A couple weeks ago, Facebook and Instagram both experienced an outage that resulted in users not being able to access their accounts for more than 2 hours. News reports said the problem was due to a technical issue. While it certainly wasn’t the first time this has happened, the occasion underscored the importance of not exclusively relying on social media for your marketing efforts. Rather, the safer approach is to maintain your own “owned media” alongside social media or other marketing channels.
What is “owned media”? The term refers to assets or communication channels that a brand has complete control over, such as your website, app, email marketing list, or even your direct snail mail list. For media to be “owned,” you must have full control over the content, design, and user experience.
Owned media contrasts with two other categories of media: paid media and earned media. Paid media is just as it sounds—advertising that you pay for, including digital ads, traditional media placements, etc. Earned media is what you call it when customers spread awareness, news, or feedback of your company to others—kind of like digital word of mouth.
All three types of media contribute to a well-balanced marketing strategy. For the purposes of this article, read on to learn more about owned media and the role it plays in your marketing plan.
Is Social Media Owned Media?
Social media is generally lumped into the category of owned media. However, we see it as more of a gray area—you don’t own the platform, and your “ownership” is susceptible to changing algorithms or preferences of the social media company management. As illustrated in the example above, if a social media platform goes down, the small business owner has virtually no control in getting the platform back up and running. With a website, while it is possible that your hosting company could experience an issue that causes your site to go down, you at least as a paying customer have some grounds to contact the company about the fix.
Advantages of Owned Media
The best approach in your marketing is to maintain owned media in tandem with your social media channel(s), earned media, and paid media (if you do paid advertising). In addition to the reassurance you get from a stable web presence, there are other advantages to owned media as well:
Control
One of the primary advantages of owned media is the control it offers. With paid media, you are subject to ad policies or budget constraints. Earned media is not easy to acquire. In contrast, with your website or email marketing, you have full control over your representation, and the platform is always available as your communication tool. If you maintain your own website or email list, you aren’t left out in the cold when a social media outage occurs.
Inbound Marketing
Owned media provides the opportunity for your business to practice inbound, or “pull,” marketing. This method of marketing involves creating content or other value offerings that “pull” customers to your brand. You can use social media, paid advertisements, or other communication channels to entice prospective customers to visit your website, learn more about your brand, and find information of value. The goal is to build trust to eventually make a sale.
Building your Brand
Owned media channels, such as your website, are the representation of your business. Having this “home” for customers to visit signals credibility and trust. Here you can showcase your offerings, expertise, values, news, and much more. The consistent messaging in your owned media strengthens your brand and encourages brand recall.
Disadvantages of Owned Media to Consider
While by and large the advantages of owned media outweigh the disadvantages, it is necessary to note that owned media, like your website or email list, does require some investment in time, budget, and expertise. It takes effort to keep your website updated with helpful content or relevant business updates, and it takes a budget to pay for website hosting or maintenance, email service providers, customer relationship management (CRM) programs, or other tools. Additionally, owned media for a small business can have limited reach, particularly when your business is just starting out. It takes time to build website traffic or a sizable email list to make an impact.
Despite these disadvantages, however, we always recommend that a business establish their owned media alongside their other marketing efforts. Marketing is a constant, long-term game, so it is well worth the investment in time and budget to direct some efforts toward your owned media presence. If you’d like to learn more about having a website built for your business, contact us anytime.
