5.2 Using social media

There is a variety of online media, but these can be broadly categorised into three types (Corcoran, 2009):

  1. owned media (for example, an organisation’s website)
  2. paid media (for example, sponsorship and advertising)
  3. earned media (for example, word-of-mouth (WOM) and viral)
Table 1  Categories of online media

Media

type

DefinitionExamplesThe roleBenefitsChallenges

Owned

media

Channel a brand

controls

  • Website
  • Mobile site
  • Blog
  • Twitter account

Build for long-term relationships with existing potential customers and earned media

  • Control
  • Cost efficiency
  • Longevity
  • Versatility
  • Niche audiences
  • No guarantees
  • Company communication not trusted
  • Takes time to scale
  • Visibility on search engines

 

Paid

media

Brand pays to

leverage a

channel

  • Display ads
  • Paid search
  • Sponsorship

Shift from foundation to a catalyst that feeds owned and creates earned media

  • In demand
  • Immediacy
  • Scale
  • Control
  • Clutter
  • Declining
  • Poor credibility

Earned

media

When customers

become the

channel.

  • Word of mouth
  • Buzz
  • Viral.

Listen and

respond earned

media is often the

result of well-

coordinated

owned and paid media.

  • Most credible
  • Key role in most sales
  • Transparent and lives on.
  • No control
  • Can be negative
  • Scale
  • Hard to measure.

Footnotes  

(Corcoran, 2009)

Watch to the first three minutes of this ten-minute video where A.J. Leon gives examples of businesses successfully using social media to sell.

Download this video clip.Video player: 540_nnco_smb_1_vwr002.mp4
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Activity 6

Timing: Allow about 15 minutes

Now consider the role of social media possibilities for one of the case studies, Bike-a-lot [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .

Make notes in the following table for each type of media. Then click on ‘save and reveal comment’ to view our thoughts.

Owned media
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Paid media
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Earned media
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Comment

Owned media

Bike-a-lot could have a website giving detailed information on the services provided and take enquiries and bookings over the internet. Endorsements and recommendations from past customers can be included on the site.

Bike-a-lot could run a Facebook page sharing successes and announcing events and keeping riders up to date with news and legislation.

The page could promote good places to ride and recommendations for new products.

Past customers could be encouraged to share photographs of their experiences once they completed their training.

Bike-a-lot should be aware that visitors to their own sites are likely to have a certain level of scepticism regarding the content. Information on the owned media must be easy to navigate, accurate and up to date.

Paid media

Bike-a-lot could pay to be listed on local business websites and for advertising on specific motorcycling websites. Motorcycle selling sites could be a suitable place to be represented.

The objective of using paid media is to allow potential customers searching for motorcycle training to include Bike-a-lot as one of the options. The budget is likely to be quite small and would mainly state the services offered and direct the enquirers to the owned media.

Earned media

There are no guaranteed methods of generating positive earned media. Bike-a-lot could be featured on some of the many trade review sites that exist. Feedback from these sites are used more commonly by customers in their searches.

Exposure to public events where incidental mentions of the business helps to raise awareness is desirable.

5.1 Responding to customer use of social media

6 Working with customers