Understanding the Balance of Owned, Paid, Earned, and Shared Media

So many entrepreneurs focus on one small area of marketing – social media. But social media is far from the largest or most important type of media that a business needs to be savvy about. Understanding the balance between earned, paid, owned, and shared media is crucial for entrepreneurs. This balance is the key to building a robust marketing strategy that drives conversions and growth.

The Four Pillars of Digital Marketing

Before we delve into the balance, let’s first understand these four pillars of digital marketing.

Owned Media

Owned media refers to the platforms you control.  It is the content you create and share on your platforms without any paid promotion. It includes your own website (yes, you need one), blog posts, newsletters, your email list, and more.

Organic media is essential for building trust with your audience and establishing your brand’s voice. It also happens to be the only place where you have 100% control over the narrative.

Paid Media

Paid media involves any form of paid advertising. This could be pay-per-click ads on Google, sponsored posts on social media, or even traditional advertising like billboards and TV commercials.

Paid media can help you reach a wider audience and drive immediate results. It is also the one form of media that you must continue doing to continue seeing those results, versus some of the others that tend to build slower but last longer.

Earned Media

Any time someone else talks about your business, that’s earned media. This could be when a customer writes a review; publicity such as when a magazine or television news provides some coverage; when users online share your content.  Your business has earned a spot in their mentions. Usually this is a positive response, but not always. (But like they say, all publicity is good publicity, as long as you’re prepared to manage a crisis.)

Shared Media

Shared media is content that is shared by you on third-party platforms. Some marketers only discuss the other three types of media and lump social media into the “owned” media category. 

However, you never fully control anything posted on third-party platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, etc. While you may determine what you post, you cannot control the responses, and you cannot even control whether or not the platform lets your message remain visible.  This is why I separate this type of content into its own separate pillar.

Achieving the Balance

Now that we understand the four pillars, let’s discuss how to achieve the right balance.

If you think about your content, communication, or media strategy similar to a stool, it’s very evident that a stool with only two legs won’t be very strong. To have the strongest stool, you need at least three legs … and it will be even stronger when you have four. This is why you want to strategically consider your media strategy and how you can incorporate more of the different types of media.

1. Start with a Solid Foundation of Owned Media

Your owned media is the foundation of your marketing strategy. It’s where you can control the message and build your brand. Start by creating high-quality content that provides value to your audience. This could be informative blog posts, podcasts or videos, webinars, or helpful newsletters.

For example, right here on our website at Vicky Wu Marketing, I share a wealth of informative blog posts that help entrepreneurs understand different aspects of marketing, including others related to this very topic, such as Owned Media, Paid Media, Earned Media – Which do I Need? and 2 Types of Shared Social Media Content: 1 is Bad for Business.

2. Boost Your Reach with Paid Media

While owned media is crucial, it can take time to build an audience since it’s an organic marketing strategy, and those always take longer to build. That’s where paid media comes in.

Paid media can help you reach a wider audience and drive immediate results. However, it’s important to use paid media strategically. Focus on platforms where your target audience is most active and create ads that align with your brand and provide value.

Advertising simply for awareness can still be a strategy, but with the capabilities of our digital world, you can tightly target your audience and align your paid media with your goals more closely, which means that advertising campaigns designed for awareness only are seldom needed by small businesses.  Leave those types of campaigns to the big guys with deep pockets (those Fortune 500 companies that I’ve consulted for) who can afford to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a campaign simply for someone to see their logo.

3. Leverage the Power of Shared Media

Shared media can help extend your reach and build trust with your audience. Encourage your customers to share their experiences with your brand, collaborate with influencers or microinfluencers, and look for guest posting opportunities.

Remember, shared media should be authentic and organic. It’s about building genuine relationships, not just getting a quick boost in visibility.

4. Don’t Forget About Earned Media

While paid and shared media can help boost your visibility, earned media can also be helpful for building long-term relationships with your audience and increase your credibility and trust.

One of the main ways the most successful companies tackle this is through publicity and strategic public relations.  While sometimes this can be a simple press release sent to local media, you can also develop larger campaigns with direct outreach to journalists or national media. The exact strategies will depend upon your unique business and goals.

The Role of Vicky Wu Marketing

At Vicky Wu Marketing, we understand the importance of balancing earned, paid, owned, and shared media. We’ve helped tens of thousands of entrepreneurs over the past 25 years clear away the clutter and focus on what is proven to work. We create tried and tested marketing with results that prove that our focus on a holistic strategy is what works best to drive conversions.

We understand how to help entrepreneurs put the right things first so that growth is based upon a solid marketing foundation. We set you up now for future growth and get it right from the beginning and understand the importance of getting branding and voice right quickly to hone marketing efforts.

FAQs

1. What is the difference between organic and paid media?

Organic media is content that you create and share on your platforms without any paid promotion. Paid media, on the other hand, involves any form of paid advertising.

2. Why is owned media important?

Owned media allows you to control the narrative around your brand. It’s a crucial part of any marketing strategy because it’s where you can build your brand and establish your brand’s voice.

3. How can shared media benefit my business?

Shared media can help extend your reach and is often seen as more trustworthy because it comes from an unbiased source. It can be a customer sharing a review of your product, an influencer mentioning your brand, or a guest post on another blog.

4. How can I achieve a balance between organic, paid, owned, and shared media?

Start with a solid foundation of owned media, boost your reach with paid media, leverage the power of shared media, and don’t forget about earned media. It’s about creating a holistic strategy that utilizes all four pillars.

5. How can Vicky Wu Marketing help me achieve this balance?

If you’re just starting out, it may not make sense to try to do them all at once. We always recommend that you start with one that is most comfortable to you as an entrepreneur. We can help you set up that strategy, and develop a thoughtful plan to layer in the other strategies at the points that they make the most sense to your business.

Wrapping Up

Balancing earned, paid, owned, and shared media is not a one-size-fits-all approach. It requires a deep understanding of your business, your audience, and your goals. But with the right strategy, you can create a holistic marketing approach that drives conversions and growth.

At Vicky Wu Marketing, we’re here to help you navigate this balance. We’re not just about helping you succeed; we love seeing our entrepreneurs thrive.