Owned Media

Owned media is a set of properties a specific company has full control of and can use for free. It includes websites, blogs, email campaigns, webinars, forums, accounts on social media, and video sharing platforms.

In this article, we’ll unveil why owned media is essential and compare it with earned media. We’ll also review 6 owned media strategies and examples and provide you with a guide on how to measure owned media value.

Why is owned media important?

Owned media is an essential part of effective media strategy because it helps companies build a brand, find new customers, and increase engagement and profits. A successful business should have different owned media formats like website, blog, forum, app, email newsletters, webinars, and social media channels. With the help of this content, companies can drive attention, boost organic traffic, and win customers.

When users land on your website, owned media should provide them with value. If site visitors receive the necessary information, answers, and solutions, they can become loyal customers and bring you revenue. Content published on your website should draw prospects’ attention so that they pay attention to your offering. With its help, you’ll be able to sell your product without convincing customers to do it like paid ads.

Owned media plays a crucial role in your SEO. If your content targets a specific audience segment, has strong headlines, includes target keywords, and covers unique visuals, search engines will notice it. As a result, your content will take top positions in search engines.

Owned media carries many benefits to its owner. You pay less for these materials while having total control over your informational property. You can improve it any time and use it to your advantage: post on social media, send it to customers or make some alterations without paying additional costs. Moreover, you can share your materials through your marketing channels without contacting third-party services.

Now that you know the importance, let’s discover the difference between owned and earned media, and it will help you avoid confusion with the two terms.

Owned Media vs Earned Media

In this section, we’ll make the difference between owned and earned media clear since sometimes people misinterpret these two media types. After exploring this section, you’ll be able to categorize your content.

Owned media is content you create and have full control of. You can publish it on your website, social media accounts, and forums and send it via email newsletters, chatbots, and push notifications. Content for your website influences your SEO, organic traffic, conversions, and sales. If your team of marketers and copywriters manage to create quality content, you can drive attention and visits to your website. However, when people land on your site, ensure that you provide them with useful materials and a seamless user experience. As a result, users will leave your website satisfied, with a solution and the intention to purchase your product and solve their problems.

Earned media is content generated by customers in which they discuss your product or service. Examples include recommendations of influencers, PR, customer reviews, shares of advocates, etc. This type of media is also known as word-of-mouth marketing, which implies people promoting your product or service. You can receive recommendations for money and for free. Earned media allows you to build brand awareness, recognition, and trust. According to statistics, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from their friends, and 37% of people trust influencers’ reviews. Earned media helps your product shape a positive first impression, and show expertise.

Now that you know the difference, it’s time to discover some owned media strategies. Consider implementing them to improve your marketing strategy.

6 Owned Media Strategies

Companies use different content formats for multiple purposes such as establishing brand awareness, increasing customer engagement, receiving conversions, boosting sales, etc. Paid, earned, and owned media imply using effective strategies to capture attention, engage users, and win customers. We’ll list the most powerful owned media strategies so that you know what to do with your valuable content.

1. Publish content that solves problems. In our busy world, time matters the most. Show your expertise by writing long informative blog posts. When customers have problems, they need fast, short, and accurate answers. So, provide them. Write content that helps your target audience without focusing on a sale. If prospects like your product, they will purchase it. You should ensure that your website, blog, or social media channels bring solutions to your target market.
2. Track trends on social media. Social media platforms are constantly evolving and establishing new trends. If you want to stay visible on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, you need to adapt your content to the new requirements. Since algorithms always change, they can make your content viral without any paid promotion. Let’s take Instagram as an example. Lately, you can see Instagram posts in your feed very rarely. Moreover, you see the promoted posts and videos of people you don’t even know. It all happens because of the changes in people’s preferences. Nowadays, social media users prefer to watch reels, so brands and influencers record them. These short videos communicating the main value are engaging, interesting, and informative.
3. Implement popular content formats. Leave some space for experiments with your content. If you only publish blog posts, consider recording webinars or podcasts. If these formats fit with your target audience and industry, it’ll bring you increased engagement. However, before creating something new, conduct research and survey to find out whether your customers will welcome a new format of your work. You can provide them with multiple options, and they will decide by voting. For example, you can ask your audience whether they would like to receive some new materials in the form of a webinar, live on Instagram, podcast, or online course.
4. Stay updated on the latest algorithms. Since SEO contributes to the visibility of your website in search engines, you need to monitor the changes in Google’s algorithms. It will help you comply with Google’s ranking factors and stay at the top of SERPs. For example, due to the rising number of voice searches, search engines welcome conversational content. So you need to take it into account when creating articles to stand out among competitors and rank high.
5. Invite experts to create content. Writing useful articles is no easy task. You might have a team of talented copywriters yet it’s still not enough to create in-depth content. That’s why you need to have experts who will check your blog posts and add professional opinions. For instance, if you have a blog, it will be useful for writers to cooperate with experienced professionals in the field who have knowledge and skills beyond Google. Look through potential candidates to find the right person for this position.
6. Promote your content through various marketing channels. You can promote your content organically by complying with SEO principles, sharing content on social media, or using paid ads. It will help you gain exposure and brand recognition.

Now that you know the strategies, let’s find out how to measure owned media value. The next section will help you evaluate the usefulness of your content for users.

How to measure owned media value?

Since owned media is crucial for reaching prospects and driving their attention, we need to discuss how you can measure the results it brings.

To measure owned media, you need to analyze the social networks you use. Consider leveraging special social analytics tools like Sprout Social, BuzzSumo, HubSpot, and Google Analytics to receive a detailed analysis of your content performance on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Besides analyzing the success of your content, you can also reveal the achievements of your competitors.

Researching each of your channels enables you to receive insights into your content performance. After the analysis, you’ll know what works and what doesn’t. As a result, you’ll be able to enter some alterations and make your users happy with your blog posts, articles, and social media posts. To assess the progress, look at comments, likes, discussions, recommendations, retweets, mentions, and impressions. Once you look through these metrics, you’ll have an in-depth understanding of the quality of your content and the satisfaction of readers.

Social media management platforms empower you to identify the best-performing content formats. You can apply this information for your next marketing campaigns and publishings. Analysis of competitors’ social media performance will enable you to dive deeper into their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. After figuring them out, you’ll be able to identify less effective strategies and implement successful techniques.

Valuable content will help you shape and grow your community. Later, you’ll be able to generate brand advocates and promote your company to a wider audience.

Now that you know how to measure the success of your owned media, it’s time to proceed to the examples. You’ll be able to find out the most popular owned media channels.

Owned Media Examples

Companies have a wide choice of options when it comes to formats of content and channels they want to use. We’ll list the most popular and successful examples of owned media for you to consider.

Websites, apps, and blogs

Websites and blogs are your most important owned media property. With these marketing channels, you can consistently communicate information to your prospects and customers. You can cover different topics related to your product and industry and solve users’ problems. Website, app, and blog help you distribute information, establish brand awareness, and educate website visitors. If users like your content and product, they can convert into customers. Moreover, a website or blog with valuable articles gains a top position in search results and generates organic traffic.

Forums

Old but effective forums still capture their position as successful community builders. Although people nowadays are more likely to use social media platforms for communication, you still need to give forums a try. Consider initiating a forum, organizing content distribution, and community activities.

Email campaigns

An effective email marketing strategy enables you to communicate your message, distribute content, and inform customers about new releases, promos, and discounts. You can deliver your content directly to subscribers and make sure that they open your emails. Each email campaign contains a call-to-action button that leads customers to the offer they look for. SendPulse’s drag and drop editor enables you to create professional templates without any knowledge of HTML or technical skills.

Below you can see how to create an email campaign using a ready-to-go template in SendPulse.

Social media networks

An increasing rise in the use of social networks and around 4.70 billion social media users indicate that social media platforms are worth considering for your owned media promotion. Social media brings you wide reach, a large following, brand recognition, trust, and new customers. Create profiles on the top-performing platforms to share your content with your target audience. If you have quality content, they will like, share, and comment. As a result, you’ll gain exposure.

Congrats, now you know what owned media is and why it’s crucial. Hopefully, our strategies will help you use your unique properties right.

References:

1. This article defines the term.
2. In this article, you’ll find the explanation of earned, paid, and owned media.
3. This article provides you with owned media strategies.

Last Updated: 22.03.2023