Insightpool

The Difference Between Owned, Paid, and Earned Media

Marketing is rapidly changing. As the internet continues to rise and television commercials and print media fall, advertisers have been forced to acknowledge major shifts in the industry. One of the major developments in recent years is a growing division between three kinds of media that marketers can use in their online advertising strategies: owned, paid, and earned.

Owned Media

Owned media encompasses anything that is owned and operated by the company. Websites and social media accounts are perfect examples of owned media since the content on them is controlled by the company. Owned media can be very beneficial to marketing efforts as Twitter feeds, Instagram posts, and blog posts can all be excellent ways to advertise a company. Through owned media, brands can embrace both paid and earned. The aforementioned Wendy’s conversation is a great example of earned and owned media coming together and giving Wendy’s an incredible amount of promotion.

Fast food restaurant CookOut took advantage of a popular Twitter meme to endorse themselves. The post saw thousands of likes and shares.

Owned media allows companies to create a voice for their brand and personalize themselves in the eyes of their audience. While consumers are obviously less likely to trust a company than a person, a viral owned media post can do wonders in increasing awareness of or loyalty to a brand.

Paid Media

Paid media is exactly what it sounds like: advertisements that must be paid for. This includes your basic television, print, online ads since in order to secure those types of media, you must exchange money. Paid media also includes paid influencer marketing, which often takes the form of sponsored social media posts by celebrities and influencers.

Paid media is perfect for companies who are less worried about cost and more concerned with getting as many eyes as possible on a brand. Keep in mind, though, that paid posts may not be as influential as other types of media. Because it is costly and does not have as much persuasive power, paid media is probably best used by companies with large budgets who want to get a lot of consumer attention as quickly as possible. 

Earned Media

Earned media takes the form of advertisements that a company does not have to pay for. A simpler way to think about it is earned media can be described as “word-of-mouth.” This includes influencers on social media giving high praise to products they have tried out, positive reviews of a brand online, or conversations between a company’s account and a social media user going viral. Earned media is different from paid for one simple reason: that there is no exchange of money because the company organically earns the endorsement.

Takkarist McKinley showcasing earned media. WWE clearly didn’t pay him for this tweet, but they still reaped the benefits of it being seen by his audience of more than 20,000.

Earned media can be a bit of a challenge to harness, but companies like Insightpool can help make it much more simple to earn influencers. By adopting earned media strategies, brands can invest in a long-tail strategy focused on strengthening brand-customer relationships.

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