The Power of Owned Media in an Era of Social Media Uncertainty

First Meta’s platforms went down for two hours in December 2024. Then X experienced a series of outages in March 2025, only for Facebook and Instagram to go dark again two weeks later.

Every time, public relations professionals with important announcements were left with their hands in their hair. 😤 At least a handful of them probably considered using carrier pigeons or smoke signals to get their messages out. 

Savvy brands and PR teams view the latest disruptions as another reminder to invest in diverse communication channels. (BTW, did you see Elon is selling X to his AI company?)

In fact, wise PR professionals already invest their energy in their brand’s owned channels, helping them sidestep the unpredictability of platform outages, algorithm shifts, user boycotts, and the whims of the world’s richest people.

Owned Media—Home of Great Content

“What is owned media?” you might wonder. 

Let’s quickly review the “O” in author and PR agency owner Gini Dietrich’s PESO model and why it's so important for your content strategy.

Here’s the definition in our handy dictionary covering all things PR:

“Owned media is the content you own that lives on your website or blog. It’s important to mention that channels like Medium and LinkedIn Pulse are not owned media, since you’re publishing on someone else’s domain (and therefore building their domain authority!). You can use these platforms as outlets, but they’re not considered ‘owned’ media if you don’t have ownership over the channel. They are part of your shared media strategy.”

Owned media goes beyond blog posts or a website. It also includes content marketing efforts such as brand journalism, internal communications, newsletters, email marketing, and materials shared within physical spaces, like in-store displays or brand-specific apps. Thoughtful integration of email lists into your owned media strategy enhances your reach by nurturing direct customer relationships.

Dietrich introduced the PESO model to the world in 2014 (take a good look ☝️) and continually revisits it to ensure it stays relevant in our blink-and-you’ll-be-left-behind times. 

Here’s how she described the current aim of owned media in a recent update:

“Owned media in 2024 doesn’t look much different than content in 2023 or previous to that. The goal remains to create the best content on the internet for your topic. If you do that, it won’t matter what artificial intelligence brings to your workday, what changes Google makes, if a social media channel dies (please let it be Twitter), or if your subject matter expert leaves the company.”

Winning at owned media still requires staying laser-focused on your target audience and their interests, wasting no time identifying and filling content gaps, and making your original content contributions shine in a sea of mediocrity.

The Brand-Boosting Power of Owned Media

Third-party platforms like Meta and X dictate how content is displayed and distributed, prioritizing their algorithms and objectives over your brand’s goals. Your social media posts' reach, engagement, and other metrics can plummet when, for example, a platform’s policies change or there’s an algorithm update. 

By contrast, your owned media channels give you complete control over how and when you communicate with your target audience. Additionally, your materials remain consistently accessible.

Other benefits of prioritizing owned media include:

1. Cost efficiencies: While creating high-quality owned media requires an upfront investment in resources and talent, it’s free to distribute your content once created. This makes owned media more cost-effective than paid media, which requires ongoing financial input for visibility. The truth is: To grab your audience’s attention on third-party platforms, you have to pay to play. 

1. Data ownership and insights: Owned media provides direct access to valuable customer data and insights, enabling you to analyze user behavior without relying on third-party tools or platforms.

   Interactions on third-party platforms often live within “walled gardens,” meaning brands lose access to critical customer data that could improve personalization and strategy. Additionally, these platforms are vulnerable to data breaches that could harm a brand’s reputation.

1. Long-term value: Investments in owned media can help you build long-term assets for your brand, such as a library of blog posts that can attract organic traffic through SEO or, in the age of AI, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). These assets can help you establish authority in your industry and continue to generate value over time without additional costs.

1. Seamless integration across channels: Owned media serves as the foundation for amplifying your digital PR efforts across paid, earned, and shared channels within the PESO model. For example, valuable content published on a website can be promoted via paid social media ads or shared on social media platforms while driving organic traffic back to high-converting landing pages.

In summary, owned media is a hedge against the risk of data breaches, dependency on external algorithms, or sudden changes in platform policies that could negatively impact your brand’s visibility or operations.

A Word of Caution

For all its benefits, be mindful of the limitations and challenges associated with owned media, including:

• Limited reach: Brands often struggle to reach new audiences and potential customers without amplification through paid or earned channels. Even when repurposing compelling content for social media platforms, the impact can remain constrained.
• Resource intensity: Though owned media content offers long-term value and is economical to host, developing high-quality content consistently requires significant time, manpower, and technical expertise.
• Difficulty in measuring ROI: Measuring your owned media’s direct impact and return on investment can be challenging compared to paid or earned media. For example, paid media makes it possible to easily track metrics like cost-per-click (CPC) or return on ad spend (ROAS). In contrast, owned media relies on broader metrics such as website traffic, email open rates, and conversion rates. 

AI + Expertise + Experience = A Recipe for Success

In the age of AI, brands and PR pros must shift gears to achieve success in the owned media arena, Dietrich cautions. Since generative AI tools service consumers’ need for quick answers and corner surface-level search traffic, your owned media assets need to be a destination for depth and expertise. Here's how to optimize your content for search engines and LLMs.

“The key differentiator won’t be whether you use AI, but how effectively you use it to amplify human insights,” writes Dietrich. “The winning strategy isn’t to compete with AI but to create content it wants to reference and direct users toward.”

After all, the Google algorithm explicitly favors pages offering experience and expertise (the first two letters of the E-E-A-T acronym). Let this be front and center in the owned media content you create. Think original analysis, data deep dives, and high-value creative commentary.  

Use AI to track your audience’s changing needs and identify angles you might have missed otherwise. Also, stay on top of trends and hot content topics with AI’s help, and add your brand’s thought-leading perspectives to pack a punch.

Powering Owned Content with a Dedicated Newsroom

At PR.co, we’re partial to housing owned content in a beautifully designed newsroom that reflects your branding and style. This newsroom provides a central home for all your media releases, announcements, and media coverage, simplifying access for journalists, analysts, and other industry professionals.

Additionally, your PR.co-driven newsroom enhances credibility by promoting transparency and delivering a unified voice that resonates with your audience. Most importantly, it enables you to craft your narrative independently without relying on unpredictable algorithms or the risk of platform outages.

As the media landscape evolves, it is essential to prioritize long-term communication tools like a branded newsroom over the fleeting appeal of new platforms. This approach ensures stability and, more importantly, empowers your brand to take control of the conversation.

Keen to see examples of newsrooms that do the heavy lifting in the owned media domain? Book a PR.co demo.