For an industry that prides itself on producting content and campaigns that are easy for people to understand, social media marketing still has its share of jargon.
The difference between paid, earned and owned media stumped me for the longest time, so I thought I would lay out a a simple explanation:
Paid Media: Positive publicity gained through paid advertising
Earned Media: Positive publicity gained through promotional efforts other than advertising
Owned Media: Promotion channels that you control, such as your website, Facebook Page and Twitter account.
Below is a great infographic from the view from here that gives examples that makes it easy to understand the difference between paid, earned and owned media: