The Four Types of Online Media Explained

The media you produce and promote plays an essential role in your brand’s success. But are you utilizing every type of media in your marketing plan to its fullest extent?

The social media experts of Social Stamina are here to break down the different forms of media and ways to increase your brand’s exposure tenfold.

Owned Media

When people think of media, most think of owned media or content you develop unique to your brand. This type of media includes websites, blog posts, videos, pictures, infographics, podcasts – also informative content like e-books, guidelines, and whitepapers.

It’s important to note that for your content to qualify as owned media, you must be a part of the development process from start to finish. In other words, you cannot use an outside party’s creative intellect or work to create your own content. If you do, that is considered stolen work.

However, contracting a professional to produce content for your brand is owned media. For example, when you hire someone to write your website’s blog, your contract may state that you have the property rights to their article(s). Therefore, you have legal ownership and can control where and how often you share it on your social media, website, and so on. 

Shared Media

Shared media is content distributed across different social media platforms and pages or shared between multiple owners. Whenever you produce images, videos, or graphics for social media, share user-generated content, or co-create partner materials – you are developing shared media.

Let’s say you own a local coffee shop. You are scrolling on Instagram and notice a customer has recently tagged your business in a picture of themself holding an iced latte. With their consent, you re-post that picture on your coffee shop’s Instagram and credit the customer in the caption, all while promoting your business. This process is an example of shared media!

Remember: as social media changes so does shared content! 

Paid Media

Another common type of media is paid media. From advertorials to search engine ads to sponsored content to affiliate marketing programs, paid media is marketing that you buy. This type of media is helpful when trying to increase your brand’s promotion during certain times of the year (holidays, dormant periods, or a sale) or direct more traffic to specific content on your website or social media.

Earned Media

The opposite of paid media is earned media. Instead of paying for advertisements or content, this type of media includes methods of building your brand’s exposure that is essentially free. Media coverage, backlinks, awards, and reviews are just a few examples.

Most times, these media groups intersect with each other. A customer leaves you a stellar review (earned media), you design a graphic with their testimonial (owned media), which you then pay to promote (paid media). Utilizing every type of media increases your brand’s publicity tremendously.

Are you ready to take your brand’s media to the next level? Work with Social Stamina! We’ll give you a free social media consultation on how we can improve your online presence. To learn more about marketing, check out our blog!