Earned media (as opposed to paid media) are brand exposures that accrue for reasons other than paid advertising. Public relations, word of mouth, customer reviews, and social media engagement are the most prominent forms of earned media. Earned media happens organically as customers respond to a brand and its efforts.

When ads are purchased on a social platform (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), this is considered paid media. But when consumers engage with a brand in some way—sharing a link, talking about the brand, reading a tweet—this falls into earned media. As such, some of our benchmarking data on Facebook and Instagram falls under our definition of paid advertising, while other key benchmarking metrics on these platforms fall in earned media.