#075 – Keep Making Content.
Paid. Owned. And the holy grail, Earned.

Published on November 4, 2019

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No one’s going to care about your content. So, you have to keep making content. Crazy right? Not really. The key here is that you have to be in it to win it. If you’re making content, then keep making content. No matter what. And make sure you cover your bases with Paid, Owned and Earned media.

And don’t get caught in the weeds. Good content is independent of production values. You really want to avoid the proverbial ‘lipstick on a pig’ scenario when it comes to online content.

Take a leaf out of the content making book of Vanessa Dolan from Creative Recruiters. She makes content on her phone. Every single day. And it works. They’re ranked by Linkedin as Asia Pacific’s Most Socially Engaged Creative Recruitment Agency.

Now that you’ve made that content where do you put it? Well, there are THREE types of media. In THREE different places. There are THREE. THREE is the number…after two and before four.

What are the THREE?

The first is Paid Media. Frankly…it has almost no cred with consumers. Very few people these days will buy or convert off the back of a paid post. But they will do their research or dig deeper if your content is intriguing enough.

Some of the above paid-media will funnel audiences to our next level of media. Owned Media. It is more credible than Paid Media and is usually used to build affinity and to demonstrate expertise. They come in the form of a blog, a podcast, a newsletter and even a youtube channel. You as a brand will have complete control and the initiative. Cue Carol Camoen‘s episode on taking charge of your brand narrative.

Finally the Holy Grail.

Earned Media. Unbiased. Pure. Real. It could go either way. Could be negative or could be positive. You have no control over it. This is akin to UGC or User Generated Content.

Think of independent reviews like on Google and Facebook. Users really put a lot of trust in them. Why? Because it’s earned.

Good or bad, you’ve earned it. Especially if the person creating that content in relation to your brand is highly trusted and credible. This has the highest value.

Now this means that getting negative feedback is also not the end of the world. Anytime you get feedback it is an opportunity for you to reach out to increase your credibility.

If you get negative reviews, reach out to the reviewer and ask for them work with you fix the issues. Co-opt them into the process. Then have them report on the process as you go about demonstrating how serious you are about your users and how you totally do not take your customers for granted.

Then watch your brand loyalty go through the roof. This is not speculation. This is proven.

Keep making content

In short, keep making content to get good Earned media. You should have Paid Media and Owned media working in conjunction to give your audience a reference point to your offering to help you get Earned Media.

And so, the wheels of the bus go round and round…

Finally a shoutout to Bronwyn Clee. If you’re ready to “…to turn the shit in your life into fertiliser.” Here’s where you go. She’s the very best at what she does and she’s got the IQ and EQ to get you where you need to be in life.

Image Credits: Tom Margie