows, webinars, or podcasts. You can also give interviews, submit articles to publications, or create blog posts.
Anything that can give your brand traditional, online, or social mentions has the potential to become an avenue of earned media.
Critical Metrics To Measure Earned Media Success
You can use several key metrics to measure the success of your earned media efforts. These include:
- Brand mentions: Keep track of how often your brand is mentioned online. This could be through social media, blogs, articles, or customer reviews.
- Shares and retweets: Keep track of how often your content is shared or retweeted. This helps to gauge the reach and impact of your brand.
- Keyword positioning: Keep track of your brand’s keyword positioning. This helps you to see how often your brand appears in search results.
- Website traffic: Keep track of the amount of traffic your website receives. This helps you gauge how effectively your earned media efforts drive people to your site.
- Likes and reactions: Keep track of how often your content receives likes or reactions. This helps you to gauge the engagement of your audience.
Utilizing social media management tools can help you track all these metrics in one place. This makes it easier to see what’s working and what isn’t so that you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
Critical Metrics To Measure Earned Media Success
You can use several key metrics to measure the success of your earned media efforts. These include:
- Brand mentions: Keep track of how often your brand is mentioned online. This could be through social media, blogs, articles, or customer reviews.
- Shares and retweets: Keep track of how often your content is shared or retweeted. This helps to gauge the reach and impact of your brand.
- Keyword positioning: Keep track of your brand’s keyword positioning. This helps you to see how often your brand appears in search results.
- Website traffic: Keep track of the amount of traffic your website receives. This helps you gauge how effectively your earned media efforts drive people to your site.
- Likes and reactions: Keep track of how often your content receives likes or reactions. This helps you to gauge the engagement of your audience.
Utilizing social media management tools can help you track all these metrics in one place. This makes it easier to see what’s working and what isn’t so that you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
Boost Your Social Media Visibility With Clearview Social
Putting yourself and your brand out there has never been easier with Clearview Social. Clearview Social is the leading social media management platform that helps boost your social media visibility and grow your audience.
Clearview Social offers comprehensive and easy-to-use tools and features you need to help increase your brand’s earned media coverage. With Clearview Social, you can:
- Easily curate a line-up of content you’re aiming to publish.
- Conveniently notify employees and partners when new content goes live.
- Strategize when is the best time and day to post content depending on your client base using the PeakTime tool.
- Quantify the fiscal impact of your content and social media shares using the Earned Media Value.
- Generate insightful analytics and insights to help you see which content performs best and make data-driven decisions.
Whatever social media channels you’re aiming for, Clearview Social can help you fulfill your social media mentions, social media engagement, and public relations goals without hassle.
Minimize Efforts. Maximize Results
Effectively crafting and distributing content on social media takes up a lot of time and effort. But, with Clearview Social, you can easily manage all your social media channels in one place while still getting the most out of your earned media efforts.
Clearview’s intuitive interface is designed to help you work smarter, not harder. Start dominating social media sites and increase your brand’s earned media potential by contacting our team today!
We’re a simple platform that helps your team share your content on their social media platforms, with easy prompts, email reminders and one-click activation.
