Why Owned Media Eats Earned Media for Breakfast

Tara, Great post and video - and some necessary truths :) I agree with you when earned media = (in reality) paid for influencer content. What deserves consideration in addition though, is a whole other segment of earned media, that is priceless: content created by brand advocates. They are not paid for, they engage with brands they love, they share because they see it as service to their community, they produce a lot of content, and they are major contributors to the bottom line: $$$. I think that the magic combination should be both: great owned content + advocate "earned" media :) Just sayin' ...

I love this! I'm going to share it if I need (more) proof that we need to invest in some video equipment.

First things first. MATH. Marketing exists to drive sales and revenue. Period. Full Stop. (Yes, even if you're a nonprofit, you need to generate income to meet your mission.) Smart ROI breakdown along with contextual examples you shared. I, too, was doing influencer marketing 8-10 years ago for big consumer brand clients. Fast forward to my current company, where I designed their content marketing strategy and consulted with the firms' partners on the value of their unique POV and creating original/owned content. The podcast series that I designed, developed, and currently produce for them has resulted in the highest levels of engagement, impressions and traffic in the last 18 months. Proof of concept. Thanks for the compelling video. Looking forward to what's next!

Tom Bangay

Hi Tara. Great video and some very compelling numbers! I wholeheartedly agree with you that an effective audience outreach strategy should include investment in owned media channels, and even more specifically in creating quality content. In fact, it should follow a multi-channel PESO model, combining Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned channels (but not necessarily in equal amounts). However, I have to say you have made some very fundamental mistakes here. First and foremost, you are not even talking about earned media. What you are talking about is Paid Influencer Marketing which is a very different beast. Just because we are talking about social media doesn't automatically make it earned media. By definition, you do not pay the influencer (or media source) directly for earned media, they CHOOSE to write about your brand/story. Even more specifically, you seem to be referring to celebrity influencer marketing, which is not only markedly more expensive, and potentially less effective, but also far more risky than a true influencer marketing strategy. This is due to the fact that they generally cover a wide variety of topics and brands, some of which may be at odds with your own brand. An effective influencer marketing strategy should involved identifying and engaging with micro influencers (who may have a smaller, but more engaged following) who's brand and audience aligns with your own. This way, you greatly increase you odds of garnering true earned media coverage, and avoid negative associations. To effectively pursue influencer marketing may not include a large monetary cost (though an investment in an effective influencer database should certainly be considered), it will involve a commitment of time to establish a relationship with those influencers. A true earned media influencer for your brand (an influencer who writes about your brand because they like/support it) is also an effective channel to distribute your content, particularly to an audience that you don't already have. This is the greatest limitation that exists with an owned media channel. Consequently, they are also a great avenue to grow you owned media audience! Really, your numbers are more about content creation and distribution than investment in owned media and earned media, though to be fair it is far easier to measure as the investment in actually building quality owned media channels and earned media coverage is mostly time (the most valuable commodity we have!). Due to increasing consumer distrust of brands and increasing blindness to paid advertising, true earned media that drives your brand message to consumers through influencers they already know and trust is in fact one of the most effective ways to affect their buying decisions. In many cases equal to or greater than any owned channels. Full disclosure, I do work for CNW Group, a CISION company. We provide solutions designed specifically to drive SEO, earned media coverage, influencer and media engagement, and media and social listening and analytics tools.