Earned Media Value Guide: What is it? How to measure it?

Earned media value (EMV) is a crucial metric in influencer and content marketing, providing insights into the value of social media content generated by third parties, such as creators, publications, and brands. 

It seeks to quantify the engagement received by this content and attributes it to all mentioned brands. There are various ways to calculate EMV, including using things like proprietary algorithms, and we will get into those methods shortly. 

For now, all you need to understand is that by tracking EMV alongside other metrics, you will be better able to assess the effectiveness of influencer campaigns, benchmark their performance, and understand how earned media is contributing to your SEO and link building efforts. 

Let’s dive further into earned media.

Significance of Earned Media Value

Earned media value plays a vital role in your digital marketing (particularly your social media marketing) and brand awareness. And, unlike paid advertising metrics, EMV captures the impact of earned media, which includes content not created by the brand itself. 

This type of content, such as creator endorsements and word-of-mouth recommendations, holds significant influence over consumer purchasing decisions due to its trustworthiness. 

By leveraging EMV alongside other metrics, your brand is better able to evaluate campaign success, benchmark against competitors, and track industry trends to drive lasting growth–as well as build some of the most powerful backlinks you can get. 

Paid, Owned & Earned Media: Understanding the Differences

When it comes to online media, three distinct categories exist: paid, owned, and earned.

Paid media

Paid media encompasses advertising efforts that brands pay for, such as influencer marketing campaigns, ads on major advertising platforms like Meta, Google, TikTok, Bing, Amazon, X and the like. You’re paying for these large platforms to expose your brand to their users. 

Owned media

Owned media refers to content created and published on platforms owned by the brand, like company blogs and social media profiles. In my experience, owned media is the foundation of your media strategy because it’s where you have the most control over how and when people see you. 

Earned media

Earned media, on the other hand, comprises organic coverage generated by third parties, resulting from a brand's owned and paid media efforts. This includes social media mentions, customer testimonials, and press coverage. 

Understanding the differences between these media types is essential for crafting comprehensive marketing strategies and leveraging each effectively to maximize brand exposure and engagement.

Methods for Calculating Earned Media Value

Now that you know the differences between the three core media types online, let’s spend a bit of time looking at the methods for calculating earned media value. 

I like to quantify anything that can be quantified, even if there is, admittedly, something abstract about the idea of valuing when people mention your brand online. 

The two main methods you can use to calculate earned media are:

• Method #1: Employing an Earned Media Value Formula
• Method #2: Utilizing An Earned Media Value Tool

For the first method (using an EMV formula), I think Shopify has a great breakdown (which you can read here if you like). They highlight that there are basically two main EMV formulas: 

1. EMV = impressions × CPM
2. EMV = impressions x CPM x adjustment variable

Pay close attention to what they say about tailoring the adjustment variable to your “campaign objective” 

Typical EMV Benchmarks

When assessing earned media value (EMV), it's essential to consider typical benchmarks that can provide context for evaluating campaign performance. 

EMV benchmarks can vary based on factors such as industry, platform, and audience demographics. Generally, higher EMV values indicate more impactful content and greater brand visibility. 

It’s also important to bear in mind that specific benchmarks can vary widely depending on campaign objectives and the competitive landscape. 

The most important thing to come away with here, however, is that by understanding typical EMV benchmarks, brands can set realistic goals, track progress effectively, and optimize influencer marketing strategies for maximum impact and ROI.

The most commonly used benchmarks are:

1. Engagement Rates
2. Reach and Impressions
3. Sentiment Analysis
4. Share of Voice
5. Conversion Rates
6. Influencer Performance
7. Industry Standards

Engagement Rates: Understanding the Impact of Audience Interaction

Understanding engagement rates involves more than just observing likes, comments, shares, and clicks. It's about deciphering the depth of connection your audience has with your content. 

To effectively gauge engagement rates, you can calculate the ratio of interactions to the total number of impressions or reach. This calculation offers a quantifiable measure of how compelling and resonant your content is with your audience, potentially leading to increased EMV.

Reach and Impressions: Assessing Content Visibility and Audience Exposure

Reach and impressions refer to, in a nutshell, how many people are seeing your content and how often they encounter it, providing insights into its effectiveness. 

Social media analytics platforms like Hootsuite (and many others) offer detailed breakdowns of reach and impressions across various demographics, helping to tailor content strategies for maximum exposure and impact, potentially leading to higher EMV.

The social media platforms themselves also offer you insight into your reach and impressions. Here’s an example of the reach and impressions of a Hootsuite article they published on their Linkedin: 

Sentiment Analysis: Evaluating Audience Perception and Brand Reputation

While sentiment analysis relies on algorithms to categorize emotions, contextual understanding is crucial for accurate interpretation. 

Beyond automated sentiment analysis tools, actively engaging with audience feedback and monitoring brand mentions provides a nuanced understanding of sentiment.

Here’s an example of what a sentiment analysis tool (in this case, Awario) dashboard might look like:

By identifying trends and sentiment shifts, brands can adapt their messaging and content strategies to maintain positive perceptions and foster brand loyalty, ultimately contributing to higher EMV.

Share of Voice: Measuring Brand Visibility and Influence in the Market

Calculating share of voice involves tracking brand mentions across various channels and comparing them to competitors. Sprout Social actually has a great article on the nuances of share of voice. 

This is what Sprout Socials share of voice screen would look like:

When you monitor conversations and discussions related to your brand, you can quantify your brand's visibility and influence in the market. 

Social listening platforms and competitive analysis reports offer insights into share of voice metrics, helping brands identify areas for improvement and opportunities to enhance their market presence, potentially leading to increased EMV.

Conversion Rates: Tracking Consumer Actions and Tangible Outcomes

Like I said, whether it’s purchases, leads generated, backlink analysis, I always like hard data. Sentiments (i.e., feelings) are subjective, but conversions are right there in front of you. 

Tracking conversion rates requires setting up robust analytics systems to monitor consumer actions across different touchpoints. Using things like tracking pixels (on Meta, for instance), attribution models, and conversion funnels, helps you better understand the impact of your content on tangible outcomes such as website visits, sign-ups, or purchases. 

If you’re using multiple marketing networks and platforms, there are tools out there that make it easy to track all of your conversions in one place, including your earned media value channels.

Analyzing conversion data provides actionable insights into content performance, enabling brands to optimize their strategies for maximum effectiveness and ROI, ultimately contributing to higher EMV.

Influencer Performance: Analyzing the Effectiveness of Content Creators

Assessing influencer performance involves more than just looking at follower counts or engagement metrics. It's about evaluating the alignment between the influencer's content and your brand values and objectives. 

Influencer marketing platforms offer comprehensive performance analytics, including audience demographics, engagement levels, and content resonance. Below is what influencer platform Dribble’s dashboard looks like, showing you the amount of money an influencer has generated, their posts, what they’re writing and responding, etc. 

By analyzing these metrics, brands can identify high-performing influencers and refine their partnership strategies for maximum impact and EMV.

Industry Standards: Benchmarking EMV Against Norms and Average

Benchmarking EMV against industry standards requires accessing relevant industry reports and data sources.

By comparing your EMV metrics to industry benchmarks, you can identify performance gaps and opportunities for improvement. You also, critically, only account for actual success.

Additionally, leveraging competitive analysis tools and market research reports offers insights into industry trends and best practices. By aligning your strategies with industry standards, you can enhance your brand's competitiveness and drive higher EMV.

Standout Examples of Earned Media Value

Now that you’ve got a good understanding of earned media value, how to calculate it and what it can consist of (depending on your industry), I want to show you some standout examples so you get an idea of what is possible and what tools and platforms people are using. 

Example #1: Hootsuite’s Testimonials on Hoosuite

Freely given testimonials (social proof) is one of the best earned media types you can get as a brand. Take a look at just how much of it Hootsuite has:

This is their page on G2. Provide a good product or service, make sure you have the requisite profiles on places like G2, Trust Pilot and other industry-specific forums, encourage people to leave feedback, and voila! You’ve earned some serious positive coverage. 

Example #2: Influencer Marketing by Topicals

In the beauty industry, influencer trips are common, but Topicals' recent trip to Bermuda for their third anniversary celebration stood out. 

Unlike typical trips, Topicals focused on inclusivity, hosting the first BIPOC-sponsored brand trip and featuring smaller creators alongside established names like Dami Hope and Sean Garrette. 

This diversity resulted in 3 million impressions and a 5,000-follower increase across TikTok and Instagram. By showcasing daily content on Instagram Stories and sharing recaps on TikTok with hashtags like #TopicalsTakesBermuda and #TopicalsTurns3, Topicals emphasized authenticity and inclusivity, leading to significant follower growth and engagement.

Example #3: Social Media Engagement With Buddy Scalera

At the end of the day, a lot of your earned media success will come on the back of how well you engage your social media communities and followers. In short, a lot of it is about good content distribution.

People who are already primed to talk positively about your brand and content are going to get you your best amplification and engagement. 

Take the example below.

Comic Artist Buddy Scalera shared his new book on Twitter and asked his fans to helped spread the word.

Sure enough, people obliged. 

Streamlining Your Earned Media Management

The fact of the matter is, and this is something I didn’t fully realize when I first started out incorporating earned media into my digital marketing tactics, is that earned media can be labour intensive if you don’t work smart. 

Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do to make the process easier, your ROI higher and your success greater. 

Maximizing Audience Engagement Opportunities

To maximize audience engagement in earned media management, start by conducting thorough audience research to understand their preferences, interests, and behavior patterns, using this data to create highly targeted and relevant content. 

This could be things like polls, quizzes, and contests to encourage active participation and foster a sense of community. It’s also important to remember to engage with your audience consistently by responding to comments, messages and mentions promptly. 

According to a Hubspot article, around 40% of people on social media expect a response in under an hour. 

Planning, Scheduling, and Automated Publishing

If you want to do anything in digital marketing at scale, whether you’re prospecting for backlinks or building out your earned media, you really need to use scheduling tools and platforms to automate the publishing process and ensure timely delivery of content across various channels. 

Automation features such as post scheduling, content recycling, and performance tracking greatly optimize your workflow and save time. They also allow you to quickly review and adjust your content calendar based on emerging trends, audience feedback, and campaign objectives. 

I’ve already mentioned tools like Sprout Social and Hootsuite in this article, but there are a lot of tools out there: 

The above screenshot was actually taken from a Sprout Social article that is quite helpful if you’re shopping around. 

Fostering Relationships with Content Creators

Another major cornerstone of earned media value success is good relationship building. Relationship building is an overlooked but highly important part of all digital marketing–from link building relationships to earned media. 

Start by identifying potential collaborators who resonate with your brand values and target audience. Reach out to them personally to express your interest in collaboration and discuss potential partnership opportunities. Tools like Modash help you find millions of influencers: 

Offer incentives such as product samples, exclusive access, or monetary compensation to incentivize content creation and foster goodwill. 

Wrapping up

Earned media is crucial for maximizing brand visibility, engagement, and, ultimately, ROI. By quantifying the impact of social media content generated by third parties, you gain valuable insights into your audience's preferences and behaviour patterns, allowing for more targeted and relevant content creation. 

Utilize benchmarks against industry standards and leverage competitive analysis tools to identify performance gaps, optimize strategies, stay ahead of the curve and streamline media management through audience engagement strategies, automated publishing, and fostering relationships with content creators.

If you apply the tips and strategies covered in the above article, you should be fully capable of building meaningful connections with your audience, driving lasting growth and hitting your marketing objectives with confidence.