There has been a lot of discussions on earned media, how exactly to achieve it and why some brands gain better earned media than others.

To start off, perhaps it’s important to understand the other categories like Bought Media and Owned Media. Bought Media is simply the money you spent on media buying like TV, print, online banners or even paid search. Of course, this is the most traditional approach to advertising and reaching out to consumer - a tried and tested method that has reached a point now that there are so many tools available by media specialists that promise to target your consumer with the accuracy of a F-16.

We also have another form of media, which is called Owned Media. The difference is this media is directly owned by the brand itself like your store, your kiosk, your website or even collaterals like pens, pencils, notebooks. The biggest opportunity for you to drive marketing messages in your own media lies in your website and also your retail store (if you’re a retailer). This media is totally within your control and it’s key you put as much energy into making it well here as well.

Finally, the topic I would like to passionately discuss is Earned Media. It’s not easy to gain earned media but the ROI on it is phenomenal. Earned Media is basically an uninitiated (most of the time) discussions on your brand - it could be within user generated content, social media network, conversations over lunch or dinner with friends, virals and any word of mouth.

In a society or especially China where social networking is extremely strong, Earned Media can be gained if marketers understand how to smartly be relevant in the realm. I’ve seen too many brands trying to be a social network, creating applications and trying to use a traditional Bought Media approach to social media. While Bought Media offers an entertainment and informational value to a consumer, Earned Media needs to be relevant to context and scenario.

Consumer will engage with brands that can stay relevant with them within the social network space but will immediately drop those who try to hard sell themselves into the network.

A marketer once asked me, “Jit, how do I justify spending marketing dollars into social network when I can’t shout too loud about my brand, can’t put big promotion and worried about the outcome (+/-)”.

This is an interesting question that I told him that I will answer it in my BLOG. Here you go, social network is a like DNA double helix. It’s tight, linked to each other and together can be extremely powerful. To shape social network its not about creating loud promotional messages but to create relevant topics that people are keen to discuss. If they decide to pick on your topic, talk about it, then you have conversations going. Small pockets of these conversations will end up in strengthening your entire brand in the digital space.

A brand can be powerful if you’re part of this DNA, being relevant and you will have more people shouting about you than you can ever do with Bought Media. Personally, I’ve seen marketers whom became consumer would seek social network for advises on which product is a better option. Most time, those influencers help solidify their choices as well.

Now turn it around and start playing smart in social media marketing - it will seriously drive your brand into a realm you’ve never seen before.

Last Modified : May 21st, 2008 Filed under : Digital Navigate : Previous post / Next post