Description

which if the following best describes the return-on-earned media model ?

### The Return on Earned Media Model: Understanding Your Brand’s Unpaid Advocacy

In the constantly evolving landscape of social media marketing, determining the value of the content your brand generates (or conversely, the buzz it incites) can be an abstract concept. One model designed to bring clarity to this realm is the **Return on Earned Media (ROEM) Model**. Let’s break it down and dive into which option best describes the ROEM model.

#### Unveiling the Return on Earned Media Model

Firstly, it’s essential to distinguish earned media from paid advertising. Earned media involves the unpaid coverage and mentions of your brand by third-party entities, such as media outlets, customers, publications, and influencers. It’s essentially free publicity that garners attention and generates buzz for your brand — often more organically and genuinely than paid ads.

The Return on Earned Media model aims to quantify the impact of this free publicity on business outcomes. It encapsulates the value of the media coverage, organic shares, mentions, and discussions your brand receives without directly paying for it.

Given the options, which one best describes this concept? Let’s analyze each:

**a. Relies upon survey data to assess the effectiveness of social media marketing.**

This option seems less accurate for ROEM. While surveys can certainly measure the impact of social media campaigns, the ROEM model is more focused on quantifying the value of organic mentions and mentions gained through social media rather than relying specifically on survey data.

**b. Demonstrates how many ‘opportunities to see’ for the target audience were generated by the social media tactics.**

This might be related, but the term ‘opportunities to see’ could apply more to ad-driven metrics like views, impressions, or reach metrics. While the ROEM model does focus on reach, it does so with a twist, emphasizing organic mentions and buzz rather than paid ad reach.

**c. Captures how effective a company is at using capital to generate profits.**

This accurately describes Return on Investment (ROI) instead of ROEM. ROI is more about quantifying the financial benefit of a marketing investment against the cost of that investment, measuring capital utilizization towards profits directly.

**d. Tracks coverage across media and in different markets against sales over time.**

This is the closest option and matches the definition most tightly. The Return on Earned Media model evaluates how coverage in various media formats (third-party mentions, media articles, blog posts, social media discussions) translates into business outcomes such as sales over time. By tracking mentions and media coverage, the ROEM model measures the natural virality and organic promotion generated by a brand’s activities.

#### Evaluating Earned Media Effectiveness

In practice, measuring ROEM involves a few key steps:

– **Monitoring Media Mentions:** Use tools like Google Alerts, Brandwatch, or Mention to track how, where, and how often your brand is mentioned online.
– **Quantifying Media Reach:** Determine the reach and influence of each mention, considering factors like source popularity, audience size, and engagement levels.
– **Calculating Business Outcomes:** Assess the impact of media mentions on tangible business outcomes, particularly sales or revenue generated. Often, a more indirect approach, such as sentiment analysis or customer surveys, can provide deeper insight into how media coverage influences consumer behavior.

#### The Power of Earned Media

In the grand scheme of marketing, earned media stands out because it transcends the boundaries of paid advertising. It’s authentic, trusted, and often resonates more deeply with consumers. By leveraging the Return on Earned Media model, companies can gauge the value of the organic advocacy their brand generates, potentially uncovering powerful insights into consumer behavior and engagement.

In conclusion, the Return on Earned Media model **tracks coverage across media and in different markets against sales over time**, offering a comprehensive view of how organic media coverage impacts business performance. This sophisticated analytics method acknowledges the invaluable yet often challenging-to-measure impact of word-of-mouth and earned media coverage on business success.

Stay true to this model, and you’ll unlock the full potential of your brand’s unpaid, yet highly valuable, advocacy.