“I didn’t know” is almost always the feedback I get from professionals and leaders about effective digital communications. So it was no surprise when Tina, a manager at a social enterprise in Freetown, said the same to me in Seattle last week. 

Everyone knows a website is a business necessity. And it is also generally accepted now that social media is a powerful tool for audience engagement (even if messages, channels, and content are still confusing). The one big mistake I see brands and organizations make is limiting their digital marketing to social media. Your social media page is just a media channel that you own.

Digital marketing is the total of all possible online communications activities you make. Yes, your website and social media are excellent, but digital marketing is more than that. Many professionals, like Tina, don't have the time, expertise, or resources to get the most out of their digital channels.

The more people get online, the wider the knowledge gap on digital marketing. But if you can get it right, digital marketing can make it easier for audiences to find you, build trust, and improve engagement.

Below is a breakdown of the three types of digital marketing that everyone needs to promote campaigns, projects, and brands effectively.

Digital Marketing is Owned Media + Earned Media and Paid Media.

• Owned Media is the content you create on your website, blog, social media, YouTube channel, etc. You are reading this blog post on one of my owned media channels.

• Earned Media is everything others might post or publish about you. Examples include an unsolicited review message or endorsement, unpaid influencers, customer-generated content (how-to-videos), guest posts, media mentions and interviews, reshares, etc. 

• Paid Media is advertising, influencers, remarketing (email ads to people who visit your website), and retargeting ads (ads sent to people who visit your website while on other websites or apps. If you’ve closed a website and opened Facebook only to see an advert for the website you just left, you’ve seen a retargeted ad. 

Depending on the size of your organization or its marketing budget, paid media may be out of reach. If that’s the case, you can still use owned media to get earned media. A fantastic picture, a fascinating video, or an entertaining blog post can go viral, start a new trend, get an interview with international news agencies or get you trending on Twitter.

Digital marketing will continue to shape how organizations communicate. One thing to remember is that there is no one-size-fits-all—but the winning digital media formula  is a mix of owned, earned, and paid media (even when your budget is tight)