Do you know the difference between online earned media and online paid media? Social media expert, Kipp Bodnar, publisher of SocialMediaB2B.com, does.

With earned social media, you have no control, but for online paid media, because you are paying, you have total control. Here’s an example of earned social media: you tweet a link to a web page on Twitter for your company’s site and someone retweets it—and, remember, you have no control over the retweet—resulting in their followers discovering your website.

Kipp recently published some benefits of earned media for B2B companies. A few highlights:

Mappable word-of-mouth – Paid media can do this, too, but it’s difficult to measure. Web conversations, on the other hand, are both viewable and measurable.

Conversions – Social media is a frequently a great sales tool, which often means a higher conversion rate vs. paid media.

Traffic searchability – People can easily find you and your products.

Permanence – Online lasts forever, which makes you and your product available permanently for someone to discover.

For more suggestions, read Social Media Earned Media.

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