Earned Media Value

Earned media value (EMV) is the amount of money a brand can expect to receive from positive mentions in digital and offline media. EMV is an important metric for brands because it helps them understand how much they can expect to make from their marketing efforts. Understanding earned media value can help you determine if your marketing strategy is effective.

In this article, we explore the basics of earned media value, how to calculate it, examples and frequently asked questions.

What is earned media value?

Earned media value?is a metric for marketers to evaluate the effectiveness of their public relations and earned media initiatives. Earned media is the free publicity you get from customers and others. It comes from customer-to-customer recommendations, free press coverage, social sharing, reviews and other forms of?nonpaid?promotion.

Earned media evaluations consider users' social interactions with brands, including shares, likes and comments on social media and blog posts and ratings on review sites. Understanding earned media value can help you identify better ways to connect with your audience and increase brand awareness.

Earned media value formula

There?are several ways to calculate earned media value (EMV). The most common method is to apply a formula that multiplies the total number of impressions by the average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) by an adjustment variable. "Impressions" refer to when a user sees your campaign. Engagement metrics, such as recall rate or the number of likes and shares, are all examples of adjustment variables.?Below is the formula for calculating?earned media value:

EMV = Impressions x CPM x Adjustment variable

How to calculate earned media value

Here are the steps you can follow to calculate EMV:

1. Find the number of impressions

Most internet marketing platforms have analytics features that automatically provide impression data for your campaigns. The number of impressions is the total number of times that users see your content. You can calculate this by multiplying the number of views each post receives by the average view duration, which is?the length of time users spend viewing the content.

If you run an ad campaign on social media, some platforms tell you how many people saw it and for how long. If you run a blog post on a?company?website, search engine analytics can tell you how many people visited it and the length of time they've spent on it. For example, if a single post has generated 40,000 views with an average viewing time of?four minutes, you have 160,000 minutes. You can substitute this data for impressions in the EMV formula:

EMV =?160,000?x CPM x Adjustment variable

2. Determine the CPM

CPM measures the amount you're paying for your ad impressions for every 1,000 impressions on each platform. To find your CPM, you can start by calculating how much it costs to generate 1,000 impressions on social media. For example, if it costs you $10 per 1,000 impressions on one social media platform and $2 per 1,000 impressions on another, then your cost per 1,000 impressions would be $12. Below is the formula for calculating CPM:

CPM = 1,000 x (Cost / Total impressions)

In this formula, the cost is the amount invested in your advertisement. Your total impressions are the total number of views from your audience. You can substitute and find your CPM if you have your total number of impressions. For instance, suppose you have 160,000 impressions and?you've?invested?$1,000?in advertising. Using this formula,?your CPM is:

CPM = 1,000 x ($1,000 / 160,000) = $6.25 per each 1,000 impressions

This means you have 160,000 impressions and a CPM of $6.25. You can insert these values into the EMV formula:

EMV = 160,000 x $6.25 x Adjustment variable

3. Find your adjustment variable and?multiply all the values

The adjustment variable is what you use to measure the success of an advertisement. It changes based on your marketing campaigns, brand or company.?For example, if you're using social media as your marketing campaign, and out of 1,000 impressions, 200 users engage with the post,?the engagement value?would be 200. You'd then put?this data?in the EMV formula as follows and multiply the values:

EMV = 160,000 x $6.25 x 200?= $200,000,000

4. Interpret the data

The final step is to interpret your EMV data. One way to understand EMV is to look at the amount of exposure or impressions you receive from earned media sources. More exposure means more EMV. It measures how much value you get from your earned content efforts and how much those efforts can impact a business.

In the previous example, your EMV for all your marketing campaigns is $200 million. When you evaluate the results, you can understand how much your advertisements are worth.?It's?also essential to look at other variables beyond EMV to predict the return on investment of your campaigns more accurately.

Examples of earned media

Earned media?is a company's publicity from nonpaid, nonmarketing sources. Earned media?isn't?just traditional media outlets. Online publications and blogs also qualify as earned media outlets. Examples of earned media include:

Customer testimonials

These are quotes from customers who love your product or service and want to share their experience with others. Testimonials can be especially useful when they come from genuine customers. If you have happy customers, you can ask them for quotes on your website and in marketing materials.

Online reviews

Online reviews give potential buyers insight into what other people think about the business. If people are talking about the business online, you can collect their reviews and put them on a page on your website so that potential customers can see them easily. Online reviews?can?influence customers in a similar manner to testimonials.

Press releases

A press release is a brief, news-focused statement that provides information about a company. Press releases can help generate earned media, especially if you want to reach a larger audience. Press releases allow you to share your message quickly and?easily, and?you can distribute them through various channels, including social media.

Social media posts

Social media posts are another way to generate earned media for a brand or business. Social media platforms can enable you to promote a brand or product directly to consumers who may be interested in what you're selling. Many platforms provide insights on engagement rates to help you scale the performance of your campaigns.

Written articles

Written articles are an excellent way to earn media, and they can be cost-effective. You can write articles on topics that interest your target audience. You can also write articles about your industry, the company and its services.?For instance, if you're in internet marketing, you might write a piece about why businesses should use social media marketing.?You could then submit this article to websites specializing in social media marketing or other related topics.

Frequently asked questions

Why is earned media?important?

Knowing your earned media value helps you determine whether your marketing campaigns are effective at generating new sales leads or driving traffic to your website. You can then make adjustments, if necessary, to improve your results over time. This value can contribute to a company's profit potential in the long term.

What's the difference between earned and paid media?

Earned media is the free publicity you earn through traditional or digital media coverage. Paid media refers to advertising that you buy through various channels. These include television, print publications, radio?or?online advertisements. The goal is to reach as many people as possible with your message so that?they?buy a product or service.

What's the ideal range for an EMV?

A high EMV means more people are talking about you on social media platforms. This leads to greater awareness and sales of a brand,?product or service. EMV scores can be helpful in measuring the effectiveness of social media campaigns.