Paid, Owned, Earned or Shared: A Conversation about MediaBreaking Down the MediaWhen you are brea

Breaking Down the Media

When you are breaking down your communication tactics when conducting a campaign, you should also analyze your media tactics. This is significant, because as a public relations professional, you should be able to identify where your media is coming from, how to get the media, and how to interact and engage with this media. To understand better, we will break down the categories of media:

1. Owned Media – This form of media includes media “published or produced by the organization, which controls the message content as well as its timing, packaging distribution, and audience access” (Smith). An example of owned media would be a fitness gym taking a video of their employees doing a workout and posting it to their own social media accounts as they see fit. “Because you're responsible for all content on your owned media, you have the opportunity to craft and deliver original, unique messages to audiences” (Indeed).

2. Shared Media – These media are “communication channels, not controlled by the organization, providing user-generated messages that are shared on a social media network, usually for free” (Smith). An example would be Pinterest, where account owners can post, repost, and like content that has been posted by people on the app.

3. Earned Media – These media are “communication channels that provide opportunities for the credible presentation of organizational messages to large audiences via journalism organizations” (Smith). An example of earned media would be a Yelp review or an Instagram shoutout for your small business.

4. Paid Media – These are “communication channels that are purchased by an organization” (Smith). An example of paid media would be a Google advertisement. Paid media “gives you a high level of control over your audience, you can maximize the likelihood of engagement and conversion” (Deneen).

Why Use The Media?

Together, these forms of media make up a variety of tactics that your company or brand can use to advertise through the media. You should be able to identify which media area will be the most successful for your brand based on your budget, social media traffic, etc. These tactics complement each other and together provide an immense amount of opportunity to market and advertise your brand. These media forms also have various persuasive impacts on consumers. Through researching your target audience and identifying the market that you are entering, you should be able to generally gauge which media tactics will be most successful for you to appeal to your publics. Your marketing objectives should be met through the use of combining some of these media tactics during your campaign.

Works Cited

Deneen, K. (2022, October 25). Benefits and limitations of earned media vs. paid media. A Global Growth Agency. Retrieved April 8, 2023, from https://www.saltedstone.com/blog/benefits-limitations-of-earned-media-vs-paid-media#:~:text=Because%20paid%20media%20gives%20you,to%20get%20earned%20media%20placements.

Smith, R. D. (2021). Step 7: Selecting Communication Tactics. In Strategic planning for public relations (pp. 326-327). essay, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Lotz, G. de. (2019, April 19). Photo by Georgia de Lotz on unsplash. Beautiful Free Images & Pictures. Retrieved April 8, 2023, from https://unsplash.com/photos/CiSizRTO8U8

What is owned media? (plus how to use it in 6 steps) - indeed. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2023, from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/owned-media

Winegeart, K. (2020, September 14). Photo by Karsten Winegeart on unsplash. Beautiful Free Images & Pictures. Retrieved April 8, 2023, from https://unsplash.com/photos/60GsdOMRFGc