What is owned media?
As the name suggests, owned media refers to any digital property that belongs to you and that you have control over. Examples include your website, blog, and social media.
If you want a more in-depth understanding of this topic, check out the FAQ section below:
Question #1: How can I reach my target customers using owned media?
To reach your customers using owned media, you need to:
Make sure you publish content that is valuable and relevant to them. This is the only way to get them to consume your content and maybe even share it with their family, friends, colleagues, and followers on social media.
Go where they are. Do not just wait for them to visit your website. Set up camp on social media platforms where your target customers hang out as well.
Take note that we specifically mentioned ‘platforms where your target customers hang out’. This is because the goal is not to be present on all social media platforms. Instead, you should focus your resources on those that give you the best chance to be seen by your target customers.
Get your website’s SEO on point. Aside from putting out high-quality, valuable content, you also need to optimise for search because it is the only way to organically get in front of your target customers next to word-of-mouth marketing.
Question #2: What is the difference between owned media and earned media?
The biggest difference between owned media and earned media is that the former, as we have seen earlier, belongs to you while the latter refers to the exposure you get from people and other brands sharing your content.
To get earned media, you need to consistently publish top-notch content that your target customers find valuable and/or interesting because as we have seen in the previous section, it is the only way you can get them to actually share your content with others.
Earned media is great for your brand because it provides you not only with social proof, but backlinks as well, which can help improve your website’s performance in search.
If you are not familiar with backlinks, they are just links to your website or content from external sources, such as other websites or social media platforms. The more of them you have from credible, high-authority sources, the better you look in the eyes of search engines, such as Google, which, in turn, makes you more likely to rank high in search.
Question #3: What is the difference between owned media and paid media?
The biggest difference between owned media and paid media is that while you own and have control over the former, you only get control over the latter without actually owning it.
Examples include:
- Digital ads – These are the ads you see on social media, search engine results pages (SERPs), and YouTube videos
- Advertorials – These are articles or blog posts that are specifically meant to promote your products and services
- Sponsored reviews – As the name suggests, these are paid or written or video reviews of your products and services
- Paid shoutouts – These refer to paid brand mentions by celebrities or influencers on social media
Unlike SEO–which despite your best efforts, might not do as much for your brand as you would like due to the sheer volume of content competing for a spot on SERPs—paid media allows you to quickly and easily get in front of your target customers.
Question #4: Is owned media more important than earned and paid media?
No, owned media is not more important than earned and paid media. While it serves as the starting point—you cannot actually have earned and paid media without it—it is virtually impossible to grow your brand with it alone.
You need earned media to not only improve your search performance due to the increased number of backlinks it provides but also to get social proof and enjoy the benefits of word-of-mouth marketing.
You also need paid media because it allows you to see results much more quickly than organic means such as SEO. Digital advertising platforms such as Google Ads, for example, give you powerful targeting and analytics tools that allow you to easily get in front of your target customers and continuously optimise your campaigns for maximum ROI.