Page 339 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

FIGURE 22-2:
The official
Zappos
Twitter feed.

The most important myth about earned media is this: It isn’t, as many people
believe, free media. You still have to work for it. In fact, it takes a lot more effort
to earn media than to buy media. The difference is that earning media requires
time and effort and changing your company from within, whereas paid media is
about buying online advertisements. Earned media requires you to devote time to
monitoring conversations, building relationships, and engaging with influencers
online.

Making paid media jump-start
earned media initiatives

So how do earned and paid media work together in this socially driven digital
world? In earlier chapters, including Chapter 7, we discuss paid media and earned
media opportunities on various social platforms. We also discuss when to use
which technique. Here, we explore how paid media can support earned media
efforts.

At the most basic level, you can use paid media to jump-start your earned media
endeavors. Grabbing your customers’ attention and initiating dialogue with them
can be hard. All your competitors are trying to do exactly what you’re hoping to
do, after all. Breaking through the noise can be difficult. The sections that follow
highlight some specific ways in which paid media can support earned media.

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