For years, marketers have classified brand channels into three neat categories: paid, owned, and earned media. Paid is obvious: you buy reach. Owned is what you control: your website, newsletter, or app. And earned? That’s when others talk about you.
But there’s one channel that’s consistently miscategorized: social media. Just because you control what you post doesn’t mean you own it.
In 2014, communications strategist Gini Dietrich introduced the PESO model—Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned—to capture the full spectrum of how brands reach and engage audiences. But more than a decade later, many marketers and communicators still treat social media as “owned.”
This post isn’t about reinventing the wheel—it’s about doubling down on the “S” in PESO: shared media. As algorithms, recommendation engines, and generative AI increasingly dictate visibility, understanding how to engage within shared environments is now a core competency, not a nice-to-have.
Why social isn’t owned media
You might manage your brand’s Instagram feed, LinkedIn page, or TikTok presence. You can write the captions, approve the videos, even schedule them for the month ahead. But at the end of the day, your content lives on someone else’s property, governed by opaque algorithms, surrounded by competing voices, and subject to constant public input.
Think about it:
- Your reach isn’t guaranteed. Algorithm shifts can cut your impressions in half overnight.
- Your message isn’t contained. Anyone can comment, remix, or critique your content in real time.
- Your platform isn’t permanent. Remember Vine? Or when Facebook organic reach hit zero?
This isn’t ownership. It’s participation. That’s why social media belongs to a fourth category: shared media. It’s where brands and audiences co-create visibility and meaning, in real time and in public.
As PRSA puts it, shared media “exists where audiences and brands meet, interact, and amplify one another.” It’s collaborative, not controlled, and your strategy should reflect that.
The implications: What shared media means for your brand
If social isn’t owned, your strategy has to change. You can’t treat it like a broadcast channel for news, announcements, or one-direction communication. You have to earn attention every day, respond in real time, and work with the grain of the platform instead of against it.
Here’s what that looks like in practice.
1. You’re Competing in the Infinite Scroll
Owned media lives in a vacuum. When someone lands on your website or opens your newsletter, they’ve already opted in. You have their full attention. Social media is different. Every post competes with thousands of others in an endless feed, from creators, competitors, and friends.
That means the first few seconds matter more than ever.
- Hook the viewer immediately—visually, emotionally, or intellectually.
- Lead with motion, surprise, or empathy.
- Don’t bury your value proposition halfway through the caption.
Think of your post as a billboard on a highway, not a brochure in a lobby.
2. Community management = content strategy
In owned media, publishing is the end. In shared media, it’s the beginning.
Comments, DMs, duets, stitches, quote-posts, they’re all part of your brand narrative. Ignoring them is like airing a commercial and walking out before the focus group starts talking.
Community management isn’t just customer service; it’s brand voice in action.
- Reply to comments with wit or empathy.
- Encourage user contributions (and credit them).
- Turn criticism into insight.
According to Sprout Social’s 2024 Index, 71% of consumers say they’re more likely to buy from a brand after a positive social interaction. The conversation is the conversion.
3. Play by the platform’s rules and its culture
Every platform has its own culture and grammar. What works on LinkedIn won’t work on TikTok. What resonates on Threads won’t translate to YouTube Shorts. Respecting that nuance isn’t optional; it’s how you earn authenticity.
- Use native formats: Reels, carousels, polls, duets.
- Follow platform-specific storytelling arcs.
- Engage in trending conversations, but only where your brand voice fits naturally.
Your website is your brand’s home. Social platforms are rented stages. Show up like a guest who understands the house rules.
As Molly Soloff, Orchestra’s Senior Vice President of Influencer Marketing, notes in her piece on Reddit and authentic community building, the strongest social strategies don’t just publish content—they participate in culture. When brands respect the nuances of each platform’s community, they gain legitimacy and lasting influence.
4. Shared media demands shared effort
Because you don’t control the context, success on social depends on constant adaptation. You can’t “set it and forget it,” and yearly strategy resets aren’t enough. Social algorithms evolve weekly. User expectations shift daily. Platform features change overnight.
That means brands need to:
- Stay informed. Follow platform updates, creator economy reports, and social algorithm analysis.
- Experiment constantly. Test new formats before competitors do.
- Measure meaningfully. Go beyond vanity metrics—look at engagement quality and tone, not just volume. Track the ratio of positive to neutral interactions, identify which topics or formats spark authentic conversation, and analyze audience sentiment over time. Tools like Sprout Social and Brandwatch can quantify this, but the real insight comes from interpreting why people engage the way they do.
At Orchestra, we often remind clients: You can’t buy influence; you have to earn it. Nowhere is that truer than in shared media.
The payoff: Why this perspective matters
When you stop thinking of social as owned and start thinking of it as shared, your strategy naturally becomes more audience-centric and agile.
You’ll stop measuring success by how much you publish, and start measuring it by how much you connect. You’ll think less about “posting calendars” and more about “participation patterns.” And you’ll see your community not as followers, but as collaborators.
The brands winning on social right now—from Duolingo to Liquid Death to e.l.f. Cosmetics—all treat their audiences as part of the story. Their feeds don’t look like owned media; they look like ecosystems.
And here’s a key piece: shared media is crucial within a multi-channel, integrated media strategy. Your owned, paid, and earned channels are foundational, and shared media is what connects them. It amplifies your message, gives voice to your community, and provides real-time feedback loops.
In other words:
- Owned channels give you stability, control, and conversion pathways.
- Paid channels give you targeted scale and speed.
- Earned channels give you third-party validation and credibility.
- Shared channels give you resonance, trust, and network effects.
The takeaway
Social media isn’t owned. It’s shared, and that’s a good thing. It means your audience has the power to amplify your message beyond what paid reach could ever buy. But it also means you have to show up differently: not as a broadcaster, but as a participant.
So as you’re looking ahead to future content calendars and campaigns, remember:
- Don’t just publish. Participate.
- Don’t just control. Collaborate.
- Don’t just measure impressions. Measure impact.
Your owned channels are where your story lives. Your shared channels are where your story grows.
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We bring your brand to life across all platforms, ensuring it’s tailored to resonate and achieve your goals—this includes content strategy, development, and execution. Want to strengthen your social strategy and drive measurable results? Contact us.
