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The Ascent of Earned Media
Written by: Len SteinArticle Overview: Brands and marketers are rapidly leaving the orbit of “paid media” dominance and entering the gravitational pull of the age of “earned” and “social media
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The Ascent of Earned Media
Brands
and marketers are rapidly leaving the orbit of “paid media” dominance and
entering the gravitational pull of the age of “earned” and “social media.” But
first a definition, compliments of Wikipedia:
Earned
media (free media) refers to favorable publicitygarnered via
efforts other than advertising, as opposed to paid media,
which refers to publicity gained through advertising. Earned media often refers
specifically to publicity gained through editorial influence, whereas social mediarefers to
publicity gained through grassroots action, particularly on the Inernet.
Brands
that want to generate “coverage" in a world where professional and
consumer-generated media live side-by-side, they either must “earn” it (PR) or
stimulate a conversation (social) based on action, in-action or mis-actions
(mistakes). Traditionally, earned media coverage was largely facilitated
through public relations campaigns – professional editors assigned stories to
journalists who wrote about something “newsworthy.”
While
that process is still at work in an ever-expanding media universe, today
products and (customer) services that delight consumers by exceeding, or
failing, to exceed their
expectations earn voluminous word-of-mouth (social media) coverage from armies
of bloggers, tweeters, and Facebookers who magnify the brand message virally.
While earned media
has been around since the first campfires, the internet and social media
networks make it much easier to earn media for a brand, product, or oneself.
But earning digital media doesn't mean it's free. Instead of paying for media
placements (advertising), marketers pay for the time and resources of people
who will investigate what's being said about your brand and then engage on your
behalf. These can be employees, contractors, agencies, etc.
The resultant "media," social or otherwise, is earned because
one cannot buy it (people who blog about products and services should not be
compensated by an agency or network). However, influential conversations can be
set in motion by brand activated triggers. These can take many forms, from
establishing a relationship with bloggers, to sharing news and insights,
seeding content, to interacting with people who use your product or service.
Getting earned media right is a tricky balance but the search engine
payoff has long-lasting impact in the form of a powerful SEO keyword trail. The
key is to figure out how best to participate in the spaces where your brands,
products and services are most relevant.
But
it’s not easy and, in the short term anyway, while highly credible, it may not
necessarily be cheaper than paid media. To reap the full benefits of earned
media, marketers need to take into account a fast-growing array of platforms
like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter as facilitators of earned
or social media, not as ends in themselves.
Earned
media is widely considered a highly authentic and effective form of
communications because it is generally produced in a context that engages
rather than interrupts. People generally trust it more than they do paid media,
but it is expensive to establish and requires constant vigilance since it lives
beyond the marketer’s control.
Marketers need to
monitor the conversations generated through earned media, analyze sentiment,
and participate appropriately. Some people who write or speak about a company’s
brand are more influential than others (as rated by authority, popularity,
followers, link-backs, etc.) so it is crucial that a brand have a long-term
strategy to engage influential individuals – the Alpha bloggers, and their
followers.
The resulting “free” coverage is truly earned –honest, enthusiastic,
authentic coverage from influencers reaching deep into their communities. Their
content tends to dominate search results via large numbers of articles that can
drive up a websites’ (brand) organic SEO rating. And unlike paid media,
articles and tweets remain online forever, re-appearing in searches, enhancing
a brand or company SEO ranking and driving traffic.
END
Article Tags: compliments, dominance, editorial influence, favorable publicity, gravitational pull, inernet, journalists, marketers, media coverage, nbsp, orbit, professional editors, public relations campaigns, span style, style font, wikipedia
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