Those Are The Rules

Have you ever heard the phrase “You gotta pay to play?” Well, if you haven’t, essentially what it means is you have to literally pay in order to play a game- think an arcade. Well, the phrase is also used as a metaphor for competition that isn’t in the form of a game, but business. Meaning, it is commonly used in social media, especially as it refers to advertising. 

Karen Freberg, author of  “Social Media for Strategic Communication,” lists four types of content media. You may have heard of them, but without the technical term. They are: paid, earned, shared and owned media. 

Paid media tends to be paid advertising. This could be a post, video or campaign that a brand paid for you to see in your social media feed or on YouTube. 

Earned media on the other hand is the reach you obtain through people (customers or influencers) talking about your brand with their audience. This can be integrated with paid media through use of influencers.

Shared media is just that- media that is reshared from audience to audience to expand the reach. This often involves groups and communities following a topic.

Owned media is what brands share on the company website. For example, ONU shares articles on the website relating to what is relevant that week in the ONU community. This week it was focused on alumni and current track and field coach Emily Richards who competed for a slot in the Olympics just yesterday.

Whether you’re using paid media or shared media, always keep track of your audience because it’s possible to reach the wrong audience and suffer for it. So just remember: “you gotta pay to play” for advertising in the right direction.