By: Danika Felt, Account Executive, Digital, Edelman Austin
“I have been one of the hard-liners opposing any blurring of the lines between advertising and PR. I am now prepared to change my position…Those of us in PR have to change the game. Let’s recognize that the digital platform for mainstream and hybrid media is an unmatched opportunity to offer hundreds of visual images, a different mentality about contributing comments, a high propensity to share quality material and a short-form mode for absorption of information. Why not take on the chance to make content the basis of advertising? Ads are inherently more effective when you have something to say. And we are better than any other marketing services sector at knowing what is newsworthy at any moment in time…Given our earned media experience and editorial knowledge honed through years of creating and co-producing stories, PR is best suited to partner with paid media.”
– Richard Edelman CEO
“I have been one of the hard-liners opposing any blurring of the lines between advertising and PR. I am now prepared to change my position…Those of us in PR have to change the game. Let’s recognize that the digital platform for mainstream and hybrid media is an unmatched opportunity to offer hundreds of visual images, a different mentality about contributing comments, a high propensity to share quality material and a short-form mode for absorption of information. Why not take on the chance to make content the basis of advertising? Ads are inherently more effective when you have something to say. And we are better than any other marketing services sector at knowing what is newsworthy at any moment in time…Given our earned media experience and editorial knowledge honed through years of creating and co-producing stories, PR is best suited to partner with paid media.”
– Richard Edelman CEO
Breaking It Down – What Is Paid Media and Why Is It Important?
In today’s blurred media landscape there has been a lot of buzz across
the network regarding the definition of Paid Media and what it means to
Edelman. The primary objective of paid is to optimize, create, and repurpose existing
content in order to amplify reach, views, engagement and impressions. It is an
essential aspect of the revolutionized Media Consumption Model, working with owned
and earned media to create Converged Media. This convergence provides the
opportunity to achieve earned media at scale.
The
Numbers Tell an Interesting Story
Let’s take a quick look at how the media landscape has evolved
over the past five years. In 2008, the Internet population was 1.5 billion, with less than 200MM globally on social media. Today, the
Internet population stands at a whopping 2.5
billion with more than 1.6 billion
globally on social media. By the numbers, it is clear there is more content
than ever, creating heightened marketing opportunities for paid.
The old saying is true: content is king. Given the cluttered
marketplace, there has been a strong shift toward content versus ads. The
convergence ad model recognizes that the content is the ad. PR has an opportunity to stand out by monitoring the
content fans are engaging with and steering the conversation with relevant
opportunities to engage. Without paid, brands risk their content being buried
by the platforms that prioritize paid.
Buckets of
Paid:
·
Search: a narrower remit that focuses on user
intention ready to engage. Search is quickly evolving to include Social context
(e.g. Facebook is integrating their content into Bing search results)
·
Social: becomes a factor when users are
motivated to share and participate (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn etc.)
·
Display: a catch-all term driving mass
awareness via curiosity (e.g. OneSpot, Undertone etc.)
Benefits
of Paid:
·
Guaranteed targeted
exposure of content and message
·
Amplifies content,
engagement and reach
·
Promotes seamless
visibility across owned, earned and social media
·
Responds in mass
real time to trends or during crisis
·
Increases organic
fan growth, engagement and earned media metrics
·
Access a unique
set of data and audience insights capable only through paid media campaigns