Content Kings: The Difference Between Owned, Paid and Earned Media
Content is king — and there are three types of media content that deserve the royal treatment when it comes to executing an effective digital marketing strategy.
Owned Media
Your website, social media and email are all channels where you publish content that you own and control. Your owned media should represent and extend your brand. When it resonates with your target audience, it will drive traffic to your brand’s various digital properties. The more compelling your owned media content, the higher the possibility of converting your leads and ultimately earning an ROI for your marketing efforts.
Who does it best? Redbull
The company behind the energy drink that everyone craves is legendary for transforming into a media behemoth that serves its extreme sports-obsessed fans innovative and engaging tailor-made content.
Paid Media
Reaching your audience beyond your owned channels sometimes requires spending some cash. Display, social media and affiliate advertising enable your brand to reach its audience wherever they are on the web. If your target audience reads the Wall Street Journal every day, consider running display ads on their website. If your target customer loves posting foodie pics on Instagram, create shareable sponsored content. The unique aspects of your brand, customer acquisition flow and conversion objectives will determine the type of paid media you should use.
Who does it best? Ikea
The Swedish retailer created an ingenious Google Adwords campaign “Retail Therapy” which included custom landing pages with featured products (i.e. a double desk separated by a cubby wall) that matched common search queries like: “My partner annoys me.”
Earned Media
What are people saying about your business? Whether it’s press mentions, customer reviews, fan demonstrations or audience shares; earned media is generated by your audience, media publishers, other organizations or the public at large. It’s the conversation happening about your business that’s largely driven by your combined owned and paid media marketing efforts.
Who does it best? Buzzfeed
The site infamously known for creating the most buzz and click-worthy content on the web, has hit social media gold with Tasty, its food brand that has captured the attention of more than 84 million Facebook users who share their short, delightful and mouthwatering instructional recipe videos.
By maintaining synergy across all types of media, your brand generates repeated analyses followed by optimization of how your audience engages with it — a cyclical tactic that will last the lifetime of your business.
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