Marketers today face the biggest challenge when trying to generate earned media, simply because this is the medium you can’t pay for or control.

1. 3 Steps to Bring Together Paid,
Owned and Earned
How to
converge
media

2. 2
The new world order of media and advertising demands that
brands experiment and search for new ways to drive consumer
engagement. As marketing and media strategy becomes ever
more important, brands must look for ways to optimize paid,
owned and earned media. Paid media is everything that you
spend advertising dollars on such as TV, radio, print, digital
advertising, and sponsorships. Owned media includes your
website and other “owned” assets, and earned media is defined by
the social amplification and interaction you “earn” through active
participation with your customers.
Marketers today face the biggest challenge when
trying to generate earned media, simply because
this is the medium you can’t pay for or control.
Brands must cultivate content that inspires consumers to
participate with the brand, thus generating actual expressions -
opinions, stories, photos, Tweets, and video that the brand earned
out of authentic appreciation and engagement with the consumer.
Today, brands aren’t utilizing earned media
to its full potential.
In fact, only 17% of Chief Marketing Officers believe that social
content is truly integrated across their marketing programs and
channels. So, there is a huge opportunity for marketers to drive
their brand and their business through social integration and
engagement to ultimately create the perfect paid/earned/owned
media combination.
How do you create the perfect “owned media” experience for
your customers, and what is the right formula for paid media
to maximize your earned media opportunity?
Let’s outline the plans here to help you and
your brand drive a social experience that
is best of breed…

3. “Converged media will happen and is happening;
if marketers do not take action, the effectiveness
of marketing efforts will suffer.”
— Altimeter Report “The Converged Media Imperative:
How Brands Must Combine Paid, Owned, and Earned Media”
Step 1.
Compose Experiences
That Inspire
Participation

4. Your owned media properties are a huge asset — here your
brand controls the content, brings focus to key messages,
and ensures you have a branded presence across channels.
In today’s fragmented media landscape, every digital
touch point that you own is an opportunity for consumer
engagement.
Are you making the most of all the possibilities
that your owned media space has to offer?
Managing Your Social “Destinations”
Consumers are everywhere, and they want to engage with
social brands. In fact, according to a study, 62% of consumers
are more likely to engage with brands that integrate social
media. So, make sure you have a strong and inspiring presence
there. Figure out which networks are most important to your
brand and prioritize your time and budgets accordingly. These
“destinations” (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and others) require
that you manage your brand and customer experience on
those sites, but there is a new way to engage with customers
and maximize your “owned media” experience. Let’s call this
the “social engagement experience” that you provide on your
own site or any digital surface you have access to.
Your Social Engagement Experiences
(Taking Social Out of Social Networks)
Beyond managing your brand experience on various social
networks and destinations, the next big frontier is bringing
every public social conversation from every network possible
back into your own website and owned media experiences
and not only doing it all in real-time, but also ensuring that
the content is relevant and safe.
We’ve outlined great case studies and examples of how some
innovative brands are already “taking social out of social”
and building owned media experiences that are driving strong
earned media results.
62%of consumers are more
likely to engage with brands
that integrate social media.
4

5. CASE STUDY
In an innovative move, Victoria’s Secret
seamlessly cross integrated popular social media
platforms to create a dynamic owned destination
fueled with earned media.
In order to engage their current audience while increasing
reach to new consumers, Victoria’s Secret built a social
experience for their Summer Breeze Campaign. Knowing that
a lot of their passionate fans were already on Facebook, they
decided to integrate a social hub around Twitter content from
their Facebook campaign page. The page hosted several social
media prompts such as a Mad-Lib and a Twitter poll where
visitors could choose the hottest summer lipstick shades and
Tweet their favorite summer destinations. By tapping into
their existing fan base on Facebook, Victoria’s Secret drove
participation on both social platforms — compounding
the amplification and overall engagement with their brand
and their summer campaign.
To generate momentum around their annual Fashion Show,
Victoria’s Secret again applied a cross-integration strategy.
This time, they built a customized Facebook tab that included
a dynamic grid of content curating pictures and fan photos
sourced from Instagram.

6. CASE STUDY
Pepsi wanted to align their brand with all things pop-culture
and generate relevant content to engage consumers year
round, beyond one off campaigns. In partnership with Mass
Relevance’s Social Engagement Platform, Pepsi followed
a three-step process to do this.
First, they pulled all customer comments and conversations
about Pepsi from social media platforms - Tweets from
Twitter, photographs from Instagram, and comments from
Facebook. After capturing the conversation, Pepsi then filtered
out the noise. They set rules within the platform to get rid
of irrelevant conversations and filter in compelling content.
With their customers’ aggregated social voice, the third step
was to showcase the remaining content onto an inspiring
experience that could be distributed on any digital platform -
one that not only displayed that content, but also encouraged
customer engagement and amplification. The outcome - Pepsi
successfully leveraged owned media alongside earned media
in order to reach their consumers and amplify buzz around
topics and events they knew were important to their target
customer segments.
Through the integration of paid, owned, and
curated earned media, the brand is reaching
an average of 1.5 million consumers a day by
discovering and re-displaying social content
in real-time.

7. Step 2.
Integrate Social
Into All Marketing
Channels Events
Be a Hero
Most marketing executives are trying to find ways to integrate
and build social experiences everywhere they can. If they can
do this successfully, they will provide a mutually beneficial
relationship to the brand and the brand’s consumers. As Mass
Relevance CEO Sam Decker noted, “When you integrate social
content (earned media) into your owned media… you are
giving customers the social proof they need to be engaged
and interested, because what they are watching is a reflection
of themselves.” Once customers see that they are recognized
and valued by the brand, they are more likely to participate —
benefiting both the consumer experience with the brand and
the brand’s reputation as well.
Every brand has an annual marketing calendar and there
is a lot on that calendar. As a marketing and/or social media
leader, what opportunities should you be thinking about
for integration?
Let’s take a look at key marketing activities that
are crying out for social integration…

8. Marketing Campaigns
What are your brand’s major marketing campaigns? Usually
there are at least three or four big campaigns every year.
What is your “social layer” on top of these campaigns?
Product Launches
What new and innovative products is your company launching
this year? How can you integrate social media and social
content onto these launches to generate and amplify consumer
awareness, buzz, and excitement?
Store Openings
If your brand plans to open any stores in 2013, how will you
publicize this event? Using social media to garner the consumer
voice not only gives you the opportunity to reach widespread
audiences, but it also allows customers to interact with
your brand, your media experience, and your new store
in numerous ways.
Special Events
Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. The Masters. MTV’s People’s
Choice Awards. Think of the big events that are important
to your audience and therefore, your brand. How are you
leveraging social engagement before, during, and after
your special events?
Key Holidays
On holidays, brands have the unique opportunity to engage
with existing customers and build relationships with new
demographics through impactful marketing initiatives. How will
you utilize social content during the holidays to propel sales?
Deals Promotions
Everyone loves a sale, a deal, or a promotion, so what better
way to optimize word-of-mouth content than through social
media? Utilize this valuable asset with immersive social
experiences that allow customers to interact, connect,
and share brand affinity and gratitude for your promotion.
Everyday Conversations
This one is key. Every week is an event or an opportunity
to engage with customers on topics they are passionate
about. Whether you build a Tweet powered QA, throw out
an interactive Mad-Lib, or launch a simple photo wall, if you
create ways for your customers to engage with you, they
will do just that.
Start at any one of these points, and once you begin to share
the experiences that you’ve built inside your organization, your
colleagues will quickly want to leverage this new technology
for their own initiatives as well.
Let’s check out some brands that have done
a fantastic job of leveraging social across
a variety of platforms…
Social Integration Checklist
8

9. CASE STUDY
Across HSN’s owned digital properties, such as their
eCommerce website, mobile site, Facebook page, and televised
studio sets, they have integrated social media in order to drive
content discovery and higher consumer participation.
Real-time social integration on these channels enhances
the customer experience and re-defines digital shopping
with immersive social eCommerce at every step of the
purchase path.
Driving deeper engagement with their brand, HSN also
displayed Tweets on air during a Michael Bolton concert.
This multichannel integration effort
successfully encouraged customer engagement,
participation, and loyalty.

10. CASE STUDY
Patagonia implemented a multi-
dimensional campaign to inspire brand
affinity, drive participation, and promote
environmental activism.
Partnering with the popular band Wilco, Patagonia launched
the I Vote the Environment campaign, encouraging participants
to Tweet why they love the environment, which then appeared
onto screens flanking both sides of Wilco’s concert tour
stage. Additionally, Tweets with the hashtag “#BecauseILove”
appeared on digital screens in Patagonia retail stores,
encouraging in-store shoppers to Tweet and engage with
the brand. Reaching across digital, social, and physical
destinations, Patagonia empowered consumers to rally around
a common cause. As a result, Patagonia drove immense
amounts of traffic to their earned media, generating more
than 10 million impressions of user-generated, brand relevant
content. Additionally, they saw an extremely high engagement
rate of over 8,000 Tweets and over 3,000 Tweets with photos
shared through their hashtag.

11. Step 3.
Pay to Fuel Your
Owned/Earned Engine
Utilizing paid media to drive participation and traffic back to
your website or other integrated social experiences completes
the owned, earned, and paid media trifecta. Whether it’s your
existing media or external marketing efforts, promoting your
social experience ensures traffic and success.

12. Before you start spending outside advertising dollars,
go through the assets that your brand has at its disposal and
see how much you can leverage. Here are some examples:
Broadcast Media
Add a simple Twitter hashtag to the bottom of a TV spot to
encourage customers to Tweet. Or, mention a hashtag or a URL
on radio spots where customers can go to join the conversation
related to a campaign or special event.
Print Media
As with broadcast, get some space on any printed advertising
to promote a URL and/or hashtag.
Digital Media
Make sure you leverage your email database and your website
to promote your social experience. In addition to this, use your
own company employee email signatures and add a link to
your social experience if possible.
Social Media Channels
Of course, leverage your own Twitter account and Facebook
page to promote your new social owned media experience.
Spokespersons
Does your brand work with any athletes, celebrities, or other
types of spokesmen who would be willing to leverage their
social reach to promote your experience?
Partners
What partners do you have that would be willing to promote
your experience for you? If you are a manufacturer, what
retailers do you work with that you could lean on to give you
free advertising to their audiences?
Now Add Targeted Marketing and Advertising
After leveraging your existing assets, it’s time to gain your
customers’ attention with paid media, such as Twitter
Promoted Products or Facebook advertisements. This native
advertising inside social platforms is particularly successful
because rather than acting as a disruptive banner or pop-up
ad, it is complementary to the user experience. More so, it
is actually a part of the user experience — it fits, organically
belongs, and does not interrupt the consumer’s flow.
Several brands have successfully integrated paid
media in order to gain their customers’ attention
in the social sphere and drive traffic
and participation…
Leverage Your Own Media First
12

13. CASE STUDY
In conjunction with their Olympics sponsorship,
GE implemented several innovative social
experiences to immerse viewers into the Games.
With a “Constellation” showcasing lighting technology that
visualized the social pulse of Twitter activity and with the NBC
Twitter Tracker initiative, GE built a meaningful brand
experience that was both fun and participatory. In addition, GE
launched the HealthyShare campaign to encourage participants
to pledge and promote active health. In order to draw an
audience to their microsite, GE purchased a variety of Twitter’s
Promoted Products, successfully driving fans to the movement.

14. CASE STUDY
The Big Ten Network created the BTN Connect,
a second screen experience for Big Ten fans,
in order to provide a social hub that allowed
fans to interact with the stats, buzz, and social
chatter surrounding their favorite schools
and sports teams.
Capturing social conversation using multistreams, polls, trends,
spotlight Tweets, Twitter QA, an activity map, and photo
walls, BTN Connect was the ultimate interactive destination.
By leveraging Twitter’s Promoted Products, BTN ensured a
high participatory rate and a large amount of traffic.

15. Because your consumers are already on social media sites,
utilizing targeted marketing efforts such as Twitter’s Promoted
Products or Facebook’s advertisements are a sure way to
amplify your social experience, connect with your customers,
and drive unprecedented traffic.
Integrating real-time, social content within the brand and
advertising experiences increases ROI by transforming the
“owned” destinations into more participative and amplifiable
assets. As social integration becomes a more necessary
component of marketing, integrated media strategies that
drive content, customer conversations, and engagement will
come out on top, and those that combine owned, earned, and
paid media will be the winners.
The ultimate end game is to integrate real-time earned media
surrounding your brand across paid and owned platforms.
Successful brands will find ways to capture
and maximize the most valuable asset they have
— the customer voice.
In SUMMARY

16. POWERING SOCIAL EXPERIENCES
FOR BRANDS
Mass Relevance is the leader in social media curation and
integration. Brands in virtually every sector from entertainment
to media to retail are partnering with Mass Relevance to drive
real-time engagement. Using our platform and products, brands
create visually compelling social experiences that can
be displayed anywhere.
Whether it is on a brand’s website, on a stadium screen,
Times Square or on a television show, the Mass Relevance
platform and products get brands results.
Mass Relevance played an integral part in providing social media
curation and integration during the 2012 Olympics and the
recent presidential elections. Partnering with hundreds
of brands including GE, Patagonia, Victoria’s Secret, and Major
League Baseball, Mass Relevance continues to make sure brands
are on the cutting edge.
@massrelevance
massrelevance.com
(888) 330 6441
800 Brazos Street, Suite 340
Austin, TX 78701
Request a demo
See how you can make your
earned media work harder