Digital Lexicon Hub

Publicity, mentions, links or exposure gained through third-party editorial attention, recommendation or sharing rather than purchased placement.

Earned coverage builds credibility because a third party chose to mention the brand, and it can reach audiences and create links that paid placements cannot easily buy.

A B2B software company releases original survey data from 1,500 buyers, briefs ten industry journalists, and tracks the resulting articles, backlinks, referral traffic and branded search volume over the next 60 days.

Earned media is hard to control, predict or attribute, and coverage can be negative. Metrics like advertising value equivalency are widely criticized, so outcomes are better tracked through reach, message pickup, links and downstream behavior.

Earned media is one part of the paid, owned, earned and shared media model. It comes from press coverage, reviews, social mentions, analyst reports and organic shares. Teams generate it through PR outreach, research, events and community work, and measure it with media monitoring tools that track mentions, reach, sentiment, share of voice and resulting traffic.