We already know that content is king and it’s also true that we’re living in an age of content overload. Everyone is a publisher. Everyone tries to attract his target users with content, but only a few succeed. If you're already an established brand, it’s not going to be tough for you. But if you’re still trying to make a mark, there is a steep road ahead. This article will help you.
First things first
When it comes to content marketing, there are three distribution areas.
Owned media: These are the platforms that you own. Your website, blog, social media pages, email newsletter, mobile app belong to the category.
Earned media: This is something that you earn with your capabilities. Social media comments, external websites and blogs, reviews and ratings are earned media.
Paid media: Any kind of ads that you run for your business is paid media.
Image: webrunnermedia
Paid media is a different ballgame altogether and we’ll discuss it later in a different article. Let’s focus on how to use owned media and earned media in your content marketing.
Let’s take it forward with an example:
We at TechShu, strongly believe that owned media is very important in achieving the long term goals. This is the reason that we give utmost importance to our website and blog. These are our owned media.
In order to establish ourselves as an industry leader, we publish our content on external websites like Moz, Social Media examiner, Social Media Today, Business 2 Community and many other credible sites. We’re actually using their audience to establish our expertise. And all these platforms let us publish on their site because they also get benefits from our articles. These are earned media for us.
Which media would be appropriate for you:
Brands concentrate mainly on creating content without giving enough thought to the distribution channel. But the fact remains, every content must have a marketing goal, else it goes waste.
When you should consider owned media:
Have you created something that you are proud of and want to possess forever? You must consider posting it on your owned media. With earned media, you can never be sure of how long your content will be there.
Great content always brings attention of search engines. If this is the content that can earn you enough traffic from Google and other search engines, you need to keep it on your owned media.
If the content is a part of your sales funnel, for example eBook or newsletter, consider placing them on your owned media first.
When you should consider earned media:
If your intension is to build a brand awareness or industry thought leadership or PR for your company, you can go for earned media. Guest blogging is one way to do it. Here you are allowed to use someone else’s audience for your content marketing.
If you want to earn links, earned media is the route to go. However, un-targeted random guests posts will not help you. You need a proper strategy for it and a structural way to do it.
How to combine and work with both:
You must be publishing plenty of content every month. Have you strategized about them before publishing? Here are some tips to help you:
- Remember, you need to update your website with fresh content regularly to keep yourself in the good books of search engines.
- Create a content calender on a weekly basis.
- Keep 80% room for your owned media and 20% for earned media.
- For example, if you write 4 content for your website and blog, write 1 content for earned media.
- Some earned media would allow you to republish your content on your owned media. If this is the case, don’t forget to remarket your content.
- Some website don’t allow contributors to republish. In such cases, write a short except on your owned media and redirect your readers to the earned media.
- This would be beneficial for both. Your earned media gets the due credit and your audience gets to know that you have published an article on a reputed site.
How to use paid media in the cycle:
Let us refresh your memory. All paid advertisements fall under the category of paid media. You must use them to amplify the reach of your content. However, this would be rewarding for your owned media, as they are here to stay. When it comes to earned media, you don’t know for how long they are going to last on the website.
If you need your content calender or seek any help in content marketing, contact us. Our expert will give you a call sooner.
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