Marketing 5 min read

How to use Earned and Owned Media to Amplify Your Content

KAE CH | Shutterstock.com

KAE CH | Shutterstock.com

Steve Rayson of BuzzSumo and Barry Feldman of Feldman Creative recently hosted a webinar on content amplification using paid, earned and owned media. We focus on the last two as we believe they are the most effective.

Publishing a well-crafted piece of content is no longer enough.

More than 70 million pieces of content are published monthly on WordPress alone. We don’t know about you, but we’re not feeling so special now.

Consequently, the competition for eyeballs is continuously getting tougher. This is why you need a content amplification plan to help you stand out from the crowd.

An effective content amplification will help push your content to a much wider audience which will ultimately bring you more traffic, sales, and customers.

Though there isn’t a hard scientific approach to content amplification, there are strategies that have proven to be consistent in delivering results. This would be a good place to start. Afterward, you can pivot your strategy as you find what works best for you.

Content amplification media are classified into three basic types:

  • paid media,
  • earned media,
  • and owned media.

As we mentioned, our focus is on earned and owned media.

Let’s dive in.

Here are the key earned and owned media strategies you can use to amplify your content:

1. Owned Media Content Amplification Strategies

Owned media refers to all the distributable media that you control. You have absolute control over what is published, the content format, and when it’s published.

This media includes but is not limited to your blog or website, social media profiles and email lists.

Here’s how to use them to amplify your content:

Website/Blog: Your website or blog is the central hub for all your content. You have absolute control over what is posted there.

To amplify your content on your blog:

  • Include relevant internal links as often as possible.
  • Feature your latest content.
  • Repurpose old content into different formats.
  • Make it easy to share content.
Edgy Labs Blog
Edgy Labs Blog

Email: This still remains the best retention medium. When your readers leave you their email, they’re basically giving you permission to contact them personally.

This doesn’t mean you should abuse the privilege. Instead, create useful campaigns that will further add value to their experience on your site. Doing this well guarantees more readers.

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Social Media: Another form of owned media is social media. Although some people argue that you don’t have complete control over these platforms, you still have control over what you post to your followers. You still control when you post and you can even delete content should you have a change of mind.

By posting a stream of engaging content and being less “salesy”, your fans will appreciate your content more. You can also tap into an audience beyond your following by using hashtags on some platforms or asking for shares from your fans.

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Edgy Labs Twitter
How to use Earned and Owned Media to Amplify Your ContentClick To Tweet

Earned Media Content Amplification Strategies

Earned media is any form of media that you don’t control but can still be leveraged to boost your content.

As the name implies, you work to earn this content by building yourself as a trusted source. When you share content from your favorite website, it’s earned media for them.

Earned media is very valuable. According to Barry Feldman, traffic from earned media is free, credible, converts, and lasts a long time.

Here’s how to leverage earned media to amplify your content:

Persuade influencers to share your content: This strategy involves getting trusted voices with established online presence to share your content with their much wider audience.

It’ll take some work to build relationships with influencers, but once a relationship is established, the results come for the long term.

Further reading: How to Find Influencers That Will Boost Your Content

Guest Post: Guest posting or blogging simply means publishing content on a website other than your own. The idea is to tap into the much wider audience of established blogs or websites.

This strategy is so effective that Buffer used it solely to get their first 100,000 users. You can use it to amplify your content by putting a link to one of your articles in your guest posts.

Get curated: Content curation basically involves gathering information from multiple sources on a particular subject and presenting it to an interested audience.

A lot of people curate content online. Once people start including your content as part of their curation, you’re guaranteed a wider reach for your content.

Optimize your content for search engines: Organic traffic from search engines is another form of earn media. Even though you no control over organic traffic, you can to some extent guarantee constant traffic by publishing high-quality content and optimizing them to be found by search engines.

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The Truth Behind Russian Hacking: An Exclusive Interview | Edgy Labs | Google News

Further reading: Analyzing the Must-know SEMrush SEO Ranking Report–a six-part series.

Word-of-mouth marketing: Word of mouth still continues to be the best marketing tool in every medium. Barry Feldman says recommendations, opinion posts, editorial content and branded websites can significantly amplify your content.

What strategies are you currently using to amplify your content? Let us know in the comments section below.

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