What is Earned Media? Benefits, Examples and How to Measure The Impact

If you are a business owner, I want you to know that just having a great product is not enough. Brands need to stand out among lots of ads and messages.

Consumers see many promotions every day, making it hard to grab their attention and earn their trust. This is where earned media comes in.

Earned media is the exposure and credibility you get from third-party endorsements, customer reviews, and social media mentions.

It’s the valuable word-of-mouth that can help your brand shine. However, getting earned media requires a strategic approach and real engagement with your audience.

In this article, we’ll look at what earned media is, why it matters, and how you can use it to improve your brand’s visibility and reputation.

What is Earned Media?

Earned media refers to the publicity your brand receives through organic means, rather than paid advertising. This includes mentions in news articles, social media shares, user reviews, and endorsements from influencers or satisfied customers.

It is the recognition your brand earns through word-of-mouth and genuine interest from others. Unlike paid media, where you directly pay for exposure, earned media is gained through the quality of your products or services and the relationships you build with your audience.

For example, our ex-student “Ngozi Okwudiri” dropped a positive review about our service without being paid, that’s earned media.

The great thing about earned media is its trustworthiness, people often trust it more than regular ads because it comes from outside sources. This type of media can really boost your brand’s visibility and reputation, making it a key part of any marketing plan.

Why is Earned Media Important?

Earned media offers many benefits to your brand and can help you increase your visibility and reputation in the market. Some of the advantages of earned media include:

Builds Trust and Credibility

Earned media is valuable because it comes from independent sources, like news articles or customer reviews, which makes it more trustworthy. When potential customers see positive comments or mentions about your brand, they are more likely to believe in its quality and value, increasing trust and loyalty.

Increases Brand Awareness

When people talk about your brand in the media or share it on social media, it helps more people notice you. This kind of exposure is valuable because it allows potential customers to learn about your products or services. The more people see and hear about your brand, the more familiar they become, which can lead to increased interest and sales.

Cost-Effective Marketing

Earned media is a smart choice for marketing because it doesn’t cost money as paid ads do. So instead of spending on advertisements, you focus on creating great content and building relationships with your customers. While you will need to invest time and effort, the overall costs are usually much lower than traditional advertising methods.

Expands Reach

When satisfied customers share their positive experiences about your brand, they introduce you to people who may not know about you yet. This word-of-mouth promotion can help you widen your reach, bring in potential customers and increase your brand’s visibility in the market.

Provides Social Proof

People don’t just want to hear about good things; they also want to see evidence of how your services have changed lives. So instead of just telling them, you can show proof. This means sharing testimonials or success stories, which helps potential customers see that others appreciate your products or services.

Long-Term Impact

When working with customers, it’s important to build good relationships with them. This makes it easier for them to mention your brand and can greatly improve your brand’s reputation over time. When people hear positive things about you regularly, they are more likely to remember your brand. This ongoing recognition helps build trust and loyalty, making customers more likely to choose your products or services again in the future.

Earned Media vs. Owned Media vs. Paid Media

In marketing, it’s important to understand the differences between earned media, owned media, and paid media. Each type has its own role in promoting your brand and connecting with your audience.

Earned Media

Earned media is the free publicity you get through word-of-mouth, social media shares, and mentions in news articles. It’s like getting a recommendation from someone else without paying for it. This type of media is valuable because it builds trust. When potential customers see positive reviews or hear good things about your brand, they are more likely to consider buying from you.

For example, if a popular influencer shares their positive experience with your product on social media, that’s earned media. It shows that customers are happy with your brand and can help increase your visibility.

Owned Media

Owned media refers to the channels you completely control, such as your website, blog, email newsletters, and social media channels. With owned media, you can create and share content that reflects your brand’s message without depending on other platforms.

You can also customize your content to meet your audience’s needs when sharing your content on each of your platforms. For instance, a marketing blog can provide useful information for customers interested in your industry while using their social media channels to engage with followers. By sharing valuable content on your channels, you can build a loyal following over time.

Paid Media

Paid media includes any marketing efforts where you pay to promote content or reach an audience. This covers ads on social media, search engine ads, and display ads on websites. They are effective for increasing visibility faster and driving traffic to your owned media channels.

While paid media can deliver fast results, it usually requires ongoing spending. For example, running a Facebook ad campaign can quickly raise awareness for a new product launch but will stop bringing in traffic once the budget runs out. So understand when and how to use to get the right result for your brand.

Finally, before you decide on any of these media,  you need to understand which of these types of media can help you achieve your goals and how you can combine them together to create a strong marketing strategy to promote your brand and engage customers at every stage of their journey.

What are the Types of Earned Media?

Earned media is an important part of marketing because it is free publicity for a brand without paying for it. We have different types of organic promotion that can help you build a brand’s trust and expand its audience.

Some of the types of earned media include:

Social Media Shares and Mentions

When customers share their experiences or mention your brand in their posts, it spreads the word like word-of-mouth marketing. These interactions can help increase your brand’s visibility and also build trust among potential customers. For each mention of your brand name by the audience, it acts as a personal endorsement, making potential customers more likely to engage with your brand.

Media Coverage

This is when news sites, blogs, or magazines talk about your brand or products. This kind of attention helps show that your brand is trustworthy, making potential customers more likely to believe in you. So If you are getting mentioned on an external website,  social media or Google reviews, this can improve your reputation and attract new people who might not know about you yet.

Customer reviews

When satisfied customers share their positive experiences on platforms like Google, or social media, it acts as a powerful endorsement for your brand. These reviews help build trust with potential buyers, as they see real feedback from real people. If your brand gets positive reviews from people who have patronised your business, it can encourage new customers to try your products or services.

For example, at DMSI, we receive many positive reviews from our student who took our digital marketing course and are now excelling in their careers. This feedback is a great endorsement of what we do at the institute.

if you are interested in taking our digital marketing course, you can check out our curriculum and register to get started today.

Influencer Mentions

Influencer marketing is one of the most important trends in digital marketing for 2024. If influencers talk about your brand or products without being paid, it counts as earned media. When these trusted figures share their positive experiences, it can reach a large audience and create genuine interest. Their followers often value their opinions, making influencer mentions a powerful way to build credibility and attract new customers.

Viral content

This type of media gets a lot of attention and spreads quickly on social media. It could be a funny video, an inspiring story, or a cool infographic about your brand. When something goes viral, it helps more people see your brand and gets them interested. The important thing is to create content that connects with people so they can share it with their friends.

Word of mouth

It is one of the oldest and most powerful forms of earned media. It happens when satisfied customers share their positive experiences with friends, family, or colleagues. This personal recommendation can greatly influence others’ opinions and decisions. Because it comes from trusted sources and can lead to new business and foster a loyal community around your products or services.

User-generated content (UGC)

This includes any content created by customers that features your brand, such as photos, videos, reviews, or testimonials. UGC is authentic and relatable, making it a powerful way to engage potential customers.

When people see real users enjoying your offerings, it builds trust and encourages them to try your brand. Also, you can share this content on your channels to strengthen the community and loyalty among your audience.

If you want us to share your testimonials soon like Mr Alex and showcase your success. You can enrol in our digital marketing course to learn in-demand skills, improve your professional network, and open new career doors.

While each of these types of earned media can help a brand gain trust and credibility without spending money. So also need to be strategic in how you encourage and leverage these forms of media.

How to Measure the Effectiveness of Earned Media

To measure how well your earned media works, it is important to establish clear objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) to see its effect on your brand.

Some of the simple ways to evaluate earned media include:

Earned Media Value (EMV)

This metric quantifies the value of your earned media efforts by estimating how much it would have cost if you had paid for the same exposure. You can calculate EMV using formulas that consider impressions and engagement metrics.

For example: EMV = Impressions x Cost Per Thousand (CPM).

So when you use this formula above, it helps you understand the monetary value of the exposure generated by your campaigns.

Engagement rate

This involves the number of likes, shares, comments, and other interactions on your social media posts. It is calculated by dividing the total number of interactions (likes, comments, shares) by the total reach or impressions, then multiplying by 100.

When you have a high engagement rate, it indicates that your content resonates well with your audience, which can lead to increased brand awareness and customer interest.

Brand mentions

This occurs when people talk about your brand online, whether in social media posts, blogs, or news articles. These mentions can boost your visibility and credibility. So make sure you monitor what people are saying about your brand to help you understand the public perception and engage with your audience, to turn conversations into valuable connections.

There are various tools you can use to monitor brand mention such as Google Alerts, Brand24, Sprout Social and HubSpot, so it is important to choose the right tool that aligns with your business goals and budget.

Comparable ad rate

This metric shows how much you would spend on ads to get the same exposure you get from earned media. So you need to look at this number to see the value of your earned media efforts and how much money you save by getting noticed without paying for ads.

Website Traffic

This refers to the number of visitors who come to your site, often as a result of earned media efforts. When your brand is mentioned in articles, shared on social media, or featured by influencers, you often see a spike in traffic.

So start by analyzing where this traffic comes from to help you understand which channels are most effective in attracting potential customers and can guide your future marketing strategies.

Some of the popular tools to monitor your website traffic include Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and SEMrush, so you need to monitor your traffic regularly to stay ahead of the competition.

When you put these numbers together, you can get a clear picture of how well your earned media strategies are working. This helps you make smart choices to improve your future campaigns.

Challenges of Earned Media

Earned media is important for building a brand’s reputation and trust, but it also has its challenges. Some of the cons associated with earned media include:

Lack of Control

One of the biggest drawbacks of earned media is that brands have limited control over the message being conveyed. Unlike paid advertising, companies cannot dictate what others say about them. This lack of control can lead to unexpected negative feedback, misinterpretations, or even reputational damage that is difficult to manage.

ROI Measurement

Another challenge of earned media is measuring its effectiveness. Unlike paid advertising, where results are straightforward, earned media often lacks clear metrics. So tracking brand mentions, sentiment, and engagement can be complex, making it hard to assess the true impact on your business.

Unpredictability

Earned media is unpredictable because it comes from third parties sharing their experience about your brand. This means that the timing and extent of coverage can vary widely, making it difficult to forecast results or rely on consistent exposure for your brand.

Negative Feedback

While positive reviews remarkably improve your brand’s image and credibility, negative reviews or unfavourable mentions can seriously damage your reputation. Brands must be proactive in managing such feedback. This includes effectively responding to criticism and turning potentially harmful situations into opportunities for growth and improvement.

5 Earned Media Tactics to improve Brand visibility

Creating a good brand reputation through earned media means being honest and putting your customers first. It’s important to focus on giving value to your audience and those in your industry.

Some helpful tactics and best practices to build strong relationships with your audience include:

Create an Earned Media Strategy

To create an effective earned media strategy, follow these key steps:

• Define Your Goals: The first step is to set clear marketing objectives, are you trying to build awareness for your brand, promote a particular product or service, or reach a new audience segment?
• Identify your target audience. It is important to know who you will be targeting to tailor your messaging.
• Research Content Preference: Before you can start creating content, you need to investigate the types of stories and content that resonate with your audience. This will help you create relevant and engaging material.
• Find Influencers and Media Outlets: For your message to reach a wider audience, you need to find influencers, media outlets, review sites, influencers, and customers that align with your brand values that you can use to amplify your reach.
• Send personalized pitches: Create specific messages for the outlets and influencers you want to reach, making sure they match what they care about.
• Create Shareable Content: Produce content designed for sharing, such as infographics, videos, or articles that encourage audience interaction that can lead to your brand’s mention.
• Share on social media: After you get media coverage, share it on your social media accounts. You can also encourage your employees, investors, and supporters to share it too.

Create More Earned Media

To create more earned media, focus on building authentic relationships with your audience. Start by encouraging satisfied customers to share their experiences through reviews and social media posts.

You need to engage with your customers online when they share their experience with your brand to show your gratitude for their support toward your brand, and it can help them do more.

Additionally, find a way to reward them by sharing coupons or sharing their posts on your brand’s social channels. This will help boost these relationships and make them advocate more for your brand.

Promote and Engage

To effectively secure brand coverage, it’s important to promote and engage with your audience more. You can start by creating content marketing campaigns about your brand that you are going to share on your owned media with your audience. You can use social media platforms to interact directly with your audience, encouraging comments and discussions.

This two-way communication promotes a sense of community and loyalty. When you actively engage with both your audience and key stakeholders, you can keep the conversion going and improve brand visibility.

Host Events for Your Customers

When you host events and invite your customers to attend, this is a great way to get mentioned online. There are different types of events you can host such as product launches and workshops for your community members.

For example, at digital marketing institute, we host several workshops for our students where we teach different aspects of marketing. Our experts share their knowledge with the students and audience, which encourages them to share their experiences on social media and with their networks and we get a lot of mention.

So when customers feel valued and connected to your brand, they’re more likely to spread the word, leading to organic mentions and increased visibility.

Run a social media contest

One of the best ways to generate buzz and secure earned media coverage for your brand is to run a social media contest. This encourages participants to share your content, tag friends, or create their own posts related to your brand, which can greatly increase your visibility.

For example, you can start a contest on your page encouraging your audience who want to attend your next marketing conference to share a video explaining why they want to attend. The entry with the most reactions will be selected to attend the event for free.

As you start receiving entries from the audience, you can repost and promote the contest across your social media channels. These entries can help your brand gain more organic exposure, fostering excitement and encouraging new followers to engage with your content.

Conclusion

Earned media is a strong way to build trust in your brand and reach more people without paying for ads. It includes mentions, shares, and recommendations from happy customers, influencers, and news outlets.

When you create valuable content and build real relationships, brands can use earned media to improve their reputation and connect with their audience.

So as you are planning your marketing strategy, you need to find a way to include earned media in your plan to help you create lasting connections and increase your brand’s visibility over time.

This article is useful if you want to understand how to create a successful earned media strategy. And If you’re interested in learning digital marketing techniques and various strategies to gain free promotion for your brand, consider registering for our digital marketing course. We’ll show you how to effectively leverage earned media to achieve outstanding results.

FAQs

How does earned media differ from paid and owned media?

Earned media is created by third-party sources and is often seen as more credible. Paid media involves spending money on advertisements to promote content, while owned media includes channels that a brand fully controls, like its website and social media accounts.

Why is earned media important for brands?

Earned media builds trust and credibility because it comes from unbiased sources. Consumers are more likely to trust recommendations from friends or independent reviews than traditional advertisements, making earned media a powerful tool for influencing purchasing decisions.

How can a brand generate earned media?

Brands can generate earned media by creating high-quality content that resonates with their audience, engaging with customers on social media, hosting events, and building relationships with influencers and journalists who can share their message.

Can earned media be measured?

While measuring earned media can be challenging, brands can track metrics like the number of mentions, shares, or reviews they receive. Additionally, monitoring changes in brand awareness or customer sentiment can provide insights into the impact of earned media efforts.

More resources

Paid Media: Definition, Channels, and Tips (+ Examples)

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How to Create an Effective Content Distribution Strategy

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