In the competitive world of content marketing, brands are constantly vying to capture the attention of their target audience. They use various tactics such as creating content, running ads, and hoping to go viral. However, marketers often overlook earned media value (EMV) amid paid promotions and strategic social media posts:  It's the currency of word-of-mouth, the applause of the online crowd, and it can be compelling.

What Is Earned Media Value (EMV)?

So, what exactly is EMV? Simply stated, it's the estimated value of the exposure your brand receives through unpaid mentions by third parties. These mentions could be anything from a glowing review on a blog to a customer's enthusiastic tweet about your new product. Unlike paid advertising, where you spend for guaranteed placement, EMV hinges on organic engagement. It's the magic that happens when your content resonates so profoundly that people can't help but share it.

Why is EMV a Big Deal?

Earned media value is an essential calculation for a few reasons:

• Trust factor: People trust recommendations from friends and influencers far more than traditional ads. Earned media taps into this inherent trust, giving your brand a powerful credibility boost.
• Reach beyond your bubble: Paid ads might reach a targeted audience, but EMV has the potential to go viral, spreading your message exponentially through organic shares and conversations.
• Cost-effective clout: EMV doesn't have a direct price tag, unlike paid advertising. While you might invest in creating great content or engaging influencers, the subsequent mentions and buzz come at no additional cost.
• Brand loyalty amplifier: Positive earned media fosters community and belonging around your brand, turning customers into loyal advocates.

How Is Earned Media Value Calculated

Now, calculating EMV isn't an exact science. There are various methods, each with their own merits and limitations. Some common approaches include:

• Social media value: Assigning a value based on the reach and engagement of earned mentions on social media platforms.
• Advertising equivalent: Estimating the cost of reaching the same audience through paid advertising (as in the example below).
• Influencer rates: Using established influencer pricing models to value mentions from prominent figures.

EMV Example

Here's an earned media value example using the Advertising Equivalent method:

Imagine a fashion brand receiving a positive review from a famous fashion blogger with 500,000 followers. The review generates 10,000 engagements (likes, comments, shares).

1. Determine the average cost per engagement (CPE) for paid social media ads in your industry. Let's assume the average CPE is $0.50 in this case.
2. Multiply the number of engagements by the CPE. EMV = 10,000 engagements x $0.50 CPE = $5,000

This calculation suggests that the brand received the equivalent of $5,000 worth of advertising exposure from this single earned media mention. Keep in mind that this is a simplified example.

Ultimately, the actual value of EMV goes beyond mere numbers. It's about understanding your content's impact on people's perceptions and behaviors. A positive review might not translate directly to sales but can build trust and pave the way for future conversions.

Increasing EMV

The following are four ways brands can increase their earned media value:

• Create high-quality, shareable content: Focus on content that resonates with your target audience and sparks genuine interest.
• Engage with your community: Respond to comments, answer questions, and participate in conversations.
• Build relationships with influencers: Collaborate with relevant figures in your niche to reach a wider audience.
• Track and analyze your results: Monitor your EMV over time and use the insights to refine your strategy.

Remember, earned media is a powerful tool but not a magic bullet. Focus on creating genuine value for your audience; positive mentions will follow. Let your content be the spark that ignites organic conversations, and watch your brand shine in the light of earned media.

In a world saturated with marketing messages, earned media value is a testament to the power of authentic connections and the enduring value of great content. So, go forth, create, engage, and let your brand story be told, not just by you but by your loyal advocates and brand ambassadors. Enjoy this article? Subscribe to Internet Marketing News and get more great content delivered to your inbox.

The digital world is talking, but is your business listening? Voice search, once a sci-fi fantasy, is now becoming mainstream. According to a recent report by Statista, 46% of Americans already use voice assistants daily, which is expected to reach 55% by 2025. This shift in search behavior presents a unique opportunity for businesses to capture leads in the age of conversational AI. So how can you optimize your online strategy for the rise of voice search?

Understanding the Voice Search Mindset

Voice searchers are on a mission. They're often multitasking, juggling chores or activities while seeking information. This means they use natural language, asking questions in a conversational tone. They're looking for immediate answers, often phrased as long-tail keywords like "best vegan restaurants near me" or "how to fix a leaky faucet."

Optimizing Your Content for Voice Search

• Embrace long-tail keywords: Research and target the conversational phrases your audience is likely to use when searching by voice. Tools like Google Trends and AnswerThePublic can help you identify these queries.
• Focus on local SEO: Voice searchers often have a specific location in mind, so optimize your website and online listings for local search. Claim your Google My Business profile and ensure your address and contact information are accurate. In fact, 72% of users say they "often" or "always" use voice search to find local businesses, according to Google.
• Structure your content for questions: Answer potential questions your audience might ask directly on your website, using headers and subheadings for easy navigation. Consider creating FAQ pages and Q&A blog posts.
• Make your website easy to navigate: Voice search is all about convenience, so make sure your website is easy to navigate and answers users' questions clearly.
• Write naturally: Don't stuff your content with keywords; write casually as you would speak to a friend. This will make your website more engaging and easier for voice assistants to understand.
• Optimize for mobile: Most voice searches happen on mobile devices, so ensure your website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly.

Beyond Keywords: The Power of Conversation:

Voice search is more than just keywords. It's about understanding user intent and providing the most relevant and helpful information. This requires businesses to think beyond traditional SEO and embrace conversational AI. Consider implementing chatbots on your website or social media platforms to engage with voice searchers directly. Invest in voice-enabled marketing campaigns that utilize smart speakers and voice assistants.

The Future of Lead Generation with Voice Search

As voice search continues to grow, it will become an essential part of the lead generation conversation. So, by optimizing your content and embracing conversational AI, you can ensure your business is ready to capture LiveLeads in this exciting new era. Remember, the future of search is not just about keywords; it's about speaking with intent. When someone asks a question and your website delivers the answer, you'll be well on your way to success.

Amid the buzz surrounding artificial intelligence, another technological revolution is quietly gaining momentum – augmented reality (AR). While AR may not yet be as widely recognized as AI, its potential to transform how brands interact with consumers is undeniable. Here's a comprehensive overview of how marketers leverage AR to enhance their strategies and establish deeper connections with their target audience.

What is AR?

AR seamlessly blends the real world with digital elements, creating an interactive and immersive user experience. AR overlays digital information onto the real world, allowing users to simultaneously interact with both a virtual and physical universe.

AR in Marketing: A Paradigm Shift

AR is poised to revolutionize the marketing landscape by offering many innovative opportunities for brands to engage with consumers. Here are some ways marketers are already utilizing AR to enhance their digital strategies:

Virtual Try-On Experiences: AR will enable consumers to virtually try on products, ranging from cosmetics and eyewear to furniture and home décor, before purchasing. These virtual experiences will enhance the shopping experience, reduce returns, and increase customer satisfaction.

Enhanced Product Visualization: AR will allow brands to showcase their products in real-world settings, providing a more realistic and immersive experience for potential customers. For instance, furniture companies can use AR to visualize how a particular sofa would look in a customer's living room.

Interactive Storytelling and Gamification: AR will enable brands to create interactive stories and games that engage consumers and deepen their brand connection. For example, a fashion brand could use AR to create a virtual fashion show where customers can interact with the models and explore the collection.

Location-Based Marketing: AR is transforming the way brands connect with customers in physical locations. Imagine entering a store and scanning a product display for additional information, discounts, or personalized recommendations. AR can also create interactive personal tours, enhancing the overall consumer experience.

Augmented Reality Marketing Campaigns: AR will revolutionize digital marketing campaigns by creating interactive and immersive experiences that capture consumer attention and generate buzz. Brands can use AR to create pop-up virtual stores, interactive billboards, and augmented reality games.

AR Innovation in The Real World

Brands worldwide are embracing AR, pioneering innovative marketing strategies that capture consumer attention and redefine brand interactions. Let's delve into a few inspiring examples:

• IKEA Place App: IKEA's Place app allows customers to virtually place furniture in their homes, providing a realistic simulation of how pieces would look and fit. This immersive experience has revolutionized the furniture shopping experience, boosting customer confidence and driving sales.

• Sephora Virtual Artist: Sephora's Virtual Artist app transforms the beauty shopping experience into an interactive game. Customers can virtually apply makeup, try different hairstyles, and receive personalized recommendations, creating a fun and engaging experience that drives brand engagement.

• Snapchat AR Lenses: Snapchat's AR lenses have become a cultural phenomenon, allowing users to transform themselves into characters, apply virtual filters, and share their experiences with friends. Brands leverage this platform to create interactive marketing campaigns that generate buzz and drive brand awareness.

A Glimpse into the Future of Brand Interaction

As AR technology evolves and becomes more accessible, its impact on marketing will only grow. With its world of possibilities, AR will become an integral piece of the marketing toolkit, enabling brands to create more engaging, personalized, and memorable consumer experiences.

Recent years have made huge strides when it comes to natural language processing. This, coupled with significant developments in language models and AI, has led to massive creations such as chatGPT, which have taken the marketing world by storm.

While many are using similar tools to generate all manner of content, the truth is that most of these AIs have a long way to go. For example, it only takes a bit of effort to notice whether or not a natural person or a machine wrote the content.

Generic & Biased Content

When writing this article, for instance, artificial intelligence (AI) can only make generic lines and statements. While it can quickly fill entire pages with content, most, if not all, of it will be universal statements that are hard to deny. Dependent on the model that creates it, content generation is a simple formula that offers a universal answer instead of one that is opinion based.

This translates not just to the content but to the writing style. AI will often repeat many words, phrases, and sentences. When complete, the content eventually starts to look generically the same.

On the topic of opinion, this also circles back to the model of AI. Since it bases the content on preexisting templates, an AI engine can have a built-in bias towards or against a particular topic. Yet, it may also provide the same generic answer to others on a similar subject with no flavor or alternate viewpoint.

Emotionless & Unimaginative

On the topic of being flavorless, all the generic phrases and similar sentences can easily make the content look bland, uninspiring, and boring. But on the other hand, humans tend to bring a lot of emotion into whatever they do, which can often be visible in their work.

"AIs tend to lack human ingenuity. Instead, focusing on speed. It saves time, increases efficiency, and satisfies the user with an answer, no matter how boring it may be."

Humans can put their heart and soul into their work, which resonates with their writing style and content. This engages readers with whatever they are reading and invokes emotion. However, as mentioned above, an AI will get information from its database and present it to you. It is the main reason why most AI content is dry and uninteresting.

AI Content May Generate Legal Issues

Pursuing knowledge is a noble journey, but one must consider the source of the content, both from an educational and legal perspective. Recently, many people have gotten their information straight from AI generators.

Most of this information has been labeled wrong entirely, and people have even begun to wonder where the AI received this information. As a result, AIs will always need help with content dependent on numbers and figures.

It occurs because most of the information pool it takes from other content around the Internet may be outdated or inaccurate. Other times, it will attempt to warp information to suit your question. Furthermore, most AI tools will keep the source of the content private. So, you can't be sure that the AI's information is even accurate. There may also be copyright issues when you are not the original author and do not own the rights to the published material.

Final Thoughts!

Many people, especially content writers, fear AI will put them out of a job. However, this is different from where AI is today. Regardless of how fast and efficiently an AI engine can churn out content, it will always need a human being to add emotion and confirm the credibility of its content. That's why there are no chatbots here at IntelliReach.Social. Just us humans! Our clients can always count on our talented content team to produce high-quality, original content for their digital marketing campaigns.