
You may hear these words a lot in social media. It conjures up real estate, I know. We are talking about different playgrounds in which your audience lives and your digital and social media marketing activity efforts inevitably fall into.
The reason why it’s important to understand their meanings is so you don’t fall into the trap of putting all your marketing efforts into areas that you have limited control over. In saying that, each owned, earned, rented, free, shared and paid space are not mutually exclusive nor independent. All will find a happy home within your marketing mix.
Real estate is probably a great metaphor.
A smart investor wouldn’t spend all their time and money into a rented property that the landlord could sell beneath their feet, or put the rent up, or paint bright magenta, or decide to change the rules with little or no warning.
In more detail, let me try to explain them all, in no particular order.