Owned Media
, in a broad sense, refers to media owned by a company.
Owned media is now becoming a standard in public relations and marketing, regardless of company size, and is widely used for customer acquisition and branding of companies and products. It has become one.
Here, we will start with the importance of owned media, and explain in detail the points to be aware of. A must-see for those who want to own their own media or those who are already operating it!
Why is owned media attracting attention?
Limitations of advertising methods
Firstly, traditional advertising methods are no longer applicable. There is a phenomenon in which consumers ignore advertisements or do not respond to them when they see them.
Internet banner ads had a click rate of around 10% around 2000, but now it is well below 1%. Furthermore, future smartphones are increasingly equipped with ad blocking functions. As advertising, which was the mainstay of traditional customer attraction measures, has ceased to function, the need for owned media has increased.
To respond to trends in search engine optimization
Traditionally, the common method for search engine optimization (SEO) was to ask a specialized SEO company to add a link to your website, which is called backlinking (also known as artificial linking or link farm).
However, Google, the largest search company, has tightened its crackdown on this method.
Especially since 2011, Google has made many algorithm changes called “Panda”, “Penguin”, and “Hummingbird”, which now show high-quality content at the top.
To optimize advertising costs
Until now, companies have relied on listings that have a high impact on ads, but there is actually data that shows that users are no longer clicking on ads.
According to a study conducted in 2012, natural search results were 4 times more clicked than ads, but only 1/10 of the money spent on natural searches was spent on listings.
Currently, companies are increasing their investment in increasing organic search traffic while keeping their listing advertising budgets low. It can be said that owned media is also riding on this trend.
To respond to trends in SNS, curation media, etc.
Nowadays, SNS such as Facebook and Twitter are widely used in Japan. It has become common for users to share high-quality articles on Facebook, Twitter, etc., and articles have become popular through word of mouth.
What are the benefits for companies to engage in owned media?
Next, let’s briefly summarize the reasons why companies engage in owned media.
You can cut advertising costs
Is your business dependent on advertising?
Ad dependence is a headache, as listing costs go up and advertising costs at shopping malls go up. By working on owned media, you can escape from this dependence on advertising costs.
As you accumulate content on owned media, the traffic from natural searches will increase. If you stop advertising, sales will drop, but owned media has a stock effect, so unlike advertising, access will be maintained even if you stop updating.
Even if it is an old article, it will be read via search or SNS. Owned media is exactly the same as accumulating content assets that generate customers.
Overwhelming branding
The second important point is brand building.
By accumulating highly specialized articles on owned media, readers will repeatedly visit and read the articles.
By “providing useful information” through articles, your company will be recognized as an “expert” and will be trusted. At a construction company in Poole that worked on content marketing in the United States, people who read 30 pages of a blog had an 80% success rate. This is because you have branded your blog, so there is no need for marketing.
Increase customer loyalty
The third point is that you can increase customer loyalty (loyalty and attachment).
Continuing to provide useful information to customers gives the impression that “it must be a good company to provide such useful information so generously,” and customer loyalty increases.
Loyalty brings many benefits to your business. For example, it is difficult to compare with other companies, it is difficult to get caught up in price competition, and it is easy to receive repeat orders.
Can target a wide range of areas
Fourth, we can develop business targeting a wide range of regions.
By utilizing owned media, there are examples of companies in Miyazaki doing business with top companies in Tokyo, and companies in Tokyo doing business with local manufacturers. Additionally, expanding overseas has been extremely difficult up until now, but by developing owned media in multiple languages, it is possible to receive inquiries from overseas.
According to the “Owned Media Utilization Survey 2015,” a survey conducted by Just System in July 2015 regarding the operational purpose of owned media, the most frequently cited operational purpose was brand recognition and acquisition of customers and leads. , accounting for just under 80% of the total. This is followed by lead nurturing and engagement (50% and 61%, respectively), and SEO and increasing website traffic (44% and 56%). It is interesting to note that just under 30% of respondents said that improving customer loyalty and hiring purposes were also cited.
Securing excellent human resources
Are you familiar with the term “Owned Media Recruiting”?
It is a recruitment method that has been attracting attention in recent years, and is characterized by attracting excellent human resources by actively disseminating information using owned media.
Owned Media Recruiting uses owned media to disseminate an overwhelming amount of information that could not be written in traditional job advertisements. For example, we realistically convey the “feel of the company and its workers” through information such as corporate philosophy, founding story, representative’s thinking, employee interviews, etc.
As a result, the number of people who feel like “I like this company” and “I want to work for this company” increases, which can lead to the formation of an effective population. At the same time, it is possible to hire people who wish to join the company after having a deep understanding of the company, which is expected to improve the accuracy of matching after joining the company.
Examples of owned media by type
Search type
Features: Strong in SEO, with a steady stream of traffic from searches.
Compatibility with your own media: If you are dealing with products such as beauty products 〇 Typical owned media: LIG blog, Skin Care University, etc.
social media type
Features: You can attract customers via SNS, mainly Facebook.
Compatibility with your own media: If you can create interesting content 〇 Typical owned media: TABILABO, Cybozu style, etc.
brand type
Characteristics: Major BtoC companies are good at it.
Compatibility with own media: Typical owned media established by existing brands: Beauty &Co., etc.
Balanced type
Characteristics: Compatibility with own media whose customer acquisition channels are not concentrated in one place: If used after covering the above three types Typical owned media: Engineer type, FASHION, etc.
Flow of launching owned media
Determining purpose, mission, and resources
The first step in starting your own media is to decide on your “purpose, mission, and resources.” The decisions you make here will form the basis of your own media.
Setting concept targets
Next, we will define more specifically what owned media should be based on the mission of owned media.
By determining the concept of owned media, we will specifically set the target image.
Consider content
We will consider the overall policy of content, specifically what kind of content to post according to the target you have set.
Consideration of site configuration
Decide how the content will be organized within your site.
It is important to make it easy for users to find content, for example by dividing each page into categories and creating a site map.
At the same time, when aiming to attract customers from search engines such as Google, it is necessary to consider SEO.
requirements definition
Define what you have decided so far as the requirements for your website.
This is necessary for sharing with web programmers and web designers.
production development
Based on the requirements definition, web programmers and web designers actually carry out production and development.
Once completed, the phase up to the launch of owned media is complete.
Flow of owned media management
The first step in managing owned media is keyword selection.
Select what keywords (= themes) to create content, and once the keywords are decided, plan the content policy and actually produce the content.
Furthermore, we will create a system for users to become customers (conversion) from the content, measure the effectiveness, and make improvements. Owned media management is basically a repetition of this process.
1. Search for keyword selection needs and decide on a theme↓
2. Think about the content of the planning content↓
3. Content creationActually create content
4. Conversion design Create a system for users to become customers↓
5. Effectiveness Verification Analyze various data to verify effectiveness↓
6. make improvements
Examples of owned media names
When starting up, you need to think of a name for your media.
When considering a name, it is best to choose something catchy that is easy to remember, and something that conveys the content you are sending out.
Below are examples of owned media names for your reference. (I chose only major companies to make it easier to understand)
Company name + α
- Ryohin Research Institute for Living (Ryohin Keikaku)
- Lawson Research Institute (Lawson)
- UNIQLO COMMUNITY
- Sony Select
- CLUB Panasonic
- Starbucks Coffee Blog (Starbucks)
- Meet Recruit
Focus on content theme
- Food Allergy Net (Nippon Ham)
- TRY family column (Daiwa House Engineering)
- FASHION HEADLINE (Mitsukoshi Isetan)
- Health Beauty School (Daiichi Sankyo Healthcare)
- Beauty & Co. (Shiseido)
- TOYOTA DOG Circle (Toyota)
- Emphasis on media concept
- Nichipero (Nikkei Shimbun)
- MONEY PLUS (Money Forward)
- Thinking about future life and money from people in their 50s (Mizuho Bank)
What is the target customer group for owned media?
Disseminating information using owned media is more suitable for appealing to potential customers whose needs have not yet been identified, rather than those who have already decided what they want to buy.
If you prepare high-quality content based on a professional perspective, people or companies who see that information through search, social media, or other means will somehow improve your website or business, even if they don’t make a purchase right away. You may remember the store. The important role of owned media is to first make people aware of the concepts and issues that the services and products the company is trying to achieve and solve.
In addition, awareness alone does not lead to sales, so we need to create a customer journey that envisions the steps that will lead to a purchase (how the customer will go through information and contact points related to the product to finally make the purchase). It may be helpful to adopt the idea of traveling (compared to a journey). In other words, we “nurturing customers” while traveling with them.
After that, ideally, they become loyal customers who make purchases, fans who love the brand and proactively share information, and ambassadors who recommend it to others.
What types of content are there?
There are roughly four possible patterns:
First of all, there are so-called “president’s blogs” where company managers write about their thoughts on business, their thoughts on industry trends, and their opinions on work styles and skill improvement.
The second type is owned media, which converts information related to services into content.
By distributing service utilization information and the latest industry news, we aim to guide people to our own services.
The third is to conduct interviews about service implementation and usage examples and compile them into articles.
The content becomes lively by incorporating real comments from people in charge of companies that have actually introduced the system, as well as photos and videos.
The fourth type is how-to articles that specialize in specific fields, from daily life wisdom to introducing the latest useful tools.
Even if you don’t have a large number of accesses, people who really need the information will visit, making a long-tail content strategy possible.
What kind of human resources are needed to operate owned media?
Let’s take an example of the tasks and roles essential to operating blog media and see how much work and people are required.
First, the editor-in-chief is responsible for editing the overall content, and is responsible for setting the overall direction of the blog, selecting targets, securing and allocating the budget, and coordinating with other departments. Then there is the editor, who coordinates the people involved and optimizes the deliverables according to the plan. Then there are the content creators who write articles, create illustrations, take photos, code, etc., and the access analysis staff who analyze and evaluate access to published content, user behavior, etc.
When we ask various companies how their own media is operated, most of them operate on a small scale of 1 to 5 people, and in many cases they are also working on other jobs. For small and medium-sized businesses, it is difficult to allocate a large budget to content production from the beginning, so it is a good idea to first produce and publish content internally, and then decide whether to outsource it based on the reaction.
Basically, there will be one person in charge of editing, and each department will take turns writing articles, but it is important to be careful not to stop updating. In order to do this, we must create a system to treat tasks as if they were part of our day job, rather than having to do them in our free time. Under the leadership of management, it is important to share within the company the intention to promote the operation of owned media company-wide.
What should I be careful about when using images on the internet when using owned media?
When posting articles on owned media, there are three things to be aware of: moral rights (copyrights), portrait rights, and trademark rights.
When using photos taken or illustrations created by others, be sure to obtain permission to use them or purchase them. When photographing people, be sure to obtain the consent of the person to be photographed. At the same time, please also explain the purpose of use of the photo and the medium in which it will be used. Trademark rights are the right to exclusively use registered trademarks and are part of intellectual property rights. If a product, service, logo, etc. appears in the image, confirmation from the rights holder may be required.
It may seem like a repeat, but please never use a third party’s copyrighted works without their permission or take photos of individuals without their permission. If it does appear in your photo, take steps to process it, and if in doubt, do not publish it. Most of the images sold on stock photo sites are clear of these rights issues, so one option is to consider using such sites.
summary
Even today, when it has become commonplace for companies to own owned media, mainly on their own websites, people often say, “I don’t know how to make money with owned media.” Even if you try to monetize your own media, in most cases it takes a certain amount of time to see results.
However, it is not uncommon to hear stories of people trying to manage their own media but failing, so it is necessary to learn how to use it properly.
In order to utilize owned media for marketing, it is important to take into account branding, recruitment, nurturing, etc.