Refresher:
Paid media: advertisements
Owned media: properties owned by the company (ex. brick and mortar shop, website)
Earned media: word-of-mouth
As Cubbon suggests, earned media can exist not only offline, but online as well, through social media platforms. Here we see a supercharged “steroid” effect on word-of-mouth, because it spreads so quickly.
This article, “Five Reasons You Need to Focus on Earned Media”, although from 2011, which is ancient when it comes to technology, highlights the importance of earned media, which is my favourite of the three.
Allow me to summarize Ad Age’s points…
1. Earned media is the most trusted and credible form of content for a brand
2. Social media has amplified the sheer quantity and reach of earned media
3. Conversion rates are higher and ROI is undeniable
4. Earned media lasts
5. Earned media is measurable
Yes. Yes. Yes. What? Yes. Now I’m all for earned media and all its benefits, but I do have trouble justifying point 4, that earned media “lasts”. Overall, word-of-mouth will always exist. People will always talk. People will always have some sort of influencer at some point in their purchase decision process. But if we consider earned media in the digital space, it’s hard to imagine these platforms having ultimate longevity. Ad Age argues that online content will “continue to live on through searches indefinitely”. And I agree with this, but only to a certain degree. Social media trends come and go. FourSquare was supposed to be huge, but only really caught on in certain areas and industries. What happened to MySpace? Nexopia? BBM? We all understand the overwhelming size and power of Facebook thanks to Erik Qualman, but will it really last forever?
Earned media on social media “lasts” until something shiny and new comes along. Then it’s up to the brand to stay relevant by integrating itself on the newest platform. We face such a huge daily information overload that it would be impossible for me to remember (or find) information posted on MySpace back in the day.
In my humble undergraduate opinion – earned media can last forever, but not all earned media will last forever.