Earned media is any publicity you’ve received through word-of-mouth or through external sources: press mentions, quotes in articles, positive reviews and so on. Owned media is your own channels: your social media account, website and blog. Paid media is any way of promoting your company that costs you money directly: paid social, paid search, display ads, etc. All of these types of media are important, but paid media has a few advantages, including the ability to target precise audiences and directly measure the ROI of your campaigns.

One of the biggest advantages of paid media is data. In fact, there’s so much data, it can be overwhelming. You’ll want to track:

• CPC (cost per click): What you pay for each click on one of your ads
• CTR (click-through rate): How many people click on your ads measured against the number of impressions
• CVR (conversion rate): How many people don’t just click your ad, but follow through on the action you want them to take (download, form fill, etc.)
• CPA (cost per action): How much you ultimately pay for each conversion

To run a successful paid media campaign, you need to start with your budget and your goal and work backwards to determine the metrics you will measure and your strategy to get there. You also need a clearly defined target audience: Who are your most valuable customers? Who will provide the most ROI for your campaign? While paid media testing allows you to optimize campaigns, starting with as much data as possible helps you get there faster.

The great thing about all the data that goes into (and comes out of) paid media is that you can use it to optimize your campaigns. But from keywords to position bid testing to devices and channels, there are a lot of areas to think about. Many businesses are making costly paid media mistakes – and they don’t even know it. Experts like those at BusinessOnline can help ensure your campaigns are as efficient and effective as possible, saving you money in the long-term.