Earned; the 3rd gear in the digital media machine. It is the least understood though offers the greatest value. Earned media has shown to provide the highest impact on conversion rate of any digital media. It is the "seal of approval."

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Friday, March 3, 2017
The Value of "Earned" in the Digital Media Engine
Earned; the 3rd gear in the digital media machine. It is the least understood though
offers the greatest value. Earned media has shown to provide the highest impact on
conversion rate of any digital media. It is the "seal of approval."
Earned media like the name implies is "free." You can't buy it directly. How do you
earn it? Provide a compelling description of the product or service. Meet or exceed
buyer expectations. Or provide an exceptional service experience. Each of these
strategies will resonate differently with prospects, customers and category
watchers.
What kinds of actions can you earn: likes, reposts, retweets, shares, mentions,
ratings, comments, replies, link saves, endorsements, subscribers, followers, pick­
ups, recommendations, testimonials, reviews, and pick­ups. Effectively this is user
generated content (UGC), which carries higher credibility within a network or
community than company generated marketing material.
These earned actions can signal to others a positive experience with a company,
product or service, therefore helping others get through the product research
process more quickly. Putting your brand, product or service ahead of competitors
in moving to conversion.
In the context of the purchase cycle; awareness, consideration, transaction and
retention (ACTR), substantial media dollars are spent to create awareness and
provide consideration to get prospects to move to transaction. Earned media can
move a prospect right to transaction because others have done the work of
becoming brand aware and putting the energy into evaluating features, benefits and
overall value.
Below is an interesting chart showing results from a McKinsey study on touch points
during the purchase cycle. The takeaway here is that company­driven marketing is
more relevant during the awareness phase and consumer­driven marketing is more
relevant during the consideration phase. Consumer­driven marketing being
"earned."
In addition to moving a prospect more quickly to transaction, earned media results
can also be bundled to give insight. For example, looking at number and quality of
inbound links, retweets, number of twitter comments, Google +1's, Facebook likes,
shares and comments and the extent content is shared or endorsed, can give an
indication into brand/product influence. You can also bundle to get insight into
engagement, sediment and other brand measurements.
Scott Alexander
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Posted by Scott Alexander at 1:44 PM
Labels: digital marketing, digital transformation, earned media, marketing enablement, scott alexander
Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA
There are costs associated with earned media which are more linked to operational
overhead then direct expense like CPA or CPM. You need headcount to develop and
distribute content, and promote and monitor earned actions. There can be paid
content distribution costs as well if used. The work effort is in part a combination of
traditional communications and social media management/monitoring/listening.
Earned media is a nurtured process where paid media is tactical, i.e. programmatic.
A key nurturing strategy is simply to remind customers to give positive feedback.
The old saying that those will with bad experiences will tell ten friends and those
with a good experience will tell one applies to earned media.
There are tricks of the trade to develop and optimize a successful earned capability,
but will save those for a later post. A key point to understand is that those providing
earned actions need to have a reason to do so. For example, a strong emotional tie
to the brand, some kind of return on their investment of time, and or a sense that
their community or network will appreciate the UGC.
In the meantime, evaluate your digital media engine, review your earned process
and understand how it is contributing to your overall conversion success.
Scott Alexander, President & Chief Digital Officer ­ Marketing Enablement
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