The document outlines 4 types of content in marketing: organic content that a brand controls like websites and social media; shared content created through social engagement; paid content like advertisements; and earned content from media coverage and word-of-mouth. Each type of content has different advantages, such as organic content allowing brand information discovery, shared content enabling viral reach, paid content providing scalability, and earned content building credibility. Together, these content types form an effective content marketing strategy when used appropriately based on each channel's strengths.

1. 4 TYPES OF
CONTENT
DR. RAVI SINGH

2. •ORGANIC
•SHARED
•PAID
•EARNED
As more marketing teams are exposed to this specific vocabulary
used by Advertising agencies and PR firms, I believe its beneficial to
dive deep into what they bring to the table for content marketing as a
whole.

6. ORGANIC
• Organic Media – Media, content and assets that the brand
controls. Think websites, blogs, and social media accounts.
Brands are increasingly behaving like publishers with editorial
staff managing content creation. “Content Marketing” is new
hot topic when it comes to Organic Media and can facilitate
brand information discovery through search and social
channels. Content engages customers, it’s that simple!

7. • Using free tools provided by each social network to build a
social community and interact with it, sharing posts and
responding to customer comments.
• For example, using Hootsuite or Sendible to schedule and
publish tweets on Twitter is organic. You may pay for a license
to use Hootsuite or Sendible, put there is no charge from
Twitter for publishing your tweets.

8. SHARED
• Shared Media – Brand social web participation and interaction
with consumers via content posted on sites like Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and YouTube that results in content that is
“shared media” since it’s a result of a shared interaction.
Because of the nature of social sharing and engagement on
social media, Shared Media can propagate across an
individual’s network to others, and so on and so on. Paid and
Organic Media can inspire Shared Media. Shared Media can
inspire Earned Media.

9. • Social marketers look for ways to engage groups of people based
on a shared interest/passion. While one-to-one communication is
the presumed “holy grail” of social marketing, the impact and
efficiency of communicating to a wider audience simultaneously is
important to understand.
• Hashtags are a great example. You can create a hashtag for free,
or simply dovetail with an existing hashtag if what you’re
doing/saying is relevant to that audience.
• By using a hashtag for a specific conversation, you can unify all
posts into a searchable thread that helps individuals to be part of
the conversation and follow what others are saying. It also helps
foster new connections, as like-minded people can find each other
based on a shared interest/passion.

10. PAID
• Paid Media – Often thought of as “traditional” online advertising
through display ads, pay per click search ads and sponsorships.
The advantage of paid media is it’s ability to be implemented
pretty much on-demand, the ability to have some degree of
control and also that it is scalable. The growing popularity of
social advertising on sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
and LinkedIn (YouTube as well) adds another option for
marketers to gain presence in channels where consumers and
buyers are spending their valuable time.

11. • Paying to display adverts (whatever the format – text, image, video, carousel etc.) or
sponsored messages to social network users based on user profile e.g. demographic. A
cost is incurred depending on the type of ad planned; for example many ads incur a cost
per click (cpc).
• Research from Crowdtap revealed 64% of 3,000 people surveyed use social to find
inspiration for shopping (up 51% vs. prior year)
• This is driven by retailers targeting consumers with personalized offers and deals on
social networks:
• Nearly half (46%) of social media users are already using social platforms while thinking
about making a purchase.
• 40% of users are actively deciding what to buy based on what they have seen on social
media platforms, including reviews and recommendations, and this is only set to grow.

12. EARNED
• Earned Media – The result of public & media relations efforts to
gain coverage in publications – on and offline. Or essentially,
brand presence within media without having to advertise. This
definition also extends to brands that behave online in such a
way that “customers empowered to publish” create content on
the brand’s behalf inspiring buzz and word of mouth.

13. • Publicity
1. Send out a press release, but make it memorable because it might get
stuffed away with all the other releases that come in.
2. Reach out directly to requests that fit your business. Something like
HARO.com could help in this case.
3. Sponsor an event. Your name will be in headlines, and you might get a
follow-up story. This one might get a little pricey, however.
• SEO
• A good way to think of it is that you have ‘earned’ that spot on the results
page. Sure, you may have done the work to get there. But, you earned that
spot organically, through your hard work.
• Review Sites
• Reviews and testimonials are great for building your credibility.
• Social Media
• Social media works well when used in tandem with paid and owned media.
You may see a brand share a new article from their blog (organic). Then you
might see that brand promote that article (paid). Now all of a sudden, you’ll
see multiple people sharing the post (earned).
• Word of Mouth
• The referrals coming in from customers sharing your business are earned!

14. FINAL THOUGHTS
• Online Marketing is not a “one size fits all” type of situation. You may
start off with one channel in focus, before taking on others. At the
same time, don’t be afraid to take some time mastering one channel
before adding on new marketing channels. Each channel can have its
advantages and disadvantages.
• Adapting along the way will help you get a clear picture of what
successful results can look like. You may learn that you need to cut
losses at some point or scrap the whole thing to start new

15. THANK YOU!
Dr. Ravi Singh
#DrRavi
#DrSocialMedia