Earned vs. Owned vs. Paid Channels

What scares me about earned vs. owned vs. paid media? A few things. Let me break it down by channel for you, where I’ll also list off a few positives for the channels as well, but lately I feel I’ve seen a shift and it’s only about to get WORSE. 

EARNED:

This channel terrifies & excites me in a few ways. This is obviously a very effective channel for many brands, as word of mouth is a powerful thing, and the more shares your company gets, the better, but the amount of content being churned out on blogs, youtube, facebook, infographics is beginning to get overwhelming and create a sea of good/bad content to sift through. The face books of the world want to help you sift, which I guess I appreciate, but then again I don’t, when THEY get to tell you what content brands are churning out they want you to see RE: how they’ve started pushing videos SO HARD IT HURTS, when not every brand is there yet, so I feel the ones who aren’t sharing videos are about to get left in the dust… just when they started learning how to share a great photo. 

OWNED: 

This channel makes me (and others I’m sure) happiest because it’s everything YOU can control, you set the rules/guidelines/experience for and it’s unique to your brand alone. I suppose social media can be owned, but not in my eyes, since big social players can change the game at any second and your content becomes worthless. Basically, the rule of thumb is while you’re busy trying to create ‘cool’ content on instagram, you need to find ways to drive people back to your website, and make sure your user experiences match what you’re pitching on the channels you’re using to attract people in. 

PAID: 

Paid is obviously a great (and almost the only way) to get your content on social channels seen, as well as a great way to drive additional traffic back to the mothership, your website. What scares me about paid is how much every brand who thinks they get it is about to pour into it, while Facebook and Twitter can change their own game and make it more expensive to reach your audience, yes, your owned audience, which isn’t really owned if not everyone has a chance to see what you’re selling/pushing/promoting!? I find retargeting and PPC to at least be a bit more straight-forward about the process, but that too is about to get overused by so many companies due to the ease of use, targeting capabilities and relatively lower cost. 

Anyone else have strong thoughts on the various channels? Clearly my fear of these social media channels that are gaining huge traction (and dollars) who I feel could make the playing field harder at any second are a heavy weight on my mind. 

The Necessity of the Social Media Strategist

It seems like in the past year or two, many various industries have decided they all NEED social media strategists, community managers and an actual social media strategy. Virtually no industry has gone untouched by the hands of social media and it has been very interesting to see how not only various industries are responding to the new challenge, but specific companies, both big and small are, as well. 

Every industry also has several shining stars, the incredible examples of a few companies who REALLY get it, and do more than just tweet or post on Facebook. They create campaigns that link throughout many different channels and encourages participation and loyalty to the brand, not just the initial likes. Then there are those who are either so late to the game they just hired the first person who was up for the job or they decided to take it on themselves without looking into it. 

For the industries that deal with consumers on a daily basis, the most successful small and large companies in the social spaces not only try new things, styles or new channels but they also CONNECT with their fans and people talking about them on a one-to-one basis. This is where the gold is for those social media strategists. This is why more than a college intern needs to handle your twitter account. 

No matter how large or small, I think it's been proven many times over the fact that simply responding to people talking about your brand, whether they're complaining or complimenting you can really solidify their bond with your company, create a lasting impression and even convert a hater into a lifetime customer. 

What do you think? Have you seen a rise in social media strategists now that many brands have realized it takes more than one hour a week to really make something happen?