What is Owned Media?

What is Owned Media? Owned Media refers to the audience-facing channels over which you have full editorial control. It’s different from Earned Media, which will be discussed below.

So for instance the channels which might be considered as ‘Owned’ would be your company website, your facebook page and your tweets. Your branding, brochures, advertising and business stationary. Statements from your press office and basically any flow of information between your business and your public which you oversee and agree to.

Owned Media is a great outlet for company news and product information, because you get to say what you like and can emphasise the things you believe are important.

But, depending on the reputation of the company, many consumers tend not to view Owned Media as being overly trustworthy, and will turn to Earned Media for the real story.

A good example here is of a holiday brochure.

Right up to the late 1990’s if you wanted to go on holiday all you really had to choose from were the selection of holiday brochures from the travel agents. Each resort featured tightly cropped shots of hotels and pools and beaches along with descriptions, all of which were meant to show each place in the best possible light.

It was only once you arrived that you discovered the building work next door, or the noisy nightclub or the sewage outlet 50 metres from your apartment window. Less scrupulous resorts could get away with it too as there was no real network for consumers to alert each other of the problems.

That’s why these days before booking a hotel, 84% of people in the UK, will carry out some kind of online research. The top three information sources are: search engines, travel websites, and blogs/reviews (Google Consumer Barometer). The purpose of the research is to find recommendations and testimonials about the places they are planning to visit.

On TripAdvisor they might find star ratings from people who have visited the resort or hotel. On Google they could find links to travel features in respectable publications. Blogs for newspapers like The Guardian feature extensive write-ups on destinations.

These reviews are, in every sense, Earned Media. It’s not something you are able to control, it is a peer review and for that very reason is seen as instantly more trustworthy by a potential customer.

We specialise in Earned Media. In getting your business, product or service written about by people who your audience will listen to and trust.

If you’d like to chat to us about how we can help you shine as brightly as you deserve to, call now on: 0161 408 4322