Earned Media is an Anglo-Saxon term that translates into Spanish as “earned media.” It speaks of merit. It’s all the exposure you achieve when third parties recommend what your brand has to offer.
Typically, this advertising comes from customers who were satisfied with the user experience you provided. But it can also be from specialists in your field or well-known individuals. Because of this, earned media is closely related to influencer marketing.
How does Earned Media work ?
The way Earned Media works can be summed up quite simply: a company simply needs to be able to wow its customers with what it has to offer.
From that point on, what’s known in marketing as word of mouth begins to spread . People will begin sharing the great benefits your company offers with their closest circles. They may even post about it on social media!
These referrals come from people who are truly loyal to your brand.
What are the objectives of Earned Media?
It may seem obvious that Earned Media is very convenient for all types of businesses. However, below we’ll specify the goals that can motivate you to earn your customers’ goodwill:
- Boost the popularity of your business.
- Have greater visibility among your potential clients.
- Make your website and other platforms more popular.
- Achieve more sales.
- Become your audience’s first choice over your competitors.
- Create a fairly strong brand identity.
- Help evolve marketing efforts.
- Increase the rate of repeat purchases.
What is the difference between Earned Media , Own Media and Paid Media ?
In the world of marketing, Own Media and Paid Media are two other concepts that are closely related to Earned Media .
These media can be a website, emails, or blogs in which the business will talk about itself to position itself.
Paid Media , on the other hand, works once you put money on the table for others to recommend you. Have you heard of brand ambassadors? That’s what Paid Media is all about .
So… What are the differences between each of them?
- Earned Media is based on voluntary and free opinions, while Paid Media requires payment to be possible.
- Earned Media is based on the opinions of third parties, while Own Media communications come from within the company.
- In short, earned media is external and free, unlike owned media , which is internal with a certain controlled investment. Paid media, on the other hand , is external but involves significant payments to third parties.
Importance of Earned Media
It will always be important for a company to promote Earned Media among its audience as an auxiliary marketing tool.
This way, you can complement all your advertising strategies with the natural recommendations your clients or specialists will make about you.
All of this will translate into many more potential customers and therefore… More sales!
For all these reasons, you’ll be significantly increasing your ROI. You’ll recoup the investments made in your company’s sales department without even having to invest in marketing.
Benefits of Earned Media
In the digital context, Earned Media offers you the following benefits:
- Increase your web traffic, as your clients’ friends will start arriving at your page. And then their friends’ friends. So you’d better make room for them!
- As a result of the previous point, your search engine rankings will increase. And that will be a new source of web traffic. It’s all a cycle!
- You’ll be taking away space from your competitors. More customers for you means fewer potential buyers for them.
- On your social media, you’ll receive more interactions in the form of comments, shared posts, and positive feedback.
How to take advantage of Earned Media ?
- Continuously improve your business’s internal processes so that the quality of your products or services is never compromised.
- Develop quality content for your social media channels. This way, you’ll get people talking about you and trying to involve others.
- Create a branding for your business that is very relatable to people.
- Specialize the way you serve customers. Sometimes the biggest difference between one company and another is the UX they provide to people.
You’ll know that if you have good Earned Media , you’ll be well positioned in the consumer’s mind: you’ll be able to spark audience interest and a reaction from them to your brand.
A key factor will be active listening to stay up-to-date with the media and understand consumer opinions.