Earned Media and Going Viral

Earned Media, a new term for many, refers to a tipping point beyond Owned and Paid Media. Owned Media, content published and controlled by the company, differs from Paid Media. Purchased in many forms, Paid Media, constitutes a portion of any “modern” marketing strategy.

Earned media may also be viewed as user generated content. The opportunity to engage with prospects, clients, and vendors - through the use of social media - represents a boon for business of all size. The tools employed to adopt this strategy may be built by IT and Web professionals, but the people behind the chat or IM window should be closely tied to the business in question. Ideally the sales department takes on these digitally engaged users.

Web based conversations should be handled by staff equipped to handle real time commerce. The ability to give a refund, provide an RMA (returned merchandise authorization), or status of an order - these are CSR (customer service representative) related tasks. In many cases the online engagement tools, should they exist, resolve to the IT department. The separation of engagement tools, and people that engage the users of the tools, must be made.

Earned media is driven by the conversations others are having about YOUR business. Discussions about product quality, satisfaction ratings, buzz about new or pending products. Fostering these discussions provides the gas in the tank of the “going viral” engine. This is not all honey and roses. The “viral” road goes both ways. Unfavorable discussions may ensue, the digital mob driving viewership, can be fickle.

For years we have accepted the “800 support” line, as (hopefully) expert advice, when faced with a problem. Providing a common resource, away from the actual location of the business, is a fairly recent change. Not many years ago if help was needed, and the store you purchased from was closed, you waited until the business opened the next day. Phone support changed this expectation.

The web resources available today up the ante once again. Hold times are not acceptable, we want a chat window, with a live person available in seconds. Eighty percent of buyers look to their circle of influence for advice and reviews. Eight out of ten, a staggering number. This “trusted” review base has high value, advice from a friend, rather than the info provided by the corporate web presence.

Overcoming objections, the back and forth of the sales process, increases revenue and sales retention. The fickle web based buyer needs to be engaged. The answer here is not social media. Using current tools to engage buyers, during the buying cycle, actual people responding to real time chat, online reviews, entering discussions in the web based community. These are traditional sales and marketing tasks, using current tools.

The tools needed to engage in the “Earned Media” race are available to businesses of all size. The advent of cloud based providers, with the correlating competition in pricing, scales the tools needed. Solopreneur to Fortune 500, there is no reason not to get in the game.