Shared media is conversation and redistribution on channels where audiences participate: reposts, comments, community discussions, and user-created posts. It is one part of the paid, earned, shared, and owned (PESO) model. A company's own social post may start the exchange, but the 'shared' value comes from people engaging and carrying it into their networks.
Shared media versus the other PESO categories
Owned media is a channel or asset the organization controls, such as its website or newsletter. Paid media involves purchased placement. Earned media is independent attention, such as a journalist's reported article. Shared media is the social interaction and redistribution around content. A single campaign can involve all four; the labels describe different mechanisms rather than mutually exclusive boxes.
For example, a business publishes a product explainer on its site (owned), buys an ad pointing to it (paid), receives an independent review (earned), and sees customers discuss or repost the review (shared). Do not count those four things as identical evidence of audience trust.
Examples of shared media
01
A customer's voluntary post
A customer describes their experience in their own words and friends discuss it. Seek permission before reusing their photo in your advertising.
02
A useful article reposted with context
A professional shares a guide and adds why it helped. The commentary is more informative than a bare link or automated repost.
03
Community questions and answers
People in a relevant group compare experiences while the brand answers factual questions without controlling the conversation.
04
Event participant stories
Attendees publish photos and observations from an event. Make participation and filming rules clear in advance.
05
A hashtag conversation
A simple topic gives people a way to find related posts, but the hashtag itself does not create authentic participation.
How to encourage and measure it
Create something people find useful or worth discussing, answer questions promptly, and make it easy to share a clear link. Do not demand positive reviews or script user comments. Paid creator posts should be identified as paid and disclosed according to applicable rules.
Track relevant conversations, unique participants, useful referrals, questions answered, and whether the discussion reflects the intended message. Reach estimates and raw repost totals alone can hide spam or off-topic attention. The PESO model's creator, Spin Sucks, treats the four media types as an integrated system rather than a contest to maximize one metric.