Shared media and the PESO ® framework

Last updated on May 6th, 2025 at 12:47 pm

What is the PESO® Model?

The PESO Model® is a comprehensive framework designed to help marketing professionals integrate all aspects of their marketing efforts into a cohesive strategy.

Created by Gini Dietrich, author of Spin Sucks, it organises PR and marketing activities into four media types: paid, earned, shared, and owned media.

By segmenting these channels, marketing and PR professionals can better understand the various strands of their campaigns and activity and how they cross over and interconnect. This helps to create cohesive and well-rounded communication strategies.

To get the full picture, be sure to read our previous blogs in the series on earned and owned, as well as a general introduction to the PESO® and how it can help your business or client.

Here, we’ll explore the concepts and strategies behind shared media; looking at what makes it a crucial part of public relations and marketing, why it shouldn’t be ignored and how businesses can maximise their shared media.

What is shared media?

Shared media includes social media followers, user-generated content, and other shared platforms.

Essentially shared media relates to any channel or output that is not directly within you sphere of control. By leveraging the unique benefits of each channel, marketing professionals can craft a strategy that maximises their reach and impact.

This is a pivotal piece of the PR puzzle.

Shared media can refer to content creation and content marketing which is subsequently shared via third-party platforms.

All shared media originates as owned media assets, and while it is a commonly used term in social media marketing circles, it can actually go beyond this and can impact your business’s communication channels in a lot of ways.

The most common occurrences and examples of this are:

Social media activity

Social media is, inherently, a shared media platform. It technically cannot be classed as an owned media tactic, even though the content you produce is your own, the social channel itself is not directly within your control.

Social content is one of the most valuable tools at your disposal. It is your direct channel straight to your audience; the place where you can engage, entertain and focus on building brand loyalty through marketing communications.

Your social content can directly correlate to your brand’s success.

In the broad media landscape, social media is where you have the most to gain and to lose.

Partnerships and sponsorships

Partnership and sponsorship activity can also sit within the shared media framework.

This kind of activity will vary depending on factors such as sector and vertical, budget and overall goals. To succeed here, it’s all about choosing the right media partners and the right activation tactics.

Creating effective partnerships and sponsorships is about developing and activating all manner of threads, from social, editorial and advertorial, marcomms activities like mailers through to event through to events and more. The sky really is the limit.

This is where we also see overlaps with other parts of the PESO® Model, as these elements can overlap and interlink with paid and owned media.

Ultimately, this is about setting out your stall within your sector. If you want to be seen as a leader in your field, then you’ll need to consider the role that partnerships and sponsorships play in achieving that.

Influencer engagement

Influencer engagement is another big part of shared media.

Social media influencers play a crucial role in modern public relations and marketing strategies, as PR professionals now pitch not only to journalists but also to these influencers who have significant followings, enhancing brand credibility and audience engagement.

It’s a term that can sometimes get lost in translation. When we hear about influencers, many of us have been primed to think of a certain type of person or marketing activity. It’s become so entrenched in certain consumer PR efforts that it’s easy to lose sight of the reality that influencers don’t solely exist to sell you supplements or activewear.

An influencer, quite simply, is anyone with the platform, experience and expertise to influence the decision-making processes of others.

That could be on Instagram, it could be on TikTok, but it could also be on LinkedIn too. There is a large overlap between paid and earned media here also, but easily definable. If your influencer engagement activity is unpaid, it is therefore organic and earned.

But if it is part of a paid media campaign or partnership, then it falls under the paid category, as well as shared.

Making the most out of shared media

The reason why shared media is so important is amplification and third-party endorsement.

Shared media can overlap with owned media, in the sense that content you have already created can be given new life and pushed out to broader audiences.

Content marketing can also be exclusively shared if you’re creating partner-specific exclusive content. This is an advisable move, as in the broader context of PR and media relations, if you can offer something unique and different, can give you an advantage.

This kind of boosted content is great for raising brand awareness as it comes with the kudos of external validation.

Native advertising plays a crucial role in driving traffic and brand awareness through shared media by integrating seamlessly with editorial content, making it more subtle and relevant to the audience.

But it can be all too easy to create content and spend a lot of time and energy on shared strategies, only to yield poor results. Understanding the framework as one holistic aspect is the key to finding success within the individual aspects of the PESO® Model.

Knowing your targets

This is one of the most important aspects of shared media.

Just one share, from the right target to an appropriate audience of readers or social media followers, can be far more valuable than 20 shares from less relevant individuals or outlets.

Picking the right target audience and engaging those within it with relevant and meaningful content, is key. You’re never going to generate leads and build brand awareness if your shared content is falling on deaf ears.

Give people a reason to share user-generated content

Is the content you are sharing relevant to the target audience? Is your own content engaging and interesting enough for it to be shared and re-shared?

If you’re finding your shared content isn’t hitting home as hard as you’d like, then it’s time to assess the quality and relevance of your content creation.

Nurture communities

The most successful businesses on social media know which communities they belong to and actively engage in them. They understand that these relationships aren’t one-way, and they maintain positive relations with individual contacts and communities at all times. So that, when the time comes that an outlet or influencer needs to be.

It isn’t all online

Shared media success isn’t an entirely online thing. Never forget that the people behind these social media and traditional media outlets are real people.

Engaging with them in an offline capacity will allow you to build stronger relationships. So, come the time when you’re ready to promote something new to your existing or new audiences, you’ll have a bank of good contacts to lean into.

Temper your expectations: not every post is going to be a shareable sensation, and it’s next to impossible to guarantee a viral post. While you can have content that’s created specifically to be shareable, and you can call upon your trusted contacts and partners to share any given piece of content, once that content is out in the world

Be a thought leader in influencer marketing

LinkedIn is a hotbed for content, both shared and owned alike. Positioning key individuals within your business as thought leaders can really boost your brand profile and your expertise on key subject matters, helping achieve your business goals.

Consider how you can leverage thought leader content within your business, either in the form of white papers, webinars, video content or long-form posts.

Don’t just focus on one channel

There are many shared media channels, and you should focus on the ones that are relevant to your business and services.

It doesn’t mean that you need to be engaging in every single social media outlet under the sun.

Take the time to research your market and landscape, find out which channels your existing customers are using and any channels you should be using to break into new markets and find new customers.

Measuring success with the PESO® Model

Use metrics such as website traffic, social media engagement, and media coverage to gauge the effectiveness of each channel. Additionally, track conversion rates and return on investment (ROI) to assess the overall success of your marketing strategy.

A combination of quantitative and qualitative metrics provides a well-rounded view of your performance. Quantitative metrics, like website traffic and social media engagement, offer insights into the reach and engagement of your content.

Qualitative metrics, such as media coverage and influencer partnerships, help you understand the credibility and thought leadership your brand has achieved.

By leveraging both types of metrics, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of your marketing strategy’s effectiveness and make data-driven decisions to optimise your efforts.

This holistic approach ensures that you can continuously improve and adapt your strategy to achieve your business goals.

Final thoughts

The PESO® Model takes the four concepts of paid, earned, shared, and owned media and combines them into one holistic PR, media, and digital marketing approach.

With an understanding of how these aspects work individually and in conjunction with one another, businesses can enhance their content strategy, increase lead generation, improve their brand awareness and raise the overall prospects of their business and brand.

Search engine optimisation plays a crucial role in enhancing brand authority and improving content rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).

The reason why businesses choose to engage with a PR agency on these matters is due to familiarity with the model and a pre-existing understanding and working knowledge of how the PESO marketing model works.

With a PR partner, you gain insight and experience into a vast landscape of social media sites and various media outlets. You not only gain this professional, expert insight, but you also gain the knowledge and experience of how to separate the relevant from the irrelevant, focus on what is important for you and develop the best strategy for your business.

A PR partner can be a powerful tool for success.

If you’d like to find out more about how you can maximise your owned media channels and engage with like-minded industry leaders across different platforms while bringing your digital marketing strategies and social media campaigns in line with the PESO® model, then contact us to set up a call.