owned media ideas

By Stephon Jacobs

Right now, there’s a distinct increase in online activity. While brick and mortar sales are down, ecommerce sales are expected to increase by 18% in 2020. That’s good news, especially if you and your business have been able to shift to a more web-based approach to sales. How do you get your customers to purchase your products online and invest in your services? Content will lead the way. There are a few categories of content. Today, we’re breaking down, owned media.

Owned media includes content that you create. It’s original, organic, and all yours. You can leverage your owned media across your own platforms. Owned media examples include your website, social media channels, press releases, blog posts, email campaigns, logos, graphics, photos and more. Consider it your very own arsenal of visual and written content you can freely use at any time.

Experts suggest that the total number of Internet users is projected to grow from 3.9 billion in 2018 to 5.3 billion by 2023. How can you make the most of your owned media now to prepare for the future? Here are a few ways…

Invest in creating a content calendar

Creating a social media content calendar is helpful for managing your owned media in many ways. Firstly, it helps you plan out when to create it, which is the first step. For example, if you have a campaign in October, you can start to think about the content in August. You can set up necessary interviews, photoshoots, and more. Then, it allows you to plan what content to post, when to post, and most importantly why. You always want to match your content to a goal. 

Sweet Tip: Content calendars keep you organized, allow you to post at the best times, helps you create higher quality content, and allows you to better track your successes and failures.

Strategically plan which platforms work best for you

Does the name Charli D’ Amelio ring a bell? She is a social media influencer most famous on Tik Tok. She posted her first dance video in the summer of 2019 and now has over 71.2 million followers. her videos are part of her “owned media.” She is genuine and hard working. Consistency has allowed her to grow her following on TikTok. Would this work as well on Facebook? No. Where to post and leverage your owned media is the first step to getting results. We broke down different social media channels in this blog post.

There are so many platforms like Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Spotify, Apple Music, Tik Tok, and there will be new ones as time goes on. Understanding which platform is best for you is the first step a business should take.

Sweet Tip: To learn which social channels may work for your business, spend 30 minutes on each platform daily scrolling through, listening, and understanding the platform. Figure out what works for brands similar to you, across, diagonal, above, and below. This will give you some ideas as well as a great starting point on which platforms will work for you. 

Create Content Your Customers Need

Start with creating the RIGHT owned media content. Your owned media should feature concepts and ideas that your audience wants or needs to know already. Sometimes you may be providing free value to your customer: a helpful tip, heads up about a sale, advice on how to navigate your site. Start by painting a picture of your ideal client or customer. What is going on in their life? What information would make their day easier? How do your products help with that? What kind of information will make them come back for more?

Make Room for Visual Storytelling

Your owned media must include visual content. It can be time consuming, but it is vital to have in your owned media library. Videos can also help customers better understand more complex aspects of your products, connect emotionally to your brand, and visualize themselves using your products and services. Here are a few stats to shed light on why video may be the way to go…

Why video is worth your time

  • More than 80% of all traffic will consist of video by 2021. Source.
  • By 2023, global mobile devices will grow from 8.8 billion in 2018 to 13.1 billion by 2023 – 1.4 billion of those will be 5G capable. Source.
  • The amount of online videos will increase by 15 times by 22 compared to 2017. Source.
  • 72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video. Source.

Talk About It: Make Your Customers Pay Attention

If you’re sharing your earned media online, make sure you’re drawing your customer’s attention to your hard work. We shared a few ideas to increase engagement on social media in this blog post. Respond to all of your social comments promptly. Ask questions and get to know what your consumer wants. This will also help you improve your business. When you’re listening, you can adjust your strategy a bit more with every comment and like. 

We’re here to help!

Reach out to us and let us know what owned media ideas you are considering or how we can help.